0089 Troubleshooting Mac SE/30 motherboards and mini Sony CRT monitor (WatchCam)

We have another SMMC episode, which is actually Part 2 of the VCFMW wrap-up. Today we will do some Mac SE/30 motherboard testing and troubleshooting along with looking at some miniature Sony CRT video monitor.
-- Video Links
CayMac Vintage:
ko-fi.com/caym...
Mac SE/30 Power Supply Replacement:
ko-fi.com/s/e6...
VCF Midwest 19:
vcfmw.org/
Sony WatchCam teardown:
• EEVblog #1033 - Sony W...
Adrian's Digital Basement Merch store:
my-store-c82bd...
Support the channel on Patreon:
/ adriansdigitalbasement
Adrian's Digital Basement (Main Channel)
/ @adriansdigitalbasement
My GitHub repository:
github.com/mis...
-- Tools
Deoxit D5:
amzn.to/2VvOKy1
store.caig.com/...
O-Ring Pick Set: (I use these to lift chips off boards)
amzn.to/3a9x54J
Elenco Electronics LP-560 Logic Probe:
amzn.to/2VrT5lW
Hakko FR301 Desoldering Iron:
amzn.to/2ye6xC0
Rigol DS1054Z Four Channel Oscilloscope:
www.rigolna.co...
Head Worn Magnifying Goggles / Dual Lens Flip-In Head Magnifier:
amzn.to/3adRbuy
TL866II Plus Chip Tester and EPROM programmer: (The MiniPro)
amzn.to/2wG4tlP
www.aliexpress...
TS100 Soldering Iron:
amzn.to/2K36dJ5
www.ebay.com/i...
EEVBlog 121GW Multimeter:
www.eevblog.co...
DSLogic Basic Logic Analyzer:
amzn.to/2RDSDQw
www.ebay.com/i...
Magnetic Screw Holder:
amzn.to/3b8LOhG
www.harborfrei...
Universal ZIP sockets: (clones, used on my ZIF-64 test machine)
www.ebay.com/i...
RetroTink 2X Upconverter: (to hook up something like a C64 to HDMI)
www.retrotink.com/
Plato (Clone) Side Cutters: (order five)
www.ebay.com/i...
Heat Sinks:
www.aliexpress...
Little squeezy bottles: (available elsewhere too)
amzn.to/3b8LOOI
--- Instructional videos
My video on damage-free chip removal:
• How to remove chips wi...
--- Music
Intro music and other tracks by:
Nathan Divino
@itsnathandivino

[@adriansdigitalbasement2]

A repair attempt on the non working motherboard will come out in a few days on the main channel, so you don't have to wait long! It's going to require quite a deep dive. I won't say more! 🙂

[@Spudz76]

Rewound a couple times, you definitely did not swap the ROM SIMM but grabbed the exact same one.

[@oliverw.douglas285]

Back in the day, I actually had the smaller Sony Watchman, along with the external C-Battery Power Pack, Rechargeable Batteries, Stereo Headphones, & a DC Adapter for the car. At 10 years old, I saved monies from my Birthday, Christmas, & Chores to purchase the Sony Watchman, from Pranges, for $150. It was probably my most expensive 'toy' at the time, but it was great, especially on long road trips, where the scenery consisted of corn & soybeans, for literally hours. Back then, we didn't have a VCR at home, so it was a good way to see a show all the way through, & not miss anything, when mom or dad said it was time to head out. I still have it in my collection, along with a Mega Watchman Boom Box, & TV/Radio combination. I may bring them to VCFMW20 in 2025, to demonstrate & sell. As always, nice review, & your videos are never too long. :)

[@brianlhughes]

Well back when I did stage lights for community theater we used to use a combination of steel blue gel sheets from one angle and bastard amber from the other to illuminate the stage, the combination in conjunction with standard pancake makeup made the actors "presentable". So if you added a bit of amber to your basement you might get a rousing encore from all your fans!

[@CayMacVintage]

Thanks for an amazing review. We will adjust the design to work better on the SE. On bench I use a standard atx power cable extension so the compact card is not plugged directly into the board. This gives me full freedom to probe anything on the logic board. Also the compact board has test points on it and they are labeled. -5v is used by the 26LS30 chips for serial and printer usage.

[@MartinaD]

How about an Mac SE power cable extension to get your card out of the way when working on the bench like here?

[@CayMacVintage]

@@MartinaD the se or se30 power cable has both ends as male and won’t work.

[@MartinaD]

@@CayMacVintage I meant a cable built specificly for this purpose using the necessary male/female connectors.

[@neakmenter]

I’ve just come from nostalgia nerd’s update on the “checkmate” monitor. I seriously think Adrian should get one! No more rgb2hdmi/scaler/capture woes. Please Adrian check out the project i think you’d love it!

[@ostratego167]

Adrian's Digital Basement "It fixed itself™" + MJD's "Of course we're gonna have problems..." Would be like strapping buttered toast to a cat and dropping them on the floor. You could probably do a video with those two guys and something would either explode or you could power a whole city, at least till the video ends.

[@MrVipeg]

Adrian, you have "tickmarked" wrong ROM card (27:42).

[@snoutmate]

yeah, 26:37 takes out the ROM, puts the same one back in :D

[@martin_soerensen]

​@@snoutmateToo busy talking to see what he's doing. 😀

[@DodgyFPV]

There is a good chance the issue is not with the rom card, seeing as the fault output is different between the machines.

[@erickvond6825]

For the Mac SE motherboard, you could always plug the floppy cable in before installing the power supply adapter. The cables should bend enough to clear the other board...

[@ebenking3567]

Re: lighting: Maybe a string of holiday lights near your workbench? Something near yellow or orange would counteract the blue, but then your face would change color a bit if you leaned forward.

[@awilliams1701]

I said this before and I'll say it again. You need the gamer's nexus mod matt. It's mostly black. It's super durable. It can resist soldering damage. It's ESD safe. And it has some useful diagrams on it.

[@williamsquires3070]

I think Adrian needs a new shirt for VCF SW (next year). On the front, it would say, “I think it’s getting hot!” And below that, a depiction of an IC with flames coming out. On the back, it would say, “Ya think??” and below, a picture of a burn mark with only the IC pins left over. 😅 I’d buy one!

[@JVHShack]

Just an observation: There was a key shaped piece on the bench at 20:00 in the video. Was that made of metal? Not good if it was...

[@porklaser]

The power/video connector on the SE/30 motherboard is physically just "half" of an atx connector. The pin keying matches one side. If you have an ATX extension (easy to find amazon) you can use that to extend that connector.

[@JeffTiberend]

I had a Mac Classic II. I tried to get it to boot with Mac OS 6 (something) and I remember getting the error message that it couldn't boot OS 6. I would have never thought that you could get around that by using the programmer's switch on the side. Wow!

[@N9TAX]

I am the one who gave you the watch cam. I did send you the photo in a patreon message. I am not sure where to find your email in there. I know I saw it before. Wish we had had more time to talk about it at the show. It was a crazy busy weekend I know. The guy I got that from actually owned a security business and used them to aim the old CCTV cameras in the field. Seems like it was a handy way to do that. He had 2 and I should have grabbed the second one as well... Thank you for all that you do for the hobby and keeping interesting history alive! Joe.

[@adriansdigitalbasement2]

Ah yes. For the email, just go to the channel page www.youtube.com/@adriansdigitalbasement2 and click the more link near the text up at the top. Then it exposes socials and an email address. I don't know why KZbin burred it! As for the watchcam, yeah that's a really good use, especially back in the day before we had all these fancy IP based cameras 🙂

[@christopherdecorte1599]

You could make an extension cable for the se motherboard plug using the connectors from the junk bin, then that cool piboard can sit to the side of what you're working on no matter what you plug it into.

[@peteregan9750]

if you use a bright light = cover it with tracing paper - it diffuses the light and you can use multiple to cover areas in shadow

[@CayMacVintage]

Btw the board issues I would say is first option being bad plastic sockets. Especially the rom and then come the ram.

[@myleft9397]

@CathodeRayDude will know what it's for, the monitor

[@ghohenzollern]

Your desk glows blue. There must be bugs nearby.

[@Synthrelaiser]

ah, what have you done! now the iconic key-like imprint is gone! just kidding, i love your videos! - keep up the greats stuff adrian!

[@ricdeckard]

I've always wondered, what WAS that imprint from? 😄

[@retropuffer2986]

Vintage Mac content! 😀🎉

[@olpa99011]

I'd love one of those desktop cases for the SE/30!

[@porklaser]

Me too! I'd love to desktop-ize an extra SE/30 mobo I have

[@enojelly9452]

We might get application of the current tracer? Yeah, I was waiting for that to happen!

[@lindoran]

If the via shares a bus with the rom that is shorted to ground or vcc through the rom it would definitely cause that chip to heat up.

[@tyjay6752]

Do you just spray deoxit into the squeezy bottles so you have a bottle of it?

[@TheLiquidLunchMan]

56:58 To me, on the the Sony WatchCam, it looks like the two plastic 'crescent moon' shapes on the right hand side just by the orange Sony sticker is a classic 'coin twist' opener to unclip the front panel - could the controls be hidden under there? Otherwise, why have those 2 lugs on the case?

[@DBB-KE5DUO]

What would happen if you focus a red light on the blue mat? 🤷🏻🤷🏻

[@8bitparty-pl]

👍🏻

[@tigheklory]

Why didn't you degauss the Sony monitor? Do you not have a degaussing tool?

[@myleft9397]

Classic IT fix just reboot it [edit: the macs]

[@sonicunleashedfan124]

11:44 *342

[@dhultgren1]

I don't watch your videos to see your face, so the light is nonsequiteur.