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Macintosh Classic
History

I used
to see
this

computer nearly every day of my high school career in the classroom of my high
school bible teacher. At the time it was already around 10 years old and very out
of date in the heady days of Windows 98. Fast forward to 2014 and now I've
become the owner of this machine.

It still fired right up but when I opened it up for a cleaning I noticed a lot of
corrosion and leakage from the capacitors on both the logic board and analog
board. First step was to replace all motherboard capacitors with tantalum
equivilents. Second step, analog board. Currently still a work in progress, but
immensely satisfying.

The Classic was the last Macintosh to use the 68K processor and was roughly the
same speed as the Macintosh SE... Minus the PDS expansion port which made it
an inferior Macintosh to the SE which it directly replaced.
 One nice feature
was the ability to
boot the Mac
directly from ROM
using the key
combo CMD +
OPTION + X + O .
So I guess that's a
feature the SE
wasn't capable of...
Check out the size
of the Classic
motherboard vs the
Macintosh Plus.
Shows the progress of miniturization in the period of 1986-1990.

Motherboard Restoration

You might have

difficulty seeing it
but this is a closeup
of the logic board
after I initially
removed it from the
Classic.

a) 25 years of dust
b) Leaking
electrolyte. You
should be able to
see near the serial#
at the bottom where
it's gone. Also many
of the chips are
covered in green
goo around the
pins.

Here's a list of electrolytic capacitors needed for a Classic. There are other solid
state capacitors on the board but those are unlikely needing replacement. You can
see the general steps for this repair on my SE/30 Restoration page. In this job I
chose to go with tantalum surface mount caps instead of electrolytic. The
advantage is that I won't need to worry about leakage anymore.

Qty Designation Value Image

7 C1,C2,C4,C5,C6,C8,C9 47uf @ 16V

1 C3 1uf @ 50V

Progress Photos

Finished!
Analog Board

After repairing the

logic board I took a
look at the analog
board... Sigh...
Green goo was
leaking out of the
2200uF capacitors.
Time to fix them. In
this case I chose
through hole
electrolytic
capacitors similar to
the stock caps.
Here's a list again.

Qty Value
4 1uf @ 50V
1 10uf @ 25V
1 1000uf @ 10V
2 1000uf @ 16V
1 1000uf @ 25V
1 220uf @ 16V
2 220uf @ 50V
1 220uf @ 250V
2 2200uf @ 10V
1 2200uf @ 16V
1 4.7uf @ 250V
1 47uf @ 16V
2 47uf @ 25V
1 470uf @ 10V
3 470uf @ 25V
1 470uf @ 50V

After removing the capacitors it looks like the corrosion was worse then I thought.
Here's a look at the analog board after cleaning it up and after the original
capacitors are removed. I marked each capacitor value so I wouldn't forget. (This
was before I removed the 220uF 250V capacitors).

First Boot!

Check it out. After replacing all the analog board capacitors it boots like a champ!

Current
Specifications

Processor: 8Mhz
68000
RAM: 4MB 150ns
30-pin SIMMs (will
not work with two-
chip 1 MB SIMMs.)
ROM: 512KB
Addressing: 24 bit
only
Video Resolution: 9"
b&w screen, 512 x
342 pixels
HDD: 40MB
Quantum SCSI
internal
External 1: 20x
SCSI CD-ROM
Internal Expansion:
None
External Expansion:
Floppy, DB-25 SCSI,
ADB x1, DIN-8 RS-422 x2, Audio-Out
Battery: 3.6V Lithium
Gestalt ID: 17
Production Dates: October 15, 1990 - September 14, 1992
Original Price: $3700
Size (HxWxD): 13.2" x 9.7" x 11.2 "
Weight: 16lbs
Part #: M0420
OS: 7.1 (Can use System 6.0.7 to 7.5.5)

Links

LowEndMac.com: Mac Classic

 Repair Service Capacitor Reference DIY Information Testimonials Video
Photos For-Sale Schematics blank Repair books

Macintosh Classic Analog Board

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Macintosh Classic Analog Board

October 15, 1990

Like in the LC power supplies, You could only replace

these radial capacitors. These are that leak causing the
“fishy” smell.

Capacitor list:

1 - 1000µf - 10v - radial

1 - 1000µf - 16v - radial
1 - 1000µf - 35v - radial
2 - 2200µf - 10v - radial
1 - 2200µf - 35v - radial

Click on the photo for a larger view

Also replace the 2 - 470µf 25v - radials as well