Update March 2020: Added video near end from a recent repair and some upgrades done to this machine.
The Apple Macintosh SE/30 was the fastest all-in-one Black & White compact Mac ever sold. Introduced in 1989, it is a very cool little system with big system features.
I was lucky enough to find a pair of these classic Apple computers at a garage sale, and for $5 each no less. In the video above we take a look at them to see what condition they are in after sitting for a couple decades. We also look at the effects of battery leakage on one board and test the use of WD40 to neutralize the leaking material through a process called saponification.
Fortunately there is enough here to work with so the next step was to test booting the machine. In order to do that we needed a working floppy so, in the above video, we completely refurbish one.
The main-board restoration had a bit of a hiccup but, in the end, we got it working as you can view in the above video. Just remember that, unlike most other capacitors, tantalum caps are marked on the positive side!
The video where we recap the analog board and Sony power supply covers a lot of ground. The link above is to a regular length video but you can also view an extended length version with more detail and instructions here!
Bringing the series to a close we put all the parts from the previous videos together into a very nice Macintosh SE/30 for our collection!
There was still a persistent screen flicker issue so, for #MARCHintosh2022 I fixed the problem and upgraded the machine with a Floppy EMU and BlueSCSI. The machine is now rock solid and gets regular use, mainly by nephews playing Oregon Trail!
Classic Mac Repair Notes
There is an excellent repair guide on repair and service of all the classic Macs, including the SE/30, by Thomas H Lee that has been floating around since 2000. I followed more than a couple bad links before finding a good copy so, to save you the trouble, you can download it here (with permission).
The Mac SE/30 released in 1989 with a list price of $4400. Being a compact all-in-one it was somewhat portable and was very fast for its day.
Features and Specifications
Base Specifications
- Motorola 68030 Processor running at 16MHz
- Motorola 68882 Floating Point Unit (Math Co-Processor)
- 256K ROM (Mixed 24 and 32 Bit)
- 1 MB RAM Standard (Some had 4MB)
- 8 RAM Expansion Slots (Expandable to 128MB but Required ROM Replacement)
- 9 Inch Monochrome CRT (512×324 Resolution, 1-Bit)
- 3.5″ Floppy Drive (1.44MB Apple SuperDrive)
- Came in 40 MB, 80 MB or No HDD versions
Ports
- Internal SCSI for HDD
- Internal Floppy
- Rear Apple Desktop Bus (ADB) x2
- Rear Floppy
- Rear SCSI
- Rear Printer
- Rear Modem
- Rear Stereo Audio
Operating System
- Can run System 6.0.3 thru 7.5.5 Native
- Can run System 7.6 thru 8.1 with a 32-Bit Clean ROM Upgrade
Other Features
- Weight: 19.5 Pounds (8.8 Kg)
- Size 9.6 x 13.6 x 10.9 Inches (WHD) (24 x 35 x 28 cm)
