[comp.sys.mac] Clock DA, Control Panel, and Battery Circuit

werner@ut-ngp.UUCP (Werner Uhrig) (11/11/86)

In article <1986Nov9.195529.29756@utcsstat.uucp>, kevink@utcsstat.UUCP writes:
  
> Anyone aware of any known failures of the battery circuit on the
> Mac 512 E.  (E for Enhanced--with Mac+ roms).  I am reporting one.
> Symptoms are loss of clock accuracy and loss of control panel settings
> (and no, the problem is not a dead battery unless one counts the
> three my Mac ate in the last 24 hours).

2 years ago I had an intermittent failure of clock/date and control settings,
and traced it to a broken soldering on the analog board right were the
battery case is connected to the circuitry.  rather tricky to detect, too,
because it was making contact *SOMETIMES* and had to be discovered *VISUALLY*
rather than with the voltmeter.

I also learnt at that time, that while the Mac is under net-power the PRAM
settings are maintained by the line-power and that it takes about 5 to 10
minutes before the PRAM-settings fully depend on the battery voltage.
So quickly turning the Mac ON and OFF didn't really test anything.

You mention that "three my Mac ate in the last 24 hours" (batteries) - sounds
like a short to me ....  hope you had AppleCare; I hate it when *ANYONE* has
to pay $$$$ just for detecting a little lose wire somewhere ...

On the other hand, someone with a "Cray X/MP" probably has a PLATINUM card
and couldn't care less ...(-:

c160-aw@zooey.Berkeley.EDU (Christian Wiedmann) (11/11/86)

My mother's mac had this problem a while ago. I opened up the case, unplugged
the power supply cable leading to the logic board, plugged it back in, and it
worked fine.

-Christian