Mac IICX issue..help!

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macg4's picture
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Mac IICX issue..help!

Alright got a iicx off ebay with 50mhz upgrade card,ethernet card, and apple vid card. got it home plugged it and nothing, not even a click of power. next i have a iici and a quadra 700 power supply which are similar. put in the quadra 700 ps and still nothing. dropped in the iici powersupply and the pram battery from the iici since i knew it worked fine, and hit the power and now i see the motherboard/power led flicker on and off and hear a power click, see fan on powersupply try to move, but no farther than that. so next i put the iicx powersupply in the iici and it booted right up. so i have ruled out the powersupply and the pram as being the issues. looks like the motherboard may be causing the issue, let me know what u guys think

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You haven't ruled out the PRAM yet

A low PRAM battery can wreak havoc, and can drive you nuts until you get it sorted out.

Have you tried any of the following:

1) remove the PRAM battery and run a volmeter across it. If it's under 3V, pitch it and get a new one.

2) find the button to reset the PRAM -- usually a little square aluminum switch with a small red or black button. With power and battery removed, hold the button down for about 5 seconds.

3) once you've done these things, try rebooting with no PRAM battery at all. Sometimes I've had better luck with no battery than with a low-voltage one.

4) even after replacing the PRAM battery (or just running without it), try letting the PRAM trickle-charge by leaving the unit plugged in for a while (anywhere from 2 to 24 hours).

The older Power Macs (601, 603, and 604 processors) were absolute problem children on this issue. But I remember giving up on a 6400 for a couple of days, then coming back and having it spring to live on a good trickle charge.

If none of this works, you may unfortunately have a bad logic board. Bummer.

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I have a IIcx, and I have oft

I have a IIcx, and I have often had the same problem, but I always figured that it was just cold. Would I have to get a new PRAM battery? Or could I just use two AA in little box and hook up the wires? I'm sure that with more with the extra current it might even last longer.

John

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alright ill try the voltmeter

alright ill try the voltmeter test on the battery, i did also order some new 3.6 pram batteries for my whole mac ii collection Smile .where would the little pram reset button be located on the iicx motherboard? i have tried it with no battery and no result as well. i have let it sit for a day or so and tried it again as well. I was going to try the trickle charges idea, but the only thing i was worried about, is that as soon as u plug in a power cable to the powersupply it starts clicking, and flashing power led on/off, even without hitting the power button on the keyboard or the back of the case. even when u hit the power button it does nothing and continues to click and power led goes on/off.would it be good/safe to trickle power when it constantly clicking and trying to power on like that?

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Re: alright ill try the voltmeter

alright ill try the voltmeter test on the battery, i did also order some new 3.6 pram batteries for my whole mac ii collection Smile .where would the little pram reset button be located on the iicx motherboard? i have tried it with no battery and no result as well. i have let it sit for a day or so and tried it again as well. I was going to try the trickle charges idea, but the only thing i was worried about, is that as soon as u plug in a power cable to the powersupply it starts clicking, and flashing power led on/off, even without hitting the power button on the keyboard or the back of the case. even when u hit the power button it does nothing and continues to click and power led goes on/off.would it be good/safe to trickle power when it constantly clicking and trying to power on like that?

Yikes. That doesn't sound good at all. I agree, if it's trying (unsuccessfully) to boot up anytime AC is plugged in, it's probably not good to leave it unattended.

Try with a new PRAM battery, and let it charge up for a few hours that way (no AC).

I don't own a IIcx, never have. I'm afraid I couldn't tell you exactly where the switch would be located on that model -- it changes from one logic board to another. Look for a small aluminum square (about 1/4 inch on a side) with a small red or black circular rubber pushbutton on top (about 1/8 or smaller in diameter). That's the PRAM reset button.

As for the previous post asking about using 2 AA batteries: I wouldn't recommend it. For one thing, even at full (brand-new) capacity, you're right at 3V -- anything under that would start to make the PRAM act goofy again. A new PRAM battery is 3.6V.

You should be able to obtain a PRAM battery at your local Radio Shack (it's marked plainly as a Macintosh clock battery), or someplace like Interstate Battery (they're all over the Midwest US, but I don't know how widespread they are elsewhere).

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alright cool will look for re

alright cool will look for reset button tonight.why do u think it would click on/off and attempt to boot like that?

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Switch Trick

IIRC there was a way on such machine to build up the charge, by flicking the powerswitch back and forth. Also, check your vram onboard, those can seriously mess with stuff.

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PRAM batt ain't yer problem

I suspect the MLB is kaput. The IIcx doesn't need a PRAM battery to boot, will boot with a dead PRAM battery, and doesn't care if you switch the power on and off (like do the LC-series.)

However, have you stripped the machine to the bare minimum? I mean even the display card and any other nubus cards. Pull all the ram, and replace with 4 sticks of known good ram. Pull the upgrade CPU, pull the HD cable, pull the fopppy (or floppy even!) cable, etc. (is there more I missed? Blum 3 ) BTW, as you probably already know, all those PSes you mentioned are functionally interchangable.

dan k

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Re: Switch Trick

IIRC there was a way on such machine to build up the charge, by flicking the powerswitch back and forth. Also, check your vram onboard, those can seriously mess with stuff.

Excpt that's also a perfect way to kill a PSU. Maybe three times would be okay, but any more and you're running a fine line between that PSU working later or sparking out. I've seen many frustrated people do it with Macs and PCs alike, it's almost guarenteed to kill the PSU if you do it long enough, which isn't very long at all.

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