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The Macintosh Color Classic was the color all-in-one Mac in the early 1990's

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Problems with Macintosh classic

Hi,

The other day I found a Macintosh classic on the side of the road. When i tryed turning it on all i could hear was a screeching sound and the screen was not turning on.

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The screen also has black specks on it and I can’t find what they are.

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If anyone could help it would be greatly appresiated.

Thanks,

Angus.

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Was the screeching sound followed by the sound of a car crash?

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The "car crash" error sound that Mayer is noting is in the video below at 0:15.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FOOmouk...

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No, the screeching noise sounds mechanical, not digital. I think it might be a problem with the hard dride.

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First: You have a Classic, not a Color Classic. They're very different. Might want to change the model in your original post.

Second: If you can post a recording of the sound on Soundcloud or YouTube that would help. In the meantime: Does the screeching sound start the moment you turn the computer on, or a few seconds after? Does it sound high-pitched and screechy, or lower-pitched and clunky? Does the monitor turn on (light up, display an image, etc) at all?

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@tronke good find on the error sounds. I had never heard it recorded before.

@secondlife there is no icon listed for the classic, so the color is as close as iFixit has.

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Judging from the flaking, that CRT looks worn out. If you can find a nice one, replace it before good ones become even harder to find.

On these classic Macs, these problems usually come from a faulty analog board. Typically it’s bad capacitors or a flyback transformer. If it’s bad caps, this can be fixed but you may need to substitute some of the obsolete values and tantalum caps. If the flyback is bad, then you might as well get a tested/refurbished analog board and use this one for extra parts unless you can do the flyback swap.

CAUTION: CRTs can (and do) KILL. Do not wear any metal jewelry when you have the CRT and analog board exposed and discharge it. Most CRT’s made from the ’80s/'90s-present have a bleeder resistor, but this should be assumed to be burned out and discharged to be sure.

If you don’t know how to work on a CRT safely, read up on CRT safety before doing the repair and opening it. Take a look at this answer for CRT safety but DO NOT rely on it as your sole information source: Disassembling an old Apple monitor

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Angus Geraghty will be eternally grateful.
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