Rescued a Macintosh LC II from being thrown away – need some advice

[Andecon]

Hi everyone,


I’m completely new to the world of vintage Macintosh computers, so please excuse what may be some basic questions!


A few days ago I was helping clear out the house of a relative who had recently passed away. While sorting through boxes in the attic, I came across this Macintosh LC II. It had obviously been sitting untouched for many years, and I just couldn’t bring myself to throw it away. I thought it deserved another chance.


I’ve always enjoyed restoring old technology, so I brought it home with the hope of getting it running again.


The problem is that I don’t own any vintage Apple equipment. I don’t have an Apple monitor, I don’t have the DB-15 video adapter, and I honestly don’t know much about classic Macs yet.


Out of curiosity, I plugged it into the mains and pressed the power button. To my surprise, it seems very much alive.

• The fan starts immediately.
• The hard drive spins up.
• I can hear the floppy drive initialize.
• A few seconds later I hear what sounds like the normal startup sequence, almost as if the computer is reaching the login screen or the Finder.

Obviously I can’t confirm any of that because I have no video output, but it definitely sounds like it’s trying to boot.


So my questions are:

• Is there any way to verify that it’s actually booting correctly without a monitor?
• Is there anything else I should check before I start buying adapters and accessories?
• What would be the easiest and most reliable way to connect it to a modern monitor?
• Are there any common LC II issues I should look out for before powering it on again?

I’d really like to restore this machine properly and learn more about these classic Macs. Any advice for a newcomer would be hugely appreciated.


Thanks in advance!

 

[bibilit]

Without monitor, there is not much you can do.

But in the meantime, have a look at the logic Board. The battery should be removed if any present.

Look at the capacitors for traces of leaking.

 

[killvore]

Hey congratulations! The LC family are super fun machines to work on and don't take up much space, so they are great machines to get your feet wet It is going to be a bit difficult to figure things out without a monitor - you can usually find a DB-15 to VGA adapter fairly cheaply, or someone on this forum can maybe sell you one?

You talked about sounds but you did not mention a "bong" or "beep" - normally, a Mac will make a beep sound when you turn it on to indicate how it is doing. If it doesn't bong, it might mean you have some electrolyte leakage from capacitors near the sound chips. The logic board probably needs to be recapped! If you can get the lid off and take a picture we can maybe give some advice.

The LCII is one of the few macs that can actually run without having its caps, so you should probably take the caps off soon even if you don't have replacements if you are able to prevent any leaking electrolyte from damaging the board.

 

[sstaylor]

If it seems to be running ok, you're right that you'll need a video adapter at least, assuming you have a monitor with VGA inputs. The adapters are fairly plentiful and (usually) not terribly expensive.
You could buy a vintage keyboard and mouse, look for ones that are designed as ADB (Apple Desktop Bus). Or, there are adapters out there to allow you to attach standard USB keyboards and mice.
At that point, assuming the hard drive is functioning, you can go ahead and play with whatever software is already loaded. Getting other software loaded is kind of a whole other adventure.
Best of luck! I personally love seeing this kind of post here.

 

[killvore]

Here's a video that gives a little LCII history and gives a rundown of a full refurbish - the logic board gets handled at around 11m 30s

I also use the twist method he describes to remove caps, works great for me!