Macintosh LCII failure

indibil

New Tinkerer
Hello.

I haven't received any replies since my last post. Perhaps I didn't use the oscilloscope correctly; it was my first time, but I think it illustrates the problem.

Today I ran a test. I had the motherboard from an LC3 and swapped the two sound chips. The LC2 with the LC3 chip has the same problem, and the LC3 with the LC2 chip works perfectly.

So, if the fault is located further back from the measured point, and it's not the sound chip, what could be failing? A transistor? A ceramic capacitor?

I'm lost. Can anyone guide me?

Thanks.
 

Garrett

Tinkerer
Oct 31, 2021
158
149
43
South Carolina
That's interesting that when swapping DFACs, the issue stays with the board, not the sound chip.

I had an LCII with bad audio once, and replacing the DFAC did solve my issue.
 

indibil

New Tinkerer
Hi!

I have some news. This afternoon I started testing. I focused on the MC34119 (op-amp), and coincidentally, when I soldered a wire to pin 4 to check for a signal with the oscilloscope, the Macintosh LC powered on without sound.

I checked that pin and it wasn't connected to R74 and R75, so the trace must have been damaged, and when I soldered the wire, I must have broken the connection. I repaired the trace and now I have 100% working sound. I have the Lemmings song stuck in my head, haha, I had it playing for over 10 minutes verifying that everything was working.

Thanks to everyone for your help.

1771950795781.jpg
 

David Cook

Active Tinkerer
Jul 20, 2023
202
266
63
Hi!

I have some news. This afternoon I started testing. I focused on the MC34119 (op-amp), and coincidentally, when I soldered a wire to pin 4 to check for a signal with the oscilloscope, the Macintosh LC powered on without sound.

I checked that pin and it wasn't connected to R74 and R75, so the trace must have been damaged, and when I soldered the wire, I must have broken the connection. I repaired the trace and now I have 100% working sound. I have the Lemmings song stuck in my head, haha, I had it playing for over 10 minutes verifying that everything was working.

Thanks to everyone for your help.

That's wonderful news! Congratulations. Your persistence paid off.
 

iigs123

New Tinkerer
Oct 13, 2025
15
6
3
I'm glad you got it working! It can be frustrating to dig deep into this. I'm feeling inspired to get back to my Q610's goofy vram issue!