I know about the bad caps and the PRAM battery problems all too well. I dug a Mac Classic out of the garage of a house we lived in for a few months, and the first problem was that it's sound was shot I haven't replaced the caps yet, but as soon as I opened it, I removed the PRAM battery. I never leave them in anymore, even in my 6100, because it's not worth the risk. I'd rather just let the time be 1967 and call it good. As a side note: I did find a way to prevent the PRAM battery from destroying the systemboard, It was as simple as getting a second PRAM holder from a defunct 6100 (Some of the chips on the board became de-soldered, and since I already have one, it wasn't worth the repair time, plus mine had more features, like a CD-Rom) and I took a piece of wooden dowel that was the same diameter as the PRAM battery, attaching the postitive terminal to the "Positive" part of the dowel, and the negative terminal to the "negative" part of the dowel, then attached wires, and placed the PRAM socket in a place outside the Mac (In an expantion slot, or other place) and this allows me to use a few good PRAM batteries in a bunch of different Macs, and never end up with a corroded mainboard (which was good, because the PRAM battery from the classic decided to corrode and eat out a small hole in the top of my filing cabinet) I've gotten more of the battery holders to do this mod to the rest of my Macs, but haven't gotten around to it yet... (Only one that this won't apply to is my Performa, since that uses the box-shaped battery, I just attached a 3 AA battery box to the back of that one, and a resistor to make it the right voltage)
Just my inventive mind trying to make old things work the way I want I guess... -Christian (Pizzaboy192) On Mon, Mar 8, 2010 at 3:30 PM, Wolf <[email protected]> wrote: > i would say, going inside and replacing all the caps and the PRAM battery, > and cleaning both boards would be a very good idea, as it would (imo) keep > the boards in better shape (no leaking electrolyte all over the place) and > make the computer last much longer than is currently thought possible. > > i had an old IBM AT motherboard that got destroyed from simply sitting, as > it's soldered-down CMOS battery leaked out all over the board. i could see > the same thing happening to the old compact Macs, especially those that are > forgotten about. so, i think frequent use is also a good thing, as if > something goes or is going bad you will be more likely to find out about it. > mechanical parts such as the floppy drive and hard drive (if equipped) i > believe work better if not left to sit. > > on the other hand, CRTs wear out with use too. how much, i don't really > know. but its something to keep in mind i guess. i wouldn't leave a compact > Mac powered on unnecessarily for the same reason i wouldn't leave a very old > television on when i'm not watching it. > > the analog board i think would also deteriorate with use too, although > replacing the caps and other components at the known failure points would > negate that. > > just some thoughts > > On Mon, Mar 8, 2010 at 2:58 PM, David Colvin <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> Let me ask everyone something. If a person wants his early Mac (no fan) to >> last forever, whats the best approach? Use it occasionally for short >> periods? Use it for several hours each day? Put it inside a plastic bag, box >> it up and never take it out and play with it? Or some other approach? I >> would be curious to hear opinions about this. > > -- > ----- > You received this message because you are a member of the Vintage Macs > group. > The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/vintagemacs.shtml and our > netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml > To post to this group, send email to [email protected] > To leave this group, send email to [email protected] > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/vintage-macs > > Support for older Macs: http://lowendmac.com/services/ -- -Proudly Sent from a Windows PC -- ----- You received this message because you are a member of the Vintage Macs group. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/vintagemacs.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To leave this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/vintage-macs Support for older Macs: http://lowendmac.com/services/
