Lisa doesn't power on - power lights up for 1sec, speaker clicks, then off.

From: Ray Arachelian <ray_at_email.domain.hidden>
Date: Mon, 28 Nov 2005 16:11:05 -0500


Hey guys,

My Lisa doesn't power on anymore. I was going through my spare parts in order to inventory what I have, so I swapped out several I/O and CPU cards.

For a few of the cards, the Lisa exhibited some strange behavior - I'd push the power button, the light would light up for maybe half a second, and I'd hear the speaker click, but it wouldn't turn on. Both of the two spare I/O cards I tested had some battery leak damage, one I know is dead from a long time ago, the other did leak, but I caught it and removed the battery pack and cleaned it up, but perhaps the corrosion spread over time, or was marginal enough to work when I last tested it a few years ago.

When I was done swapping boards, I placed the originals back, but still got the power light on for 1/2 a second and no power. :-( So I've got a totally non-working Lisa now.

I wasn't aware of this until I read Larry Pina's Mac repair book, but the I/O board I had in there is a new one designed for the 2/10 or XL and has the extra chip that replaces the LisaLite board. So I was never able to get the floppy drive to work, because the motherboard and case were setup as a Lisa2/5 or just plain Lisa 2. (I believe this board works - except for the fact that it's inside the wrong motherboard since it passes the power on self test - unless the LisaLite or motherboard can harm it.)

I don't believe I can get my hands on a Lisa 2/10 motherboard any time soon :-) though perhaps I can rewrire the connector in some way to hook up this I/O board directly to the floppy drive. Anyone have the pinouts I'd need for wiring this board directly to the floppy drive?

Far more likely, perhaps I can repair one of the two corroded I/O boards which are from Lisa2's or 2/5's, and make use the LisaLite card which does exist in the floppy drive bay.

The config in this Lisa is a 1.8A power supply (known to be good before the swapping of cards), H ROMs, and the wrong 2/10 I/O board - no widget, nor ProFile attached when I tested it.

Anyway, when I was done testing all the boards and put back the originals, the Lisa would no longer turn on and no matter what I did, I got the same behavior - pushed the power button, the light comes on for half a second, and I hear the speaker click, then the light goes off and it doesn't actually turn on.

I also had trouble fitting the CPU board back in, it doesn't quite mate with the connector on the motherboard unless I push it towards the connector, then it does make the connection, and I do see it in the socket. I suspect that perhaps part of the connector doesn't quite make it in all the way, even though I see it in there, perhaps being in the card cage for so long, it has warped a bit, and now it's no longer making contact all the way.

I left the Lisa unplugged, hoping the boards would acclimate over time so that I can try re-seating them later on. I had it in storage for quite some time now, haven't powered it on in several years until last night. It did power up initially, and passed all the self tests before I tried to swap cards.

I'm not sure whether my issue is similar, or even the same as the previously discussed chirp-on-power, as this is (was?) a known good power supply, but seems to me that it may be related to the COP421 controller in some way, or perhaps the I/O board doesn't see a CPU board attached and doesn't quite power on.

So my questions are:

  1. Is there a known symptom/fix for the power button lighting up for half a second this way? Is it an I/O board, motherboard, or CPU board issue? Anyone else had a CPU board that got slightly warped and wouldn't fit? Any way to relax them enough to fit without damaging them?
  2. Is there a way to use a Lisa 2/10 I/O board and rewrire it directly to the floppy drive without going through the motherboard, or rewrire the existing connector from to the floppy. (I believe the end that goes into the LisaLite card has more pins than the cable that goes from the LisaLite to the floppy, so perhaps Apple just left some unused pins, and hopefully all the ones that go to the floppy are there.)
  3. Would placing such a board inside a Lisa 2 with a LisaLite floppy card damage either the I/O board itself, the motherboard, or the LisaLite card?
  4. What's involved in repairing an I/O board with a battery leak? I can certainly rewire/resolder the missing traces - at least the ones that are still visible. (I know one of the two dead I/O boards that I tested has a broken VIA chip since the plastic on the chip shows it melted. :-) so I can possibly use parts from this one to repair the other.) Any tips, tricks, or things to watch out for?
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Received on 2005-11-28 13:11:31

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