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jmacz journey

Posted by: jmacz on 2025-08-16 09:44:07

For the Quadra 950, it looks like something's wrong with the PSU. No power coming out of it. I don't see anything on the 5V trickle either.

The metal shielding has some corrosion/rust on it but nothing too crazy. Tested the fuse and that's ok. The primary side looks ok as I see reasonable voltages at various components. The secondary side however is not providing any power at the logic board connector. None of the capacitors are bulging or have any obvious signs of leakage but you never know. Need to debug a bit further before investing in new capacitors.

Posted by: jmacz on 2025-08-18 17:46:18

Not Macintosh related... but I've been distracted working on a project with my kid to build a full arcade cabinet for the Japanese version of Capcom's Street Fighter Alpha 3 (Zero 3).

We've finally collected everything we need including power supply, 4:3 20" LCD monitor (wish we could find something larger), VGA converter, Sanwa joysticks and buttons, jamma harness and kick cables, amp, speakers, etc... just need to build the cabinet which should be an adventure. I had my kid recap the main board as well as the game cartridge. Capcom did a silly thing encrypting the code and placing the keys in memory powered by a battery and capacitor. Although the keys have been reverse engineered, decided to preserve this mechanism and so I had my kid be careful to always keep the board powered during the process. He did a good job for his first experience desoldering and soldering components.

Posted by: nathall on 2025-08-18 21:28:52

Not Macintosh related... but I've been distracted working on a project with my kid to build a full arcade cabinet for the Japanese version of Capcom's Street Fighter Alpha 3 (Zero 3).

That’s awesome! I used to be more heavily into video games of this vintage and earlier. I still will play sometimes, but my heavy collecting and restoring days are behind me.

I built a NeoGeo MVS setup many years ago, that’s the closest thing I ever came to a full ground-up cabinet construction.

Posted by: jmacz on 2025-08-18 22:13:30

That’s awesome! I used to be more heavily into video games of this vintage and earlier. I still will play sometimes, but my heavy collecting and restoring days are behind me.

I built a NeoGeo MVS setup many years ago, that’s the closest thing I ever came to a full ground-up cabinet construction.

Neo Geo, super cool! 🙂

Posted by: robin-fo on 2025-08-18 23:14:26

For the Quadra 950, it looks like something's wrong with the PSU

I think this is a well known problem with these

Posted by: jmacz on 2025-08-18 23:28:14

I think this is a well known problem with these

Yeah, saw a bunch of threads mentioning this. I am not going to bother trying to get the PSU working. I found a modern PSU that has independent regulation of every power rail and puts out 30A for 5V. Picking one up used in a few days so will see if that will work as a replacement.

Posted by: finkmac on 2025-08-19 05:13:18

huh which psu is that? 🤔 i have a need for a 30a 5v psu...

Posted by: jmacz on 2025-08-19 07:34:09

huh which psu is that? 🤔 i have a need for a 30a 5v psu...

Corsair HX1200 (not the HX1200i which only does 25A).

It’s discontinued but you can get them used around $40-$60.

Posted by: olePigeon on 2025-08-21 11:44:14

@jmacz There are a few companies that make specifically larger 4:3 displays for arcades. They're a bit pricey, but not nearly as expensive as they used to be. Here's an example of a 26" display for $300:

ULM26 Unico Phoenix Monitor Series 4:3 Arcade CRT Replacement LCD Moni

Information Units work in CGA, EGA, HDMI, and VGA modes. Ideal for use in most Arcade & Amusement cabinets. Replace your old outdated or burn-in CRT monitors with a Unico Phoenix Monitor Series 4: 3 LCD monitor and give your games life again with our easy to install CRT replacement LCD...

www.unico-usa.com

You can find larger displays on Alibaba, but who knows. A cursory look didn't show them much cheaper than from Unico, who probably gets them at a bulk discount.

Posted by: jmacz on 2025-08-21 11:44:53

@jmacz There are a few companies that make specifically larger 4:3 displays for arcades. They're a bit pricey, but not nearly as expensive as they used to be. Here's an example of a 26" display for $300:

ULM26 Unico Phoenix Monitor Series 4:3 Arcade CRT Replacement LCD Moni

Information Units work in CGA, EGA, HDMI, and VGA modes. Ideal for use in most Arcade & Amusement cabinets. Replace your old outdated or burn-in CRT monitors with a Unico Phoenix Monitor Series 4: 3 LCD monitor and give your games life again with our easy to install CRT replacement LCD...

www.unico-usa.com

Oh neat!! Thank you!

Posted by: olePigeon on 2025-08-21 11:50:26

@jmacz I edited it just as you replied. You can find even larger displays on Alibaba, but they weren't much cheaper.

Posted by: olePigeon on 2025-08-21 11:52:37

Also, welcome to the Arcade Club. 😀 I have 4 myself. Defender, Joust, Centipede, and Crystal Castles.

Posted by: jmacz on 2025-08-21 12:11:35

Also, welcome to the Arcade Club. 😀 I have 4 myself. Defender, Joust, Centipede, and Crystal Castles.

Thanks, and now I know who to ask for advice 🙂

Posted by: jmacz on 2025-08-21 17:36:41

Received that Corsair HX1200 PSU and temporarily connected it to the Quadra 950 logic board via a breakout board.

Yup, the PSU was dead. The logic board chimes and is booting. The only issue is the ADB port doesn't work. Tried a couple mice, tried a couple keyboards, nothing. Nothing visually wrong and there is 5V/GND present on the expected pins. Will need to take a closer look.

The PSU is large and will not fit into for example a Quadra 800/840AV but for the Quadra 900/950, plenty of room.

I will be taking the PSU apart and making the logic board harness come directly off the PSU as well as putting in the proper inversion logic for PS_ON/PFW so it will power on via ADB button. I'm going to transplant the relay for the passthrough power port from the original PSU and reuse it so that the passthrough port still works properly. Usually is driven via a 12V line, probably the same here.

Posted by: jmacz on 2025-08-21 17:48:55

Oh duh... forgot about the key switch... need to check if that's why the ADB port isn't responding...

EDIT: yup, it was the key.. ADB is fine. Cool.

Posted by: jmacz on 2025-08-24 13:59:43

Quadra 840AV and LC III are finished, and joining the others. Not pictured are my Mac II, SE/30, 512K, Quadra 950, and PowerBook 3400c. Thinned the herd down a bit... for now.

Hmm, there might be room for another IIci/IIcx/Quadra700 next to the IIfx... hmm..

Posted by: MJ313 on 2025-08-25 02:21:44

I don't think I've seen an 8500 that looks that good in a *very* long time-- well done!

Posted by: superjer2000 on 2025-08-29 12:34:36

The system is definitely stable with both 8MB and 16MB installed. Ran MacBench a few times and no crashes, and it's definitely faster so the accelerator is working.

Saw a few posts regarding SEs + accelerators with memory, and seems like there are some memory limitations and 4MB chunking done with the additional memory. MacTest Pro is probably getting confused based on the amount of system memory it sees and how these chunks are laid out.

Looks like I need to get Compact Virtual working in order to utilize the additional memory but I'm actually not sure how it's supposed to work. During boot, the Compact Virtual boot icon is X'd out. TransWarp 030 v1.5 is not (and works).

With 8MB Installed

If I open the Compact Virtual control panel I get an enabled slider which lets me choose between 8MB and 16MB application memory. If I choose 16MB, an error dialog pops up saying virtual memory requires a 68030+ so it's clearly not seeing the accelerator (when I installed Compact Virtual, the installer let me choose the accelerator installed and I chose the only Applied Engineering option available which is the TransWarp SE).

With 16MB Installed

If I open the Compact Virtual control panel I get a disabled slider - it won't let me choose anything. And as soon as I open the control panel I get the error dialog popping up saying virtual memory requires a 68030+.

It doesn't look like I've been successful getting Compact Virtual working hence the inability to use all the memory. But at least the system is no longer crashing with the additional memory installed.

Putting this away again for now to get back to some other things. Will try fumbling with it some more in the future.

Hi @jmacz I received and installed a TW2340 accelerator (a cousin of your 1340, but designed for the Macintosh Classic). I have tried multiple system software versions and I have tried both the Warp 030 v1.5 control panel (which I'm assuming is what you've referred to as the Transwarp 030 control panel) and the AE Cache control panel. The Warp 030 control panel has an Info button which shows only 4MB of physical RAM installed. Can you confirm if that Info button instead shows 16MB on your card?

Also, it seems that these accelerators have a 68EC030 processor (can you confirm on yours?) which would preclude them from being supported by Connectix Virtual (as the EC lacks an MMU). There is a blog with a fair amount of accelerator information at (https://www.savagetaylor.com/2022/0...3UW6E2EmGnd-Zbeq1Q_aem_NJAXbCGavi0lx1VxUZF6ZQ) which has some marketing materials for these boards which indicates that they do not support Virtual BUT they do support more than 4MB of RAM. A post on Apple Fritter seems to indicate that an owner of an earlier 1340 had to send it to AE for modification to support > 4MB but that it did it in a way that didn't use Virtual.

I understand some of your posts here to indicate that you were able to have the card show more than 4MB of RAM (in the Finder?) without Virtual - is that correct? Can you please elaborate?

Posted by: superjer2000 on 2025-08-29 12:52:20

Hi @jmacz I received and installed a TW2340 accelerator (a cousin of your 1340, but designed for the Macintosh Classic). I have tried multiple system software versions and I have tried both the Warp 030 v1.5 control panel (which I'm assuming is what you've referred to as the Transwarp 030 control panel) and the AE Cache control panel. The Warp 030 control panel has an Info button which shows only 4MB of physical RAM installed. Can you confirm if that Info button instead shows 16MB on your card?

Also, it seems that these accelerators have a 68EC030 processor (can you confirm on yours?) which would preclude them from being supported by Connectix Virtual (as the EC lacks an MMU). There is a blog with a fair amount of accelerator information at (https://www.savagetaylor.com/2022/0...3UW6E2EmGnd-Zbeq1Q_aem_NJAXbCGavi0lx1VxUZF6ZQ) which has some marketing materials for these boards which indicates that they do not support Virtual BUT they do support more than 4MB of RAM. A post on Apple Fritter seems to indicate that an owner of an earlier 1340 had to send it to AE for modification to support > 4MB but that it did it in a way that didn't use Virtual.

I understand some of your posts here to indicate that you were able to have the card show more than 4MB of RAM (in the Finder?) without Virtual - is that correct? Can you please elaborate?

Ha! You can ignore this. I subsequently found your sale post and see you sold the accelerator.

Posted by: jmacz on 2025-08-29 18:10:44

Ha! You can ignore this. I subsequently found your sale post and see you sold the accelerator.

Yeah, I sold it. But it went to @tt. If he still has it, you could try asking him? FWIW, 4MB worked fine and 8MB/16MB was stable but I could not get Connectix Virtual to recognize it and allow me to use the extra memory as a ram disk, etc.

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