Apple TechStep Diagnostic Tool

Have you ever heard of an Apple TechStep? Well this was a tool used in the early 1990’s by an Apple Tech to test a Macintosh computer. The tool was only sold privately to authorized Apple dealers, but later on Apple released it publicly for a price of $999. I recently picked up one of these on eBay for about $25.

The purpose of this tool is to test a Mac’s components. The Mac actually boots off of this device, the device can then run tests on the Power Supply, RAM, Motherboard, Drives, or Ports. The TechStep has a little LCD screen which displays only text. The numbered keypad has some text on it also to help you navigate around. On the back of the device are a few ports to connect to the computer: 25-pin SCSI, ADB (2 ports), Modem serial, Printer serial, and 3.5mm Stereo Mini-Jack. Also on the left side of the unit is an AC adapter port, the On/Off switch, and a secondary Serial port used for transferring diagnostic reports to a healthy Mac. The unit can run off of it’s AC power adapter or a single 9 volt battery, mine did not come with an adapter but the battery works just fine.

The TechStep uses ROM packs to load the computer diagnostic information. These are similar to GameBoy cartridges, the TechStep can hold two at a time. Each ROM has a sticker which lists which machines it is compatible with. Two were included with my unit “CPU Tests, Vol 1, v. 1.1.1” and “CPU Tests, Vol. 2, v. 1.0”. Volume 1 works with Macintosh Classic, SE, SE/30, II, IIx, and IIcx models. Volume 2 works with Macintosh LCD, LCD II, and Classic II models. There are additional ROM packs, but these are very hard to come by.

To start using the TechStep shut off your Mac and the TechStep and connect a 25-pin SCSI cable, Serial Cable (Modem port works best for me) and an ADB cable running from your Mac to your TechStep. These cables are all male-to-male and are regular cables, no special adapters needed. Insert a 9-volt battery (after removing the ports section) or attach your AC cord, turn the unit on via the switch on the left.  The LCD screen will display which ROM card is in Slot A and will show an “Identify CPU” screen, listing the computers it’s compatible with. Press the number next to the machine, for example in my case I was using a Macintosh Classic, so I selected 1 for Classic.

You are brought to a “Home” screen showing you the list of the many tests you can run. I selected 3 for “Logic” and selected 1 again for the “All” function so I can run all of the available tests. The TechStep instructs you to turn on the Mac, once the Mac is turned on it will boot from the TechStep entirely – no disks needed! The Mac will go to a ‘Sad Mac’ face, but do not worry since your Mac is not being harmed. Your selected test will run and when it is finished you may save the results. Hold the * key and press the 7 (Save) button on the TechStep. You will be asked if you want to overwrite an older log if there is one. Now that you’ve run your test switch off your TechStep and your Mac.

With the TechStep software on your Mac you can test your Diagnostic Tool or retrieve logs from your TechStep unit. The ‘Report Generator’ program retrieves the logs from your unit. Plug in a serial cable from the Modem port on your Mac to the serial port on the left side of the TechStep next to the Power switch. Turn the TechStep on. Open the ‘Report Generator’ program and select “Receive Log” from the “Options menu” – a waiting dialog will come up. Eventually you will see the log the TechStep has generated on your screen. A detailed list of every test with the results is shown, you can save this or generate a report for printing out.

The TechStep is a very cool little device, it has become a hot item for vintage Apple and Mac collectors. If you find a unit be sure it includes a ROM pack (it’s A and B slots will be visibly blank without them) – without these ROM packs the TechStep can not function and will just display a “ROM Pack Not Found” screen.

-Steve

Below is a diagnostic report which was saved onto my TechStep when I got it.

Trenton Computer Festival – Their 35th Year!

You may have heard of the TCF, the Trenton Computer Festival located near Trenton New Jersey. (More info at: http://www.tcf-nj.org)  I have been going for at least the past 5-6 years and every year I have a great time. The festival includes talks, seminars, an indoor sales area, and best of all, the mother of all computer flea markets!

Every year there is something a bit different, but you can recognize some sellers from past years. George and Doug are the guys who usually bring a big trailer and have mostly Apple and Mac related items (my favorite stand). They have old wires, cables and software, basically anything Mac. They were selling an older Mac G4 tower and a G3 iMac. Their prices are fair and they give you great deals.

Another man there sells computers after they have had their data destroyed. For the last two years he was selling G4 iMac desktops, but this year he has begun selling G5 iMac systems, only 1 G4 iMac was for sale. He had an awesome vintage Macintosh accessory box which I picked up. I also bought a keyboard and a few cables from him, including a System 7 floppy disk set complete with it’s mini-box.

Indoors the vendors have an area setup, however their prices tend to be more high and strict. It’s harder to haggle with the folks inside so you can’t get the best deals. There was a nice TCF stand setup that gave me a free TCF 1998 hat however, that was fantastic!

The first day the flea market was packed, just like I remember from last year. Plenty of people and plenty of sellers. At one point my friend Todd and I grabbed a bunch of stuff that was free at one table, the guy was going home and didn’t want to take it back with him. Sunday however I arrived late at around 1pm, only two stands remained.  This was due to the rain. I picked up an older D-Link G router for $4 which was missing an antenna, the guy mentioned it was his first sale of the day. The indoor vendors were still there, but it was nothing like it was on the sunny day of the 24th.

But for me the TCF is all about the flea market, every year I return and find something new. It’s amazing what things you’ll see, you never know what you may find when digging through a box of cables or parts. I was very happy with my haul this year and I hope to go back next year for some more fun! Photos and video to be posted soon. 🙂

tcf flea market
TCF Flea Market Sign

Fading Memories: Problems of Aging VHS tapes

So as many of you have known, or guessed, I have been converting some VHS home videos taken by my parents onto DVDs. Despite the various specs of why VHS tapes are better than DVDs some people still wonder why you should do this? They don’t expect their VHS tapes to die one day – and they think they’ll just keep on working.

But they indeed can die. VHS tapes age also, they can fade, become more fragile, loose their video and  sound, or be eaten up by fussy VCRs. The only way to prevent this is to copy your tapes and keep them safe. You can’t risk losing your only copy of your home videos. In the past while transferring a VHS tape from 1982 there were a few drop-outs of video, where only the sound remained. The lifetime of the tape will be directly effected by the brand/quality of the tape. The times the tape has been watched and the quality mode that was set when recording the tape. One tape almost bit the dust during my transfer process, below is what happened to me and how I was able to avoid losing the tape.

Saturday evening I was about to start the transfer of another VHS tape to a DVD. This one was a Scotch Camcorder Pro (full-size) VHS tape. Labeled Disney World 1992 I have no doubt that the tape would be great to watch. So I insert the cassette into my VCR and press rewind to put the tape back into the begging. Unfortunately something was about to go very wrong. The VCR whirled up and rewound the tape to the beginning. I pressed play to see if there was any video on the screen – there was, but I had overshot the beginning. I rewound the tape less than a second to start it over as I held the DVD recorder remote in my hand, ready to press record.

But nothing appeared on the screen… just a blue screen. Curiously I paused and played the tape again, even rewinding it. Noticing the VCR was not making it’s normal noises I thought something was wrong – this was confirmed when the VCR refused to do anything with the tape and started ejecting it. Now I was concerned, is the tape damaged? Will I be able to recover this tape?? I took the tape out to examine it. The tape’s film-like track wasn’t crumbled or bent, the VCR didn’t eat the tape, so what’s the problem? Uh-oh, then I noticed it. The reel to the right side of the tape was missing – gone, it had snapped off the internal reel of the VHS cassette! I panicked and thought the tape was destroyed. Being home video tapes these are the only copies that exist, excluding some rare chances where we made another VHS copy for relatives, which were few and far between.

“So  what do I do now?” I thought – well I did what I always do when I need help, I use Google! One of the first results was a How-To article on the helpful site eHow.com. The article is titled “How to Repair a Broken VHS Video Tape” written by the user Jennifer Claerr. Skimming through the article I notice photos of a VHS tape that is taken apart. As I read the article I start to calm down, it doesn’t seem too difficult. I recall my father fixing an audio cassette for my brother when we were younger. So I got down to business – I placed the tape on the kitchen tablet and unscrewed five or six screws holding the tape together. I almost had the tape opened, but the side label was causing it to keep together, carefully cutting the label down the middle the tape was opened.
The problem was more clear then it had seemed before. The tape on the reel was no longer attached, meaning all the tape was on one side, it could not transfer to the other side, or be read by the VCR. I followed the instructions and took notice on exactly how the tape fed through the cassette. Each one can be a bit different, so take notice, I realized this the hard way. I carefully unwound the edge of the tape that had snapped off. Boy was I lucky – no tape was ripped off or damaged, it was just a clear plastic tab connected to the reel. But in the process of unwinding the spool the tape almost fell off the table – the plastic scratched against the fragile magnetic tape, skimming a hair or two off from either side of the tape. I was worried, but the damage didn’t seem too bad.
Now to repair it. I read about using tape, but I was concerned about having this break again, so I decided to use some packaging tape, which would be stronger then regular tape. I placed some tape on each side to where the clear plastic tape had separated from each end. Screwing the tape back together I hoped that no footage would be lost by this repair, I setup the VCR and DVD recorder to be ready to record things on the first try, I did not want to have to rewind the tape the beginning and risk damaging the tape again. The VCR whirled, the tape settled into position – and the video played! I didn’t notice any problems, the little damage I did to the tape was probably on the first few seconds of the “blue” screen and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. The tape played fine until the end and the whole tape is now safely on a DVD disc that can easily be viewed and duplicated.