Macintosh IIci - no life even after recap

Glitch

New Tinkerer
Apr 29, 2025
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Hey all!
I have been collecting some old Macs the last couple of years, a Macintosh Plus, a Powerbook 170, a Macintosh IIvx, and a Quadra 700. All of them came to me working but needing either maintenance work like recapping, or in the case of the Powerbook, plastic repair. So I'd say I'm fairly confident in general repair work and soldering, without really knowing too much about electronics. Recently I picked up a Macintosh IIci that came to me not working. The power supply was dead and there was signs of minor capacitor leakage on the logic board. Having had success with my other Macs I was confident I could get this one working, so I set about cleaning up any corrosion I could see and recapping the board. Since I have a Quadra 700 I decided to use its PSU for the time being, beofre spending time recapping the one in the IIci.

Having done all the work, I plugged the IIci in and...nothing. No errors, no beeps, no nothing. The fan on the PSU doesn't in try to spin up. At this point I'm pretty lost. From what I've read it seems my first go to should be the power circuit on the logic board, but I'm still not sure what the entails. Long story short, I'm hoping someone can give some pointers or guide me to what I should be trying and in what order to see if the board is indeed repairable with my limited skill set.

I'd upload a picture of the whole board but honestly the damage is almost imperpectible to the naked eye, but I can definetely try and take some macro photos if anyone wants to see a specific part of the board.

Any help appreciated, thanks!
 

phunguss

Active Tinkerer
Dec 24, 2023
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Stillwater, MN
I am no electronics expert, either. But, many here are more skilled and their visual inspection could provide clues. Please upload the image of the whole board. That is a starting point. And you will likely get guidance for things to focus on, or requests for closer photos of specific areas.
 

scj312

Tinkerer
Oct 29, 2021
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It's possible for cap leakage to result in damaged traces within the startup circuit, given how many caps are there. The place on the logic board to look at is in the area underneath the power supply. Magnification may be required to see any breaks in the traces. It's also possible there is a broken trace beneath one of the replaced caps or beneath UD13 or UE13.
 

speakers

Tinkerer
Nov 5, 2021
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San Jose, CA
peak-weber.net
The IIci startup logic is notoriously susceptible to damage. One testing trick is connect PSU pin 9 (signal) directly to pin 10 (+5v standby) to bypass the logic and force power-on.
 
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Hugotronics

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Apr 11, 2025
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Glitch

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Apr 29, 2025
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Hey all! Thanks for the suggestions, and sorry for the late reply! I've attached a few images of the board, in case that helps. Unfortunately, I don't have access to a microscope or the like so I'm trying to get by with only my eyes, and while I can clearly see damage between the expansion slots (C & D) next to C16 and some between the chips above the three axial capacitors, but that's about it. I've done some continuity checks and there seems to be a bad trace next to C16), but could that stop it from booting? I've tried to test other traces, but honestly I find it mostly impossible to follow them, so I guess I'd need to know where they end up, which is doable if I know what traces to check...since there's a lot of them. As for underneath the PSU and around UE13 and UD13 I can't really see any damage, not that that means there isn't any.

@speakers That sounds like a good place to start. How would I do that though? I've done similar bypasses on atx power supplies to but here I'm not sure how to jump those pins when the PSU in in situ.
 

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phunguss

Active Tinkerer
Dec 24, 2023
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Stillwater, MN
Did you clean this board? Did you do the recap?

The traces near caps by the 3 big coaxials, I can't tell if that is flux residue or a scratch from the soldering iron.
Screen Shot 2025-06-01 at 4.02.15 PM.jpg


Near Cap C16, you can see most of the endpoints, so I assume you continuity tested most of those traces. Look at UH2 and see if you can clean up those solder points on that chip. I can't tell if that is dust/residue/corrosion, or maybe cold solder joints.
Screen Shot 2025-06-01 at 4.03.20 PM.jpg
 

Glitch

New Tinkerer
Apr 29, 2025
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Thanks, I'll check those spots and see what I can find

Yes, I cleaned the board. Not sure if the previous owner tried doing any repairs, but I'm pretty sure no one had tried recapping it at least.

First I removed all the old caps, cleaned the board as best I could with IPA and white vinegar, I then soaked the board in IPA for a few hours, brushing it a few times while soaked. Afterwards I used white vinegar and IPA to clean up the remaining corrosion I could see. There were quite a few bluegreen corrosive spots spread around the old caps on the board, not particular big ones but quite a few and spread out, but I did get rid of all that I could see. After that I put the new caps in.