Thread

IIci no boot

68kMLA Hardware 15 posts Jul 10, 2011 to Jul 13, 2011

#1 Sun, 10 Jul 2011 - 03:05 68kMLA

Dug my IIci out of storage and pluged it in. It powers on with the keyboard switch but:

1. no chime

2. no video. I'm using a VGA adapter that works well with my Quadra 605.

So I took every card out of it. changed the battery with the one from my Q605.

Took all memory out except two sims.

Same deal. No chime or video. Hard drive spins, power light comes on.

What's next?

#2 Sun, 10 Jul 2011 - 03:57 68kMLA

I know you took out the PRAM battery, but check the voltage. The quadra may run fine, but i recall the II** series require a fully working PRAM battery to display video. Even if it's adequate voltage for the quadra, it may not be for the II series mac

#3 Sun, 10 Jul 2011 - 04:28 68kMLA

Thanks coius.

What's the minimum voltage required from the 3.6v battery to boot the IIci?

#4 Sun, 10 Jul 2011 - 05:09 68kMLA

For a IIci, it's 2.8V.

For the record, it's 3.2V in the six-slot IIs.

#5 Sun, 10 Jul 2011 - 06:48 68kMLA

With no chime, I suspect capacitor leakage. You should get some sort of sound with a dead battery, either a chime or a crash. I run my IIci's with no batteries for fear of the dreaded explosion.

If you have ever had a leaky battery in a IIci, acid will go through a hole in the bottom of the plastic battery holder onto the logic board and eat a trace that goes to the ROM chips. This can only be found by unsoldering and removing the battery holder and inspecting the traces.

#6 Mon, 11 Jul 2011 - 02:22 68kMLA

Dennis,

When I changed the battery I looked for leakage and found none - board is clean around the battery area. I guess I'll have to re-cap it. When I do I will pull the battey holder and look closer.

#7 Mon, 11 Jul 2011 - 03:35 68kMLA

When you are in there recapping the thing, also solder in a CR2032 battery holder so you can use something less expensive. I've had good luck with them as alternatives.

#8 Tue, 12 Jul 2011 - 16:44 68kMLA

As an aside, the IIci is one of the machines which does not need a good battery in order to boot properly. When a IIci won't boot, replacing the battery will never fix it.

As others wrote, it's either leaking/bad capacitors, or a failed power supply.

#9 Tue, 12 Jul 2011 - 21:53 68kMLA

The RAM slots in a IIci are in two groups of four slots. You need a minimum of 4 (same-size?) RAM modules to fill one bank.

#10 Tue, 12 Jul 2011 - 22:21 68kMLA

As mentioned you need to install RAM 4 at a time and they need to be the same size. Since the internal video uses RAM without a good set of RAM you get no video. Also just because the VGA adapter works on a quadra doesn't mean it will work on a 030 class machine with built in video (they tend to not work at higher then 640x480 resolution and are picky about using sync on green monitors).

#11 Tue, 12 Jul 2011 - 22:45 68kMLA

I have the VGA adapter for use with my minidock and a duo. When plugged into my monitor it works fine at 640x480x60 and scales nicely. However 832x624x75 doesn't work. I'm not sure why, but I do know that my monitor does not like 75hz and that is part of the problem. (75hz doesn't work under windows 7 either)

#12 Tue, 12 Jul 2011 - 22:51 68kMLA

832x624 is not a normal PC type resolution, some monitors will not support it (Sony CRT ones will). Newer LCD monitors might not like it either (just checked and this Samsung monitor doesn't give me that resolution).

#13 Tue, 12 Jul 2011 - 23:19 68kMLA

Do you know of any software that I can use to specify the resolution and refresh rate?

#14 Tue, 12 Jul 2011 - 23:43 68kMLA

Just use the correct video adapter (one that is 640x480 native or can be set to that by jumpers).

#15 Wed, 13 Jul 2011 - 01:24 68kMLA

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270772598748&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT

That is the item I have. It doesn't do 832x624 because it doesn't support it and b/c of the 75hz issue. That is why I asked if there is a way to specify the resolutions more than the limited options in the control strip and monitor CP.