Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Macintosh Plus boot problems

H

HarryWorksInc

macrumors regular
Original poster
Feb 21, 2010
179
0
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.5 Mobile/8B117 Safari/6531.22.7)

Hi, I have just pulled my only Macontosh Plus put of the basement and when I plug it in it shows a picture of a Macontosh with a sad face :( and says 040080 under it. Does anyone know what the problem is and how I can fix it or if I can fix it?
 
Thanks, your chart helped a lot. I went out to my local hardware store and got a torx screwdriver and Pyred it open, your chart said that it was a mod3 failure at F12, were would that be on the motherboard?
 
HarryWorksInc said:
Thanks, your chart helped a lot. I went out to my local hardware store and got a torx screwdriver and Pyred it open, your chart said that it was a mod3 failure at F12, were would that be on the motherboard?
Click to expand...

The memory should be an obvious SIMM chip (removable) on the motherboard if its a Mac Plus - otherwise you may have a different model...
 
HarryWorksInc said:
Thanks, your chart helped a lot. I went out to my local hardware store and got a torx screwdriver and Pyred it open, your chart said that it was a mod3 failure at F12, were would that be on the motherboard?
Click to expand...

Suggest you try cleaning & reseating them all. Be careful removing the modules (4 vertically angled circuit boards). Sample pic only.

Don't bend or force the plastic (sometimes metal) clips on each end too far.

When refitting them, start with the rear-most one. Insert it vertical, then lean it over (45 degrees) and it will click into place again.
 
HarryWorksInc said:
There are no chips that you can take out, the chips are in the motherboard I think.
Click to expand...



There should be a bank of 4 SIMM sockets with little cards in them nearly 1 inch tall, with little tiny chips on them,


If you can post pics of your logic/motherboard we may be able to assist.

If it is an older 128k/512k/e they are soldered to the board.
 
Peter.Howard said:
There should be a bank of 4 SIMM sockets with little cards in them nearly 1 inch tall, with little tiny chips on them,


If you can post pics of your logic/motherboard we may be able to assist.

If it is an older 128k/512k/e they are soldered to the board.
Click to expand...

Ive just noticed that he has posted another thread where he claims this to be a "Macintosh Plus 128K" - which Im guessing might mean its a 128k (Perhaps rebadged with a "Plus upgrade" - did those boards have the SIMMS - I thought they did but I may be wrong) - We definitely need pics to figure this one out I think...
 
chrismacguy said:
Ive just noticed that he has posted another thread where he claims this to be a "Macintosh Plus 128K" - which Im guessing might mean its a 128k (Perhaps rebadged with a "Plus upgrade" - did those boards have the SIMMS - I thought they did but I may be wrong) - We definitely need pics to figure this one out I think...
Click to expand...

Yup. "Pics or it didn't happen" :D

The 128K had soldered 16 x 4164 ICs, the 512K had 16 x 41256 ICs. The genuine MacPlus upgrade came with a new rear case which had "MacPlus" on the rear (and a new front too IIRC) and always had the 30Pin SIMMS. It could be a MacPlus with a 128K or 512K logicboard.

Need Pics of the logicboard. :confused:
 
That pic didn't work for me sorry


Back in the day you could buy third party upgrade boards, that bolted on top of the mac 128k's logic board and incrased memory, but they were soldered chips, not in SIMMs

I had a 128k, that had such an upgrade to 512k, a big heavy board added on top of the original logic board.
 
heres the pic but its really big
photo.JPG
 
Last edited:
Desolder the defective RAM chip and replace it. Assuming the problem is the actual chip. It could also be a problem with one of the circuit traces, or one of the memory driver chips.
 
Ok, 2 questions though. One is where could I buy a new chip and two how much am I risking seeing as I am an OK solderer not bad but not perfect/
 
HarryWorksInc said:
Ok, 2 questions though. One is where could I buy a new chip and two how much am I risking seeing as I am an OK solderer not bad but not perfect/
Click to expand...

WOW! A non-upgraded 128K. :eek:

I used to upgrade these to 512K and can tell you that removing the memory ICs isn't something to take lightly. If you really want to get it going, I'd suggest taking to somebody who specializes in it.

The simplest method, is to use very small side cutters and cut the pins of the chip. Then you can remove each pin individually. Clearing each hole to put the new chip in is still difficult.

The chip is a 4164 (yes, the Apple chip is marked 4264) so something like a MC4164. I can't remember the suffix which represents the speed. Something like MC4164-15.

BTW, the highest dated chip I can see in your Pic is 1984 week 35 so the board was made fairly close to that date.

EDIT: Actually the Floppy port filter is marked 8439 so that makes it even later (Week 39 1984)
 
Last edited:
If it were me, I'd buy the chips I need and pay a little money to have someone good with a soldering iron do it. If it were a more common board, I might give it a try myself, but I'd hate to have a 'learning experience' on that one.
 
HarryWorksInc said:
Good advice, but were can I find the certain chip?
Click to expand...

eBay. Try a search for one of these

TMS4164

Still trying to remember what speed it should be. I think -15 (150ns) should be the one. Might also be good to put a socket in.

For the socket, you should be able to get one from you local electronic hobbyist (if they exist where you are), or do an eBay search for:

16 pin dil socket

Good luck, and be careful with that baby. A non upgraded 128K is pretty rare in my book.
 
I found one on ebay "RAM TMS4164-15NL TI 16-Pin DIP", I paid for it and it will be here between the 19th - 20th so I will get back to you when or if I get it working.

Thanks for all your help I could have never figured this out without you.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back