Uploaded January 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Adam Wilson bought a Macintosh SE/30 “untested” on eBay and got exactly what you’d expect: a PRAM battery leak that had eaten the mainboard alive. In this clip, Adam Wilson (Adam’s Vintage Computer Restorations) walks through what the corrosion looked like, why these machines are so vulnerable, and how the classic-Mac community now has a way out: a reverse-engineered replacement SE/30 mainboard you can have made by a PCB manufacturer.
You’ll see the decision to abandon trace repair, the full component transplant onto a new board, the long debugging grind (two years on and off), and the payoff: a cleaned, restored SE/30 running happily again — plus the original dead board kept as a framed warning not to buy “sold as seen” classics.
Check out Elektor’s brand-new book: “Apple Macintosh: 20+ macintosh Models, from 1984 to Today. History, Engineering, Aand Restoration.” — elektor.com/products/apple-macintosh
See the full interview here: youtube.com/watch?v=DlFuvdWi14g
Check out our YouTube offers: elektor.com/youtube
Subscribe to our Newsletter: elektormagazine.com/elektor-newsletter
Join this channel to get access to perks:
youtube.com/channel/UChtg0Ek8OFg-tn_Vttd3STw/join
#AppleMacintosh #Apple #AppleMac
Adam Wilson bought a Macintosh SE/30 “untested” on eBay and got exactly what you’d expect: a PRAM battery leak that had eaten the mainboard alive. In this clip, Adam Wilson (Adam’s Vintage Computer Restorations) walks through what the corrosion looked like, why these machines are so vulnerable, and how the classic-Mac community now has a way out: a reverse-engineered replacement SE/30 mainboard you can have made by a PCB manufacturer.
You’ll see the decision to abandon trace repair, the full component transplant onto a new board, the long debugging grind (two years on and off), and the payoff: a cleaned, restored SE/30 running happily again — plus the original dead board kept as a framed warning not to buy “sold as seen” classics.
Check out Elektor’s brand-new book: “Apple Macintosh: 20+ macintosh Models, from 1984 to Today. History, Engineering, Aand Restoration.” — elektor.com/products/apple-macintosh
See the full interview here: youtube.com/watch?v=DlFuvdWi14g
Check out our YouTube offers: elektor.com/youtube
Subscribe to our Newsletter: elektormagazine.com/elektor-newsletter
Join this channel to get access to perks:
youtube.com/channel/UChtg0Ek8OFg-tn_Vttd3STw/join
#AppleMacintosh #Apple #AppleMac
