68kMLA Classic Interface

• 1984 ORIGINAL Mac (I pre-ordered through the University Consortium at the time).
  • Serial #F4172JYM0001
  • Some number of years later, I upgraded it to a MacPlus, so it has likely had a lot of work done on the inside
  • Pretty sure the internal floppy drive was upgraded at that time too (to 800kb)
  • With it, I have a 45Mb Jasmine DirectDrive external hard drive and a Novation SmartCat Plus 300/1200 modem
• 1987/1988(?) MacPlus
  • Serial #F842C5KM0001A
  • With it, I have a 40Mb Jasmine DirectDrive external hard drive
• 1984 Printer

if you are happy to open the machine first , that would be best

dont just pop the screws and start pulling it apart - watch some videos of others doing it - there are definate things NOT to do when opening

there are many many videos of people doing all of the following

dont use screw driver to pry the back off ........ it will cause permanent damage / dents to plastics ..... use patience ...... watch some videos

when the back has seperated , lay machine face/screen down on a soft/clean surface - lift the back ( bucket ) straight up , slowly - dont hit/break the back of the tube ............... everything with these machines is slow , careful work

*********** DO NOT PUT HANDS NEAR THE FLYBACK TRANSFORMER , OR ITS RED WIRE THAT GOES TO THE ANODE CAP *******
POSSIBLE HIGH VOLTAGE

(Anode cap is the 'suction cup' on the back of the screen - you cant miss it - follow its thick red wire , it leads to the flyback transformer thats soldered onto the analog board , the vertical board at the side - just stay away from the analog board for now )

anyway

this is standard for most macs , but especially for the early macs - WATCH SOME MORE VIDEOS ON THIS

when off , stand machine back upright - start looking in at logic board / cables / drives / connectors for anything obvious - disconnected cables , broken bits of anything

if you get that far ( and you should ) take some more pictures and post them here


chances are they will both probably power up with a beep as they are

but if you have the curiosity , you will see how much more their is to learn about these machines when you take them apart , find faults and fix them ......... there is also the terrible danger of falling into hobby !!!!


watch some videos ........... takes lots of pictures as you go for reference ........ do not rush ............. if your not sure , just ask

Unless the Mac has had a hard life with high hours (which I suspect it did not), you should be bravely be able to turn it on and with a reasonable amount of luck, it should function, perhaps with one more more issues which are easily repaired. Over these years Mac Plus motherboards and 128/512/Plus analogue boards are usually quite solid, and tend to bow out from heavy past use/poor storage conditions which yours wasn't from.

What you might find when flicking the switch:

- Bong and no raster = dry solder joints on the analogue board, tap the side to see if it flickers on
- Immediate Sad Mac - Mac Plus RAM is faulty, usually slots need to be cleaned and RAM reseated or replaced
- Smoke and stench (or, smoke and stench after a period of time ) the RIFA paper line filter capacitor has cracked and failed, can be removed and not essential for use, but best replace with new polymer X2 replacement
- Things that aren't so good: ticking and low voltage, bright line on the CRT, no power whatsoever = more diagnostics required
- Or: it boots to a nice happy Mac. The floppy drive will likely not work with grease having gummed it up making accepting a floppy difficult.

JB

I believe the upgrade to a Mac Plus involves just replacing the logic board, rather than performing work on the original board. If correct, then there should not be complications from that upgrade.

I agree with just starting it up. My own 40 year old Mac Plus that hadn't been used in a decade started up just fine a year or two ago. I replaced the analog board capacitors last year just due to their age, and there was no moisture under any of them. Many compact Macs newer than the SE (example: SE/30) need capacitors changed and the logic board cleaned before starting them up to avoid the risk of damage from leaking electrolyte.