LC II with a VGA monitor

#1 Sun, 16 Mar 2008 - 16:04 68kMLA

I am trying to revive an LC II because my iMac usb floppy drive can't seem to recognize 800k disks.

I don't have access to the 12in monitor that came with the thing and I have it connected (via a stubby converter plug) to a 15in SVGA monitor. When i turn it on, the monitor light stops blinking (meaning its getting some kind of signal) but there is no image. I also tried this with a monochrome POS monitor and got the same result. I am sure that the PRAM battery is dead, but jury-rigging in a lithium coin-cell did no good. I tried booting from a floppy, the disk reads, and I think it actually boots fully, but no picture.

SPECS: LCII (w/ LCIII case), mobo ram only, no additional video ram.

How can I get video out of this unit?

#2 Sun, 16 Mar 2008 - 16:46 68kMLA

Try a different VGA adapter. My guess is the one you have doesn't have any switches on it. Get one that has switches and set it for 640 x 480.

I had problems with a vga adapter with no switches on my LC that worked fine with my PM 9500.

#3 Mon, 17 Mar 2008 - 22:18 68kMLA

I rummaged around and found a DB-15M to DB-15F device with 10 DIP switches on it. I set it for 640x480, plugged my DB-15 to VGA into that, and got the grey screen on startup.

#4 Tue, 18 Mar 2008 - 19:37 68kMLA

UPDATE: My II won't boot now. I got the monitor working just fine, then I lost the 'bong' at startup (and no boot). I washed the mobo and got the 'bong' back(and some odd teakettle noises), but it can't seem to start up. I don't get a sad mac, or a blinking disk or anything, just the gray screen for as long as I leave it on. What would be involved in fixing this? Would it be worth it to buy an LCIII mobo and just call it an upgrade?

#5 Tue, 18 Mar 2008 - 21:16 68kMLA

UPDATE: My II won't boot now. I got the monitor working just fine, then I lost the 'bong' at startup (and no boot). I washed the mobo and got the 'bong' back(and some odd teakettle noises), but it can't seem to start up. I don't get a sad mac, or a blinking disk or anything, just the gray screen for as long as I leave it on. What would be involved in fixing this? Would it be worth it to buy an LCIII mobo and just call it an upgrade?

It's always a good thing when you have to replace an LCII board with a newer one. The LC didn't really get good until the III came out without any of the bugs or faults of the earlier machines. If you can get a newer board than a III that fits the case, that's even better because the LC just got better and better over time. I wouldn't imagine any LC motherboard would be very expensive.

#6 Tue, 18 Mar 2008 - 22:11 68kMLA

You could get an LC475/Quadra 605 motherboard, its a straight swap, and will give you a 25 Mhz 68LC040, and shouldn't be too hard to find.

#7 Tue, 18 Mar 2008 - 22:55 68kMLA

Turn the machine on, wait for the bong, then quickly turn it off and on once. That should leave enough juice in the system to get the video working, infact, it almost always does.