Short Mac SE/30 adventures
Friday, February 8, 2013, 10:02 AM
Posted by Administrator
I realized that I didn't made anything meaningful with my Apple ][ Europlus, so I decided to exchange it for another vintage computer - an older Macintosh.
My first choice was a Mac SE/30, because this one can handle up to 128MB RAM, and it's capable to run A/UX. But....
A serious flaw of this model (SE/30) is an unreliable firmware ROM module/SIMM.
You can be lucky if you got a moment of a stable working condition, see here:
![](../images/macse30front.jpg)
Unfortunately getting access to the logic board is not too easy. Opening the case would be very easy - except these two upper deep counter-sunk TORX screws:
![](../images/macse30opened.jpg)
This is a schematic picture of the place where you can find that ROM SIMM:
![](http://www.biwa.ne.jp/~shamada/fullmac/simm_slot.gif)
But to get the logic board in your hands, you had to follow a strange method of releasing the board itself from the frame. First you have to draw it a bit, but then you have to lift it on one side, to pull it in all - but SCSI, loudspeaker and floppy drive cable are still connected and will keep it in place. Very ugly.
![](../images/macse30logicboard.jpg)
After discovering that no sound is made from this macintosh, and because the ROM module makes often trouble, I decided to bring it back and take a Colour Macintosh (will be described in next blog entry).
Btw.: A good article about repairing a Mac SE/30 can be found at
www.biwa.ne.jp