• Hello MLAers! We've re-enabled auto-approval for accounts. If you are still waiting on account approval, please check this thread for more information.

Yet another SE/30

petteri

petteri

6502
I rescued/bought a Plus with 4MB RAM and a rather beaten up SE/30. Both with keyboards and mice. And as a bonus there was an external SCSI2SD and Imagewriter II :). Mac Plus seems to be pretty mint, boots up and the disk drive works fine.

The SE/30 has some damage all around the case and the worst bits are broken top corners. The hamster cage fan is really noisy and has to be replaced. The logic board has been recapped and I was told it works ok with the external SCSI2SD it came with. The ROM socket has lost its tabs so the ROM was secured with an electric tape. I had no SD-card ready so I tried booting it up with a disk. There is a startup chime and I get a happy mac but then it seems the computer reboots and starts all over again. Sort of a happy mac reboot loop. Blank disk doesn't trigger the eject function.

I will try with a known good disk drive but could this be something with the logic board? Any advices for the fan replacement or fix?
 
Rebooting can be caused by bad caps on the AB or the power supply. Recap both!
Check the voltages at the floppy port. Must be 5 and 12 V.
The disk drive must be cleaned and greased.
 
If the case is awful, you could always swap it for a maceffects clear case (Although it might be too pricey for some).

Also seconding the bad caps.
 
Tested now with an external SCSI2SD and SE/30 boots up fine. It seems to have 8MB RAM (8x1MB). Next task will be to check the disk drive issues. I have already contacted owner of a broken SE/30 (CRT neck) so at least I have some hope of making this nicer looking. Regarding the fan it looks like the best option would be to 3d print an adapter and buy a Noctua fan.
 
Some update. The disk drive reads fine after the mac has booted up from SCSI2SD and after some cleanup it even ejects. With horrible squeaky sound. I checked the ejection motor gears and they seem to be fine. Maybe some more thorough cleanup required.

The hamster wheel cooling fan needs a replacement. I have a 3D printer available so maybe I'll print the model from this thread:

Macintosh SE Squirrel Cage Fan to 60mm Boxer Fan Upgrades

I've been working on a new video focused on SE and SE/30 fan upgrades over the last month and a half. I don't have any machines with the old squirrel cage fan, but I am aware many SE owners are. I want to add info in my video for those folks. I've searched this forum for "squirrel cage" and...
68kmla.org 68kmla.org
 
Last edited:
Alright, this SE/30 is now a happy one. I bought another SE/30 with a battery explosion damage. The logic board is toast but the power supply and the analog boards are fine. Also the screen seems to be better one and the front case is much better. So I replaced the rusted bottom frame and logic board from the earlier one. I also got a very dirty super drive that donated the eject mechanism.

The only issue is the broken tabs of the ROM SIMM slot. The battery damaged board has good tabs but I don't fancy swapping them. The ROM SIMM works fine if supported with some tape.
 
SE/30 with the bypass fan (squirrel cage) on A/B screams SE to me. Did early SE/30s ship like that? I thought they went axial fairly early on in SE production, long before the SE/30 release.
 
I was trying to network my two SE/30 somehow. I have a serial (?) cable that I plugged in both computers' printer ports. But after selecting AppleTalk to use that port there is nothing indicating network. I also tried Bolo but it doesn't see the hosting computer with serial or AppleTalk options.

Am I missing some extensions? Or is my cable or SE/30 faulty? At least the older one has a healthy port as it was able to print on ImageWriter II. But I sold that printer already so I cannot test the newer SE/30 with it.
 
There are two different serial cables commonly used, one of them is wired straight through, and one has the TX and RX wires swapped. (My recollection is that “printer cables” have the swap, and “modem/standard cables” are straight through, but I’m not positive.)

You can connect two Macs back-to-back with a cable that has the TX/RX swap. I’d check that you’re using the right cable before trying to troubleshoot further.
 
Ok, thanks for the advice. I tried the cable with my Beige G3 as well but it didn't work either. I'll check the cable with a multimeter next.
 
mdeverhart said:
There are two different serial cables commonly used, one of them is wired straight through, and one has the TX and RX wires swapped. (My recollection is that “printer cables” have the swap, and “modem/standard cables” are straight through, but I’m not positive.)

You can connect two Macs back-to-back with a cable that has the TX/RX swap. I’d check that you’re using the right cable before trying to troubleshoot further.
Click to expand...
Generally, Apple-logo branded serial cables are the proper type.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

jmacz
SE/30: Yet another scsi issue
2
Replies
21
Views
4K
jmacz
jmacz
K
Macintosh SE/30 battery leaking
Replies
3
Views
197
bibilit
bibilit
LeSpameur
SE/30 video issue, half simasimac pattern
Replies
2
Views
221
LeSpameur
LeSpameur
casey-ac
Weird SE/30 boot issue
Replies
0
Views
990
casey-ac
casey-ac
B
Display issues on SE and SE/30 after recapping
Replies
3
Views
895
bibilit
bibilit
Back
Top