WARNING - This article contains advice on cleaning an
SE/30 that should only be
undertaken at your own risk. This article discusses washing components
of the SE/30 - water and electricity do not mix, so if you do decide to
proceed, take care to research the project in detail first and take
care.
After my previous article, Creating Classic Mac Boot
Floppies in OS X, I had hoped by now to be publishing a piece
on the joys of A/UX on my SE/30. Unfortunately, it wasn't to be.
I've had my SE/30 for about 5 years now, but about 4 years ago I
upgraded the RAM to 128 MB and installed the ROM SIMM from a IIsi (so that I could access all that
memory without installing Mode32). Upon switch it on, I noticed some
very strange artifacts on the screen - a sort of checkboard on acid,
with some very regularly patterened areas and some areas almost looking
like white noise. After over a minute, the machine whirred into
life.
Simasimac symptoms.
This phenomena has been reported before - it lasts for the duration
of the RAM check after a cold boot, so with 128 MB that takes quite a
while. When I first saw it, I had feared my SE/30 had succumbed to the
dreaded Simasimac.
What is Simasimac?
Simasimac is, in the words of a friend, "a cute word for a horrible
problem". It's a term I first came across on the Repair
Mac website. The term describes what you see on screen - black and
white lines (simasima means
"zebra like pattern" in Japanese).
There are a series of potential solutions outlined on the site:
- Check and clean the connections between the RAM and ROM SIMMs and
their slots.
- Remove the SE/30's PDS card (if installed).
- Check the battery on the motherboard and replace if necessary.
- Replace the capacitors on the motherboard.
Given the drastic nature of this option, it's usually the last
resort. Old capacitors can leak over the motherboard, so not only do
they fail, but they can also cause other problems as their conductive
contents create shorts.
It's possible to revive a Mac with leaked capacitors by washing the
motherboard. This removes any leaked material from the capacitors and
can make the machine operational once more - however, washing alone is
not a long-term cure, because those capacitors will continue to
leak.
Simasimac with My SE/30
The pattern my Mac showed 5 years ago was not a Simasimac, much to
my relief, but over the last 6 months that has changed. After some time
in storage, my SE/30 had begun to behave strangely. Sometimes it
recognised the hard drive; sometimes it didn't. Booting took an age,
regardless of how much RAM was installed at the time. Sometimes the
whole machine seemed to be running in slow motion - right down to the
blinking question mark when it couldn't find the hard drive. Something
was amiss.
One day I removed the IIsi ROM SIMM and installed the original SE/30
ROM to try to create a "stock" machine and work out what was causing
the problems. But the Simasimac pattern was still there on boot up.
With a sick feeling, I removed the motherboard and took it over to the
window where there was good light.
Stretching almost an inch in each direction around each and every
capacitor there was unmistakably a greasy residue spread out across the
motherboard. No doubt about it, this was Simasimac.
There were two things to do. Ultimately, if the SE/30 was to
survive, I would need to replace the capacitors. But firstly, I needed
to get rid of that residue from the motherboard - to be honest, there
was so much of it everywhere that I'm surprised the machine lasted as
long as it did!
Washing the Motherboard
Many people have written about washing their motherboards in a
dishwasher, but without access to a dishwasher, I had to do it by
hand.
After disassembling the SE/30 and removing the motherboard, I
removed the RAM and the ROM SIMM, as well as the battery cover and
battery. I prepared a bowl of hot water and washing up liquid as if I
was doing the dishes. I made the water hotter than normal, so hot, in
fact, that I could only keep my hands in it for a few seconds at a
time.
I placed the motherboard in for an initial soak for a few minutes,
then began to scrub around the capacitors using a cheap 7p (11¢)
medium firmness toothbrush. Once the motherboard is wet, it's very
difficult to see where the residue is, so it's worth making sure you
know where to scrub before you begin cleaning.
I worked methodically around the motherboard, making sure to clean
each and every capacitor and surrounding area. I also used the
opportunity to clean out the ROM and RAM slots.
Once cleaned, I drained the washing up bowl (but didn't rinse it
clean) and then refilled it with hot water - this gave me a bowl of hot
water with a small amount of detergent that was clear enough to see
what I was doing. In this water, I proceeded around the motherboard
once more, cleaning thoroughly with the toothbrush.
Again, I drained the water, refilled the bowl (now almost pure
water), and repeated the process.
Finally, I cleaned the motherboard under a running tap to ensure
that any last traces of detergent were washed away. After leaving it to
drip dry for 10 minutes, I transferred it to a warm spot in my house to
dry thoroughly.
The surface of the motherboard appears to dry very quickly, but it's
good advice to leave it to dry for several days so that the space
underneath all of the components has dried out throughly. I left mine
in the airing cupboard with the door propped open for the best part of
a week.
The Moment of Truth
Then came the moment of truth . . . reassembling the SE/30
and switching it back on. I must confess to having had some doubt that
this technique would work - it just seems to be so strange to be
washing electrical components. However, I can report that this method
did revive the SE/30. It's by no means a permanent fix - the capacitors
can and will leak again and ultimately need replacing. The need to
allow components to dry means that this isn't a quick or simple fix,
but it does work and can bring a dead machine back to life.
