Macintosh Performa 5400 General Maintenance

Performa 5200. The Performa 5400 series uses the same enclosure.

The Macintosh Performa 5400 series are all-in-one machines from 1996 with a 15-inch CRT, a mains power supply board and an analogue/video board inside one case. Apple's Service Source for the Power Macintosh/Performa 5400 and 5500 gives the take-apart order, the clock-battery test, and a set of display adjustments that includes a high-voltage setting.

Safety

The CRT holds a high-voltage charge after the machine is unplugged, and the power supply and analogue board carry mains voltage when it is running. Discharge the CRT and remove the anode cap before working behind the rear EMI shield; see CRT Discharge Procedure. Apple's own warnings for this machine: do not use metal alignment tools on the adjustment controls, as they are a shock hazard; do not wear an antistatic wrist strap until the CRT has been discharged, and take it off before refitting the anode cap; and make adjustments from behind the set while watching the screen in a mirror, not by reaching round the front.

Identify the revision

Apple revised the 5000-series chassis a few months after launch. Take off the front bezel: speakers built into the bezel mark the original version, and speakers fixed to the sides of the metal chassis mark Rev. B. The two versions use different power supplies, analogue boards and speakers, and Apple's caution is that their analogue and video boards are not interchangeable. Part numbers for both are on the series page.

Opening the case

Apple's take-apart order:

1. The drive and control bezel on the front comes off by pulling its two finger latches down and swinging it up. It gives access to the floppy drive, CD-ROM drive and front-panel control board.
2. The I/O door on the back is held by two security screws; remove them, pull the two finger latches down and swing the door off.
3. With the I/O door off, swing out the logic board handle and pull the logic board straight out. It slides out of an edge connector like the one in the LC 630.
4. The rear housing is held by three Torx screws on each side, under two screw covers that pry off from their rear edge.
5. The power supply comes out after the I/O door, rear housing, front bezel, logic board and rear EMI shield.
6. The analogue board also needs the CRT discharged, the anode cap removed, and the video board and analogue shield taken off.

When refitting the logic board, angle it upward to clear the EMI clips, then seat it fully.

Cleaning

With the logic board out and the rear housing off, blow dust out of the chassis, the power supply and the analogue board with dry compressed air, holding the fan still so it does not overspin. Clean the case plastics with a mild detergent solution, keeping liquid out of the vents, and the CRT face with a damp lint-free cloth. For yellowed plastics see Retrobrite. Floppy drive cleaning is covered on Macintosh Floppy Drive Maintenance.

Clock battery

The clock battery is a 4.5 V alkaline pack sitting on a hook-and-loop base on the logic board, with a plug-in lead. Apple's test:

1. Remove the I/O door and pull out the logic board.
2. Set a voltmeter to the 10 V DC range.
3. Measure across the battery, positive probe to positive.
4. If it reads below 3.0 V, replace it: pull up the connector, then lift the pack off its hook-and-loop base.

Because the pack is alkaline, any leakage is neutralised with dilute white vinegar, then rinsed with isopropyl alcohol. Check the traces and components near the battery for corrosion; see Battery Explosion, Capacitor or Corrosion Damage. Apple gives no replacement interval; replace the pack when it measures low or has leaked.

Unplugging the battery for 5 to 10 minutes and pressing the Cuda reset button is Apple's logic board reset, and the first cure for a machine that will not start. It also clears PRAM.

Memory

The logic board takes 168-pin DIMMs in two JEDEC slots: 70 ns or faster with 2K refresh for the 120, 160 and 180 MHz models, and 60 ns 5-volt buffered EDO for the Power Macintosh 5400/200. 72-pin SIMMs from older Macintoshes do not fit. DIMMs can be fitted one at a time, and matched pairs of the same size and speed enable memory interleaving. When fitting cards, Apple advises covering the two screws below the upper chassis near the logic board (for fan support and ground thermistor mounting) with strong tape.

Display adjustments

Apple's adjustments are made with the Display Service Utility from the MacTest Pro CD, a plastic flat-blade or Phillips tool, and for luminance a light meter. The monitor must have been on for at least 10 minutes for the cutoff, white balance and high-voltage adjustments.

Adjustment controls (Apple)

Control	Location	Function
VR701	CRT video board	Horizontal shift
SW701	Behind the adjustment controls	Three-position horizontal centring switch, used with VR701
VR601	CRT video board	Vertical shift
Focus	Flyback transformer	Focus, set on the Focus test pattern for best centre-of-screen sharpness
Screen	Flyback transformer	Set during cutoff so the third-darkest grey bar is just visible
VR301	CRT video board	Sub-contrast (sets screen luminance)
VR302, VR303	CRT video board	Red and green gain
VR304, VR305	CRT video board	Red and green bias
VR501 (Rev. A), VR702 (Rev. B)	Analogue board	High voltage

Size, position, pincushion and trapezoid are set in software. Fit monitor adjustment cable 922-1513 between jumper P805 (Rev. A analogue board, pin 1 at the square mark) or P102 (Rev. B, arrow towards the top of the board) and the modem port, then set and save each resolution in turn in the Display Service Utility. Apple's target raster is 240 mm (9.5 in) wide and 185 mm (7.3 in) high.

For white balance Apple sets the Screen Brightness slider to its centre and turns VR301 down until the all-white screen reads 25 foot-lamberts on a photometer (21 on the bottom scale of the R77 light meter). Do the cutoff adjustment first, and again whenever the CRT or deflection board is replaced.

High-voltage adjustment

Apple calls for this after the CRT or deflection board is replaced:

1. Remove the rear housing and the EMI shield, and reattach the ground wire and screw.
2. Run the monitor for at least 10 minutes, then show the crosshatch pattern in the Display Service Utility.
3. Connect a digital voltmeter: red lead to the cathode of diode D713 (Rev. A analogue board) or D703 (Rev. B), black lead to the metal chassis.
4. With a fine plastic tool, turn VR501 (Rev. A) or VR702 (Rev. B) until the meter reads 29.5 V DC ± 0.1 V. Both controls are inside the analogue board; on Rev. B the board must be tilted back to reach VR702.

The same procedure, with the same designators, is in Apple's manual for the Performa 5200 and 5300.

Power supply

Apple rates the supply at 100–240 V AC, 47–63 Hz and 125 W, with a 300 V RMS surge rating for 100 ms, a peak inrush current of 40 A, and 2.5 A maximum for all line and load conditions. It is a universal-input supply with no voltage selector. Apple publishes no per-rail output voltages or tolerances for this machine. There are three supply boards across the 5200, 5300, 5400 and 5500 (661-0331, 661-0930 and 661-1117), and Apple says they are not interchangeable; the graphite Performa 5400/180 and 5420 use 661-1138. For capacitor work on the supply and analogue board see Macintosh Performa 5400 Capacitor Replacement Guide.

Things that are not faults

• Some misconvergence, especially at the edges of the screen, is normal; Apple says it rarely indicates a faulty module.
• Vibration noise from a 12× CD-ROM drive is normal for that drive.
• Jitter, faint lines or a moving picture are often caused by other equipment or fluorescent lighting nearby.

Related pages

• Macintosh Performa 5400
• Macintosh Performa 5400 Troubleshooting
• Macintosh Performa 5400 Capacitor Replacement Guide
• CRT Discharge Procedure
• Battery Explosion, Capacitor or Corrosion Damage