gillies@uiucdcsp.cs.uiuc.edu (04/22/88)
Get out a resistor and temporarily short your battery. If you do it
just briefly, you can probably zero the PRAM before you kill the
battery. You probably don't have to lower the voltage to zero to
scrozzle the PRAM, 2.5 volts or lower is probably enough. However, if
the PRAM chip has a capacitor across its power line, maybe you'll have
to short this too.
This is just a suggestion -- I haven't tried it myself. DO IT AT YOUR
OWN RISK. It's probably what your dealer will do to fix the problem,
before he gives up and clips the battery wires.
Don Gillies {ihnp4!uiucdcs!gillies} U of Illinois
{gillies@p.cs.uiuc.edu}dkovar@bbn.com (David C. Kovar) (04/23/88)
Expires: Sender: Followup-To: Keywords: In article <76000191@uiucdcsp> gillies@uiucdcsp.cs.uiuc.edu writes: > >Get out a resistor and temporarily short your battery. If you do it >just briefly, you can probably zero the PRAM before you kill the >battery. > >Don Gillies {ihnp4!uiucdcs!gillies} U of Illinois Ye gads, man! Why not just hold down the Command, Option, and shift keys when you select "Control Panel" from the Apple Menu and respond "Yes" when it asks you if you really want to zap the PRAM? Much easier. Works very nicely on my Mac II running the latest system software. Earlier releases of the system do not allow this. -David
mithomas@bsu-cs.UUCP (Michael Thomas Niehaus) (04/24/88)
In article <23807@bbn.COM>, dkovar@bbn.com (David C. Kovar) writes: > In article <76000191@uiucdcsp> gillies@uiucdcsp.cs.uiuc.edu writes: > > > >Get out a resistor and temporarily short your battery. If you do it > >just briefly, you can probably zero the PRAM before you kill the > >battery. > > > >Don Gillies {ihnp4!uiucdcs!gillies} U of Illinois > > Ye gads, man! Why not just hold down the Command, Option, and shift keys > when you select "Control Panel" from the Apple Menu and respond "Yes" when > it asks you if you really want to zap the PRAM? Much easier. Works very > nicely on my Mac II running the latest system software. Earlier releases > of the system do not allow this. > > -David Yes, I was the person who wrote the original message. If you would remember this one, you would also remember that the machine will not boot at all. This causes just a slight problem with your solution. If we could get to the Control Panel, then we wouldn't have a problem. The machine is so messed up that it will not boot. Apple suggested trying the diagnostics disk to find out the problem, but that won't boot either, just like every other disk that we have. On the Mac Plus, it is easy to zap the PRAM: you just remove the battery (this machine would not boot either). The Mac II is a different story. I seem to think that soldering the batteries to the motherboard is a slight design problem. Who cares if they are supposed to last 8 years; if I have a problem with them, I would like to be able to remove them myself. I don't like the idea of having to send it to a certified Apple technician. It seems that this particular "advancement" in the Mac II is really a fallback to the old no-user-replaceable-parts deal. Michael Niehaus UUCP: ..!{uunet,pur-ee,iuvax}!bsu-cs!mithomas
svpillay@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Kanthan Pillay) (04/24/88)
In article <76000191@uiucdcsp> gillies@uiucdcsp.cs.uiuc.edu writes: > >Get out a resistor and temporarily short your battery. If you do it >just briefly, you can probably zero the PRAM before you kill the >battery. You probably don't have to lower the voltage to zero to >scrozzle the PRAM, 2.5 volts or lower is probably enough. However, if >the PRAM chip has a capacitor across its power line, maybe you'll have >to short this too. I don't know what this discussion is all about. I do know that there are easier ways of zapping the PRam. Hold down Opt-Command-Shift-Tab and select Control Panel... Kanthan. -- Do I really need a signature?