M0001 - finally!

[unity]

Today, just in time for Christmas, a M0001 arrived. I knew before buying it had to be produced before week 12 of '84. And it was, week 6! I have owned a few 128ks but the challenge, as many of you know, is finding one that has not been molested in some way. While upgrades may make a machine more practical, its still not original. And of course parts fail and get replaced too. From what I can tell, this one had never been opened. Even the power cord, mouse and keyboard appear to be original to this machine.

The machine now needs to go through some restoration. The case is in great shape less a silk-screen emblem on the front. Thinking brake fluid. Color wise it looks great but I am thinking a retr0bright treatment is still in order at some point. Interior is a bit messy. This appears to have had some slight water damage at one point. I will have to replace the metal frame or have it reconditioned. The motherboard took a little hit too.

But it did boot to a question mark. The interior drive will not take in a disk. When I hooked up my exterior 400k, I lost the screen. At that point I decided to proceed no further until I could make a closer examination of the solder points on the analog. It was sold to me with an unworking screen. I am sure shipping helped bump something into place for a bit. But I know the bad spots and will take a look. Motherboard does have some rust areas I will have to take care of. But nothing seems to be too far gone.

Some specifics:

Analog board has heat shield in place and what I call first generation capacitors. Caps were used up tip week 12 from what I can tell thus far. Also has grey "fiber" like cover on side, not the next revision white plastic.

Motherboard is 100% original. Apple marked RAM with 68000 produced week 44 of '83.

Floppy is 400k Sony OA-D34V (no -02 or -22)

Rear FCC label is first or second revision. Its pre week 12, but I am not sure if there was still one more older style. This is the dirty little secret when buying a machine with a low serial. }

All case screws were black. On others I had I thought the ones in the handle and battery bay were silver.

ROMs are not marked with a -A or -B, just 342-0220/0221

So now I get to add this one to my collection of 128ks. I have a week 9 and a week 29. The week 9 has been upgraded to 512k or RAM, but still has 400k drive and original ROMs as well a 'C' Analog board. The week 29 has a Fat Mac mono with 800k drive and newer ROMs. Sadly my quest will continue for an even OLDER M0001! I know, its a sickness.

 

[unity]

Couple more pics. Anyone have some hints on how to remove the rust without causing more issues?

 

[uniserver]

man you right you do have a sickness

are you MacTerminal?

I would think some q-tips and rubbing alcohol could clean most of that up buddy.

 

[unity]

Apparently the logo on this Mac is for Drexel University. I found it very, very odd it would be printed on the case. I am going to do some more reading, but from what I can tell this was done by Apple or Drexel for units used by students and the university. So I guess I will be keeping that logo on there after all. Nifty!

http://www.library.drexel.edu/blogs/drexelarchives/2009/01/24/happy-birthday-macintosh

"And so it was that, on March 5, 1984, some three years after President Hagerty’s prophetic announcement, 1,850 Drexel freshmen trudged up 32nd Street in the cold to pick up their very own Macintosh 128K.

 

The rumors were true. Each computer was embossed with a blue “D” for Drexel. The price? $1,000, plus tax. Not bad for a unit that sold for $2,495 retail. The 20-pound package included MacWrite, MacPaint and Microsoft Multiplan software, designed by some nerd named Bill Gates. Each box contained the CPU, a keyboard and a mouse. At the time, some faculty had to be told that the mouse was not of the rodent persuasion, but was, rather, a device for navigation."

 

[unity]

I would think some q-tips and rubbing alcohol could clean most of that up buddy.

I did try that first thing, but it was pretty embedded. I used some special tools in the Mac restoration lab and got it cleaned up enough for inspection and further testing. I think it looks better. Cleaning the board made it look so much better too!

 

[Quadraman]

Nice score. I was fortunate enough to acquire my 128k before SJ passed and prices skyrocketed. The power board needed the transformer replaced, but I managed to find a complete power board that was fully functional cheap but then when I put that in and powered it up I got a sad Mac and error code indicating a faulty RAM chip on the board. I've pulled the 128k board and replaced it with a 512k board until I can find a place where I can get a replacement RAM chip that won't make me buy 100 of them to fill their minimum order requirement. I considered salvaging one off of a broken 128k board but that's even an expensive proposition just to get one RAM chip with the number of people who bid for them whenever they become available whether they work or not. I haven't seen a broken one go for less than $60 or a working one for less than $125 for a long time, and I'm talking about the first design motherboard not the redesigned one that was shared with the 512k.

 

[unity]

Nice score. I was fortunate enough to acquire my 128k before SJ passed and prices skyrocketed. The power board needed the transformer replaced, but I managed to find a complete power board that was fully functional cheap but then when I put that in and powered it up I got a sad Mac and error code indicating a faulty RAM chip on the board. I've pulled the 128k board and replaced it with a 512k board until I can find a place where I can get a replacement RAM chip that won't make me buy 100 of them to fill their minimum order requirement. I considered salvaging one off of a broken 128k board but that's even an expensive proposition just to get one RAM chip with the number of people who bid for them whenever they become available whether they work or not. I haven't seen a broken one go for less than $60 or a working one for less than $125 for a long time, and I'm talking about the first design motherboard not the redesigned one that was shared with the 512k.

Well if you have two bad 128k boards, it makes sense to make one working! Especially if the RAM is Apple logo stamped. I think you can still get RAM chips from Digikey, but no logo or minimum order. Keep an eye out for original 128k boards, while prices are all over I did see three sell for around $100 in the past month. Its really hit or miss. I had to buy this Mac to finally get an unmolested board. And it was a gamble, I did not know if it would have been upgraded or not. Luckily it was not. In fact, I am pretty sure I have been the first person inside since it was made. Good luck with your search. Or like I said, if you have two original boards and both are not working right - make one good one. I bet you can still sell the canabalized one on eBay for a small amount anyway.