LisaList2

It's a perfectly achievable thing to do. I have a wad of resistors and thick wires attached to a PSU connector that I use for occasional PSU testing. I call it the Lisa 0. To turn on the PSU, you short a particular PSU pin to +5V Standby if memory serves. These contacts are on opposite sides of the edge connector, so even without this gizmo you can do it with a crocodile clip if you want.

Two thoughts:

First, the Lisa hardware manual indicates lower and upper bounds for current draw on each power rail. This suggests that before you take measurements of your PSU's performance, you ought to have an appropriate load (i.e. resistor) on each rail in order to place the PSU in a condition that adequately simulates ordinary usage. It's possible that the PSU may not run at all without a load on at least some rails. Whether that's the case may vary between the original Apple PSU and the Datapower PSU that was supplied with the 2/10.

Second, the Lisa PSU puts out plenty of power, appropriately enough. You will need to use hefty power resistors if you are running the PSU for longer than a very brief time, and even then you will have to find something to do with all of the heat. When in use, parts of my Lisa 0 become too hot to touch pretty quickly, so I never leave it running for very long. Consult resistor datasheets for power ratings before choosing your parts, and if you want to stress test a PSU for longer, you are probably better off using a bench electronic load or some similar piece of equipment that can cool itself. This doesn't have to be outrageously expensive (though it certainly can be if you want): you can buy a handful of pretty cheap loads on AliExpress that will do the job if you don't mind the risk associated with, well, very cheap things.

Curious to find out more about this repro psu - is like the other atx modified version?  I would rather work with a repro as a daily driver that OEM - though honestly they are fairly solid.

Agreed with BMW there should be a mark/documented imperfection or mark otherwise it becomes sketchy.

Quote from: ried on February 05, 2026, 11:10:31 PMThe seller, Calvin, is the same person who also made and sold me a modern PSU replacement. I have several examples that he made, and their performance has been inconsistent. Still, a genuinely impressive effort and they mostly work. I'm sure he's improved on them since.

I guess recently ran a search on this board related to this but I wasn't getting any hits so I'm going to reach out and see if people can recall what it is I think I saw.

It related largely to being able to take a Lisa power supply put it on your bench put a pen or some non electrical item into engage the soft switch and then with the use of I think a resistor between two pins you are able to plug in the power supply and energize it and then you'd be able to read power levels off of different pins kind of a test bench sanity check.

Of course this all may have been wishful thinking or the passive dreams of a senior citizen cross pollinating some other power supply testing ritual but I seem to think that it's true and it made me think in talking to another member that that would probably beg for a very good bread boarded card to build something that the user would be able to take a power supply slide it over the cart edge connector Set the read switch apply power and then press a button to energize it and get some type of 12 or 5 Volt status light lit up to let you know that the system is live and then the exposed finger safe pin out pads to probe and get some sanity numbers from. If such a tool was available I think it would be worth a few coin to have in their arsenal particularly when they can avoid having to resuscitate a dedicated machine if they so happen not to have one. ahem

So if anybody can tell me if I'm dreaming or delusional about this impromptu test procedure, I'd appreciate it likewise I'm sure anybody else found in that similar dilemma would be interested in hearing about the idea of being able to do such a thing and create such a simple PC board. With a nice 3D printed snap on enclosure all those things would make it really sexy too. Just me and my early second cup of coffee thinking anyway if somebody has some input on this I'd appreciate hearing from it and I'm sure so would any one else who has said Gee I wonder if this power supply is any good.

Thanks in advance for your input and guidance and as always LISA ON!

https://chicago.craigslist.org/nwc/sys/d/buffalo-grove-apple-lisa-ii/7924363496.html

Not my listing, I just found it.

They are asking $1,450 which is a steal given that it comes with the original Lisa 1 mouse, keyboard, profile hard drive, extra parallel card, software and manuals. The original Ni-Cd battery is still on the I/O board, but the photo does not show scary amounts of corrosion.

We can certainly try to help!
 How about taking the cover off and filming the startup of the profile while pointing to the stepper motor we could see if the motor gets stuck in a certain position.

Quotethe drive light is READY instantly and never flickers just solid from power up.

Reseating all of the socketed chips on the ProFile's controller board can sometimes bring it back to working condition. ymmv

Sounds like your Profile hard drive isn't initiating its surface scan after powering on, much less successfully completing that scan (takes just a couple of minutes) and subsequently indicating that it's ready with a solid red light. You should ensure your Profile hard drive is capable of completing that step.

Have you confirmed that your Profile's hard disk spins up and gets to operating speed? Some of them do not and need a gentle push to get moving after all these years.

A dedicated discussion thread under Troubleshooting and Repair may be in order: https://lisalist2.com/index.php/board,14.0.html

Quote from: ried on April 13, 2026, 10:24:26 PMJoe, do you have the ESProFile's toggle switch in diagnostic mode? Do you have a computer connected to it via USB and a serial connection going to a terminal app? If so, what is the ESProFile telling you via the terminal app?

Heres the total picture, first yes to all your questions.

Connect ESProfile to PC, fire up Terminal app, go right into diag menu.
Menus respond.

Power off ESProfile, plug it into profile drive, power up Profile, red light comes on solid on Profile, never blinks, never goes off.
Plug USB cable back into ESProfile, wont boot. Unplug power from ESProfile,  Green light comes on ESProfile.

If I power up the profile drive and I power up the ESP profile separately once I plug the DB 25 into the back of the profile, drive the ESP profile hangs and doesn't respond to any keyboard entries and  wont reboot. It's gonna be a problem with the profile drive it's gonna be a short in it or something. My understanding is when you powered up the red light should come on briefly and then flicker and then come on Solid that's not what's happening here you turn on the profile drive the red light comes on and stays on, and never blinks.

The first problem I think I hve is the drive light is READY instantly and never flickers just solid from power up.

Who is the repair guru on  one  of these?

Joe, do you have the ESProfile's toggle switch in diagnostic mode? Do you have a computer connected to it via USB and a serial connection going to a terminal app? If so, what is the ESProFile telling you via the terminal app?