Macintosh IIci Pt1 - Getting it running

In an unplanned weekend of being drowned in classic Macintosh's; I ended up with a IIci. A machine I've never even seen before (not that they're that uncommon).
So lets see if we can get it running in the first part of a multi-part series.
Cute Cat video for people whop like to argue about soldering: • Cutest Cats Compilatio...
Twitter: / mr_lurch

[@MrLurchsThings]

I tried and tried to get my camera to 'tune in' to the refresh rate on the Macs monitor and (clearly) failed. Between this and part 2 I'll do my best to work out what I was doing wrong.

[@matthewmcphail7703]

its very hard to capture the classic mac refresh rate on camera, if memory serves correct it actually has a refresh of 60.14Mhz so its a tad 'out of spec' for video syncing to a video camera. btw being a fellow Australian, just curious what part of aus your located (dont see many aussie repair channels on here).

[@MrLurchsThings]

@@matthewmcphail7703 Canberra

[@matthewmcphail7703]

@@MrLurchsThingsit's a pity we dopant have a green shed down my way in Geelong, Vic. not looks like you got quite the score there with those vintage Macs. love subscribed and look forward to whatever you have next on the repair horizon

[@elfenmagix8173]

Mac IIci Cache Card boost the machine 25%. It is about 64K Level II Cache. The RAM plays a key role in how the machine runs. Slow RAM = Slow Mac. 150ns RAM will slow the machine to a crawl. 120ns speeds it up greatly and is the recommended RAM speed to use. 100ns RAM will make it zoom but some 100ns RAM can be flakey. Check the RAM for their speed and make sure they are equal. A slow RAM SIMM mixed with fast SIMMs will force the machine to be slow. With a Y power cable (used on PCs) and another scsi socket on the cable you can have 2 hard drives internally and have the working one fix the bad one. Great you successfully recapped the board. Thumbs up on that! As for the Mac Classics, it is the only machine in the Apple Stable that has a bootable ROM disk with System 6.08. Turn on the Classic and hold down the Command/ Option/x/o buttons. Then you can make system 6.08 floppies as needed.

[@Ice_Karma]

12:55 "I love the sound of old SCSI hard drives. I really do." Over the top of the sounds of a very unhappy old SCSI drive. ;3

[@brianv2871]

Classic Macs are like tribbles, once you get one, they just multiple like crazy. Great job on the diagnostics and getting it working... I hate SMD soldering so i might need to go watch those cat videos now. :) Looking forward to part two.

[@geekwithsocialskills]

True story. Don't feed Macs after midnight either. Bad things happen. As for SMD soldering, flux is your friend... and now back to your regularly scheduled cat videos :-)

[@hellion9547]

The joy when MRL uploads a new video!

[@jts68kppcclassicmacworld99]

Always wanted a IIci when i was young!! Great vid keep rocking!!

[@srh76able]

Loving these vids.

[@geekwithsocialskills]

Such an amazing score of Macintosh machines. I love my Mac IIci. I had to recap my motherboard. It was working except the sound. The caps in that area were so leaky. I then upgraded the machine to 128MB RAM and removed the 80MB SCSI hard drive and installed a SCSI2SD in its place.

[@MrLurchsThings]

Nice. I dont think I need to go THAT high with RAM. A SD2SCSI will be a definitive addidtion. And as well as keeping an eye out for a replacement cache card, I'm also going to look for an accelerator card as well.

[@geekwithsocialskills]

Agreed, you don't need to go that high with RAM, however at the same time why not and impress all your friends :-) with mass amounts of RAM. The SCSI2SD card is such a nice piece of kit. No more mechanical drive noise or failures, no heat and lowers the overall weight of your machine. One suggestion I would make though if you go above 32MB RAM is pick up a Mac ROM-inator II Atom SIMM from Big Mess O' Wires. Google it and see all the cool things it can do for your Mac IIci... it also works nicely with Mac SE/30's too.

[@MrLurchsThings]

Adrian, there is some fine tuning regarding mem I can do?

[@anumeon]

My childhood hero that IIci model. We had all sorts of fun games on it. From Marathon to Sim city 2000. :) But one has to be ready and willing to sacrifice blood to the gods of computers when one starts pulling things out of the case. That protective metal is thin and sharp as heck as i recall. Oh, and those batteries are killer. Mine had leaked and because the computer was stored stupidly it leaked all over the HDD and Floppy and ruined both, as well as destroying the motherboard. :(

[@MarshallMathersthe7th]

Subscribed, i only watched 2 videos but i like what i see. The only Mac i have is a LC630 (aka Quadra 630 i think) it is complete and i mainly bought it for aesthetic reason, i would like to play some games on it. But i don't know how to do it easily. I should get around opening it one day, recapping it and figure out how to retrobrite it. I want to collect more of these old Mac's and i don't know why. I know very little of them but i like them. I would like that classic Macintosh, the OG all in one pc model. But also the LC mainly because the monitor, it is so long :P

[@KolliRail]

Great Job!

[@Johnathan_Waters]

I'd be happy to take some of these off your hands. Don't want you drowninggg!!

[@blackcountryme]

A whole bushel of apples

[@Zeonoid]

colorfull logo black and white screen unbelievable that they were able to sell it... in the times when Amiga was around

[@sgkonfetti]

You are great !!! Nice video !! A+

[@danielflakelar8193]

is there a part 2?

[@Ice_Karma]

15:21 "And there's a whole bunch of..." ... crap?? "... crap on the desktop, [...]" XD

[@Codeaholic1]

Don't waste your time using hot air to pull the smd caps off. Use side cutters and grab and twist. You'll break the legs right at the board and you can remove them by adding new solder.

[@BollingHolt]

Ha! I just got a Classic II this week!

[@tenminutetokyo2643]

Shove in a RasterOps NuBus card.

[@tedse21]

The slower SE FD/HD had a 1.44 as well.

[@danielrhodes7594]

Hi, liked your video. Do you still have any macs that you want to get rid of? I know it has been a couple years, but maybe you have excess to get rid of?

[@ukmk3supra]

Cache cards are pretty cheap, but i'd give it a go and recap it - they do die but don't leak so badly.

[@Ice_Karma]

8:08 Naaa, mate, that's a 10Base-2/5 card there. =D (Edited: If there's a 10Base-T port there, I can't see it for your hand. ;3 ) (Edited edited: ooh, is that a 10Base-T port I see??)

[@MrMatte1983]

I can’t find part 2??

[@MrLurchsThings]

Honestly, it never happened. It was reliant on finding a cache card which I couldn’t and has since gone to a new home.

[@ryanweavers2922]

Cache is pronounced "cash'

[@Ice_Karma]

I even used to speak French fluently... still said "caysh" in English instead of "cash". English spelling sucks, man. And as a historical linguist... it's mostly the (Norman) French's fault. XD

[@srh76able]

In Australia it’s most definitely pronounced “caysh”.

[@ste76539]

Has anyone mentioned Adrian Black yet? You need to have a chat with Adrian Black. (Adrian's Digital Basement).

[@MrLurchsThings]

I chat to Adrian nearly daily :)

[@tenminutetokyo2643]

Ah yes my 2nd Mac - with a RasterOps 24 bit video card. Great machine. Those RGB displays were such heavy bricks.