Good advice. I would also recommend you leave Lisa on for 30 minutes or so
before you adjust anything. Sometimes the image on the CRT can shift as it
warms up, so adjusting it when it's warm will make your adjustments stay.
And you see that red wire that goes from under the crt to a suction cup on
top of it? Don't touch it when the machine is on, or after it's been
running. That carries high voltage.
If you like, you can make a CRT discharging tool from a flat screwdriver,
some wire, alligator clips, and a big resister. Here's a link for some info
on discharging high voltages:
http://www.eio.com/repairfaq/REPAIR/F_captest.html#CAPTEST_008
Also, couldn't hurt to check the voltages coming from the power supply. Do
you have the Sun DIY guide?
Oh, and while I've got the list's attention :) Does anyone have a listing of
the focusing rings on the back of the tube? As in what each one does? I
actually found a NOS CRT on ebay last year, and it needs a bit of
adjustment.
-Jason
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ray Arachelian" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "LisaList" <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, August 30, 2005 9:22 AM
Subject: Re: Vertical Hold problem
Be very careful when working on the video side of the Lisa - if you've
never worked inside a TV, stay away, it's very dangerous. (working inside
a Lisa is a bit easier than inside a TV though) - Standard warnings
apply - You could be killed or shocked, etc. (standard precautions apply,
don't sue me if you get shocked, you were warned, these technical
procedures are provided for entertainment purposes, kids, don't try this
at home, etc.)
That said, should you wish to continue, I'd highly suggest unplugging the
Lisa from power for a few days to discharge whatever is stored up in the
capacitors before attempting such work. I'd also remove all the cables
from the Lisa such as mouse, keyboard, connections to a Profile hard
drive, etc.
Tricks to prevent yourself from completing a circuit, such as working with
one hand behind your back are useful here, so you don't electrocute
yourself. An static wrist strap might not be a good idea as it will help
complete a circuit, thus shocking you, so as a precaution to the sensitive
electronics inside the Lisa, don't touch any of the boards other than the
video board.
Wearing rubber heeled shoes for insulation is a great idea. There is also
a small danger of X-Rays from the tube, but since you're not going to stay
close to the tube too long, I wouldn't worry too much about it.
Worry about the tube being very fragile and breakable, make sure there's
nothing that can fall on top of it or be dropped over it - if it shatters,
it will implode and send lots of sharp heavy glass shards everywhere -
wearing eye protection is a good idea just incase this happens. (If it
does, you lost your Lisa as you're unlikely to find a replacement tube for
it.) Worry about the high voltage, and currents. If you can wear a glove
on the hand you'll use to adjust the settings, don't touch anything with
the other hand that could be act as ground (i.e. the table, any metal
parts inside the Lisa, etc.)
You'll have to remove the back cover, then the top cover. Once you've
removed the top cover, you can access the video board which is behind the
CRT. The CRT's are quite fragile, so be very careful not to drop a
screwdriver on top of it, or for that matter anything else. If you can,
find a plastic screw driver, or something you can use in it's place - the
video board has several sets of pots which can be used the adjust the
vertical size, and vertical hold. Likely some component has gone a little
bit bad or the pot itself has oxidized and isn't making a good connection,
but you might be able to adjust one of these pots to fix it. Some may
have some glue over them as a seal which you'll have to break in order to
adjust.
Also look for a screen modification kit, you'll know you have one by the
ROM version or by the existance of a transformer between the CRT cable
and the video board. If you see this, it's a modified Lisa that will have
square pixels and will not run Lisa OS, only MacWorks. You could remove
this transformer, but you'd also have to get a set of replacement ROM's or
CPU board. The normal Lisa OS capable ROM's are versions F-H (you'll
sometimes see D, though I'm not sure if the D ROM will be able to work
with OS 3.x) If you see a two character ROM, it's likely the video size
modified ROM. i.e. "AA" is not what you want to see.
Once you get the display working, you'll know the ROM version for certain,
it'll be displayed in the upper left corner on the menu bar as the Lisa
POST works. It'll be something like H/A8 or H/88 - the H is the POST ROM
version, if you see AA/88, you likely have a video modified ROM. The 88
is the I/O ROM which lives on the I/O board along with the 6504 I/O CPU.
The two versions I've come across are 88 and A8. Some of these support
800K floppies, If you ever come across a 40 or 44 or any I/O ROM below
80, hang on to that, it likely came from a Lisa 1 which had Twiggy drives,
and is valuable - it won't work with a 400K floppy, but it will be worth
some money.
It's important to note the positions of all of the pots on the video
board, incase you go too far and have to reset them to their normal
values.
If I recall correctly, the back cover has a little bit of plastic that
sticks out - when it's closed, it mates with a somewhat hidden switch that
cuts power whenever you open the back cover. I think it's over the power
supply if I remember. Once you familiarize yourself with the video board
and the other insides of the Lisa, and are sure you're safe, you'll have
to plug up that hidden switch with something - a small piece of cardboard
will do.
You can then plug the power cable back in and power up the Lisa - then
carefully insert your hand and the plastic screw driver, and adjust the
vhold/vsize pots. Do it very very slowly.
(If you know how to get into service mode, perhaps you'll want to plug the
keyboard and mouse in before you power on the Lisa as there's an option in
there to display a square grid - that way you can make sure the size
aspect ratio is correct. I believe once the boot menu comes up you need
to tell it to boot off a floppy but not insert one, then hit Apple-S or
Apple-Enter - the one on the numeric keyboard. Haven't done that in a
while, sorry. You could also boot LisaTest if you have it to test your
video display - it also has display test patterns which you can use while
adjusting the video board's pots.)
Once you're happy with your change, you can hit the power switch and once
the display is off, remove the bit of cardboard holding the hidden switch
down, then close the covers back up, and turn the Lisa back on -
hopefully, it'll hold it's new settings - otherwise, you may have to
figure out what's bad on the video board and fix it, but that's a much
more difficult task.
Mike wrote:
Hello, I have been a lurker on this list for a good while now, picking
up little Lisa pieces of information from time to time. I haven't posted
before because I didn't own a Lisa, although the hunt was definitely on !
I have been lucky enough to get two Lisa's very recently. First
impression: aren't they big ?! Photographs don't really convey the size.
One Lisa is missing several parts which I am working on acquiring, the
other Lisa (a 2/10) powers up just fine, however there is a problem with
the screen, looks like the vertical hold has 'gone'. I have never worked
on a Lisa before, but have a dozen or so 68k Macs that I have restored,
so I know my way around old Apple products in general.
Could anyone offer any tips or places to start to address the video issue
? The display is readable, but is repeated down the screen three times,
with lots of flicker, and a bit of scrolling too.
Many thanks
Mike
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