price@uclapp.physics.ucla.edu (John Price) (01/03/91)
Hi all:
My Mac+ is starting to have problems. The monitor occaisionally
goes black. I can bring it back with a slight jar to the side of the
machine (Macs must be made in America, right? :) but I don't know if this
is a problem that will get progressively worse or not.
It seems to me that this has been discussed before, but I never
paid attention since I didn't have the problem before (naturally...). So,
if anyone could mail me answers to the following questions, I'd appreciate
it and post a summary:
1) What's the problem? If I haven't given enough details, let me
know, and I'll try to be more specific.
2) Since my computer is out of warranty anyway, I'm not afraid to
open it up. I have enough experience with electronics so that
unless someone tells me that there's no possible way I can fix
this myself, I'm willing to give it a shot. Can anyone clue me
in here? Is this something that normal humans can fix?
I realize that with the information I've given, a real diagnosis of
the problem is impossible, but I'm looking for hints as to what sort of
thing I should be looking for. Also, if there are any books available on
do-it-yourself Mac repair, I'd appreciate pointers.
Thanks in advance!
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John Price | Internet: price@uclapp.physics.ucla.edu
5-145 Knudsen Hall | BITNET: price@uclaph
UCLA Dept. of Physics | SPAN: uclapp::price
Los Angeles, CA 90024-1547 | YellNet: 213-825-2259
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Where there is no solution, there is no problem.jeffe@eniac.seas.upenn.edu (George Jefferson ) (01/03/91)
:if there are any books available on :do-it-yourself Mac repair, I'd appreciate pointers. "macintosh repair and upgrade secrets" by Lary Pina this book is best for 128/512/+ repair. SE information is in the form of a 'supplemental' chapter, but is still quite good. Soft Solutions (503-461-1136) carries the book for ~$35 -- -george @sol1.lrsm.upenn.edu
brentb@nuchat.sccsi.com (Brent Burton) (01/07/91)
Well, your power supply has bit the dust. I just had mine replaced two weeks ago for the second time. I have appleCare now thru March, so if anything goes bad on my system, it gets fixed for 'free'. This past power supply didn't cost me any $$. Now that I have had AppleCare I wouldn't do this, but you need to see Larry Pina's book, "Macintosh Repair and Upgrade Secrets." He details how to fix the power supply. 99% of the problems are the result of a bad flyback transformer. These transformers are cheap (<$20?) compared to a new power supply (~$320). If you aren't technical, get it replaced, get AppleCare, and suck up the loss. I'm praying my mouse and disk drive die before March so I can get those replaced, too. My mac plus had the same problems: screen jitters, deformed display (mine was 1/4" taller on the left than the right), and blackouts. Mine also made real high squealing noises. These are all indications of a bad PS according to Larry Pina and my past experience. Sorry to break the news to ya, Brent
omh@cs.brown.edu (Owen M. Hartnett) (01/07/91)
In article <1991Jan6.220909.10319@nuchat.sccsi.com> brentb@nuchat.sccsi.com (Brent Burton) writes: > >Well, your power supply has bit the dust. I just had mine replaced two >weeks ago for the second time. I have appleCare now thru March, so if >anything goes bad on my system, it gets fixed for 'free'. This past >power supply didn't cost me any $$. > >Now that I have had AppleCare I wouldn't do this, but you need to see >Larry Pina's book, "Macintosh Repair and Upgrade Secrets." He details >how to fix the power supply. 99% of the problems are the result of a >bad flyback transformer. These transformers are cheap (<$20?) compared >to a new power supply (~$320). If you aren't technical, get it replaced, >get AppleCare, and suck up the loss. I'm praying my mouse and disk drive >die before March so I can get those replaced, too. > I don't recall seeing the quote of 99% problems related to the flyback transformer. In fact, from talking to Larry, I sincerely doubt that he would make such a statement. While failures of the original OEM flyback were high, the newer OEM flyback is much more robust and is the same one that you buy as part of the upgrade. >My mac plus had the same problems: screen jitters, deformed display (mine >was 1/4" taller on the left than the right), and blackouts. Mine also >made real high squealing noises. These are all indications of a bad PS >according to Larry Pina and my past experience. You're right about the bad power supply, but it was probably cold solder joints at J4 rather than the flyback. When the flyback goes, you've probably lost all video. Cold solder joints, however, will cause the screen jitters and intermittent blackouts. I just wanted to clear this up because from the above post, it seems like Larry's book is recommending replacement of the flyback as a general panacea, when in fact this isn't so. Also, when you're on Applecare, the replacement power supply, although new, will have the same marginal OEM parts that came with your original board, but if you install an upgrade kit such as that one offered by SoftSolutions, you're installing better than original equipment parts making your upgraded board better than the OEM, which means it will last a lot longer. -Owen Owen Hartnett omh@cs.brown.edu.CSNET Brown University Computer Science omh@cs.brown.edu uunet!brunix!omh "Don't wait up for me tonight because I won't be home for a month."
tocherd@ul.ie (01/18/91)
I've had a flakey video on a fat mac and the cause was the silicone rubber on the molex analog to video connector. THere was a thin dribble of the stuff on one side if the pins. It took a few tries to fix the fault. David Tocher Dept of Maths University oif Limerick Ireland.
zing@hpdmd48.boi.hp.com (Blair Elzinga) (01/29/91)
My mac+ recently developed a similar, but definately different problem: After a couple of weeks of a jittery screen, I turned it on one day to find that the only video output I got was a single vertical line in the middle of the screen. Has anyone had that happen to them? What did you do? -- /--------------------------------------------------------------\ | Blair Elzinga | | ------------------------------ | | | | ---------------------------| | | | Hewlett-Packard | | Boise Surface Mount Center | | 11413 Chinden Blvd | | Boise, ID 83714-1023 | | | | phone : (208) 323-4169 | |----- | \--------------------------------------------------------------/