How to make your own Power PC Black Mac from an LC580
Follow these directions to make your own Power PC from an ordinary slow LC580. The LC580 comes with a 33Mhz 68LC040 processor and is extremely slow for todays uses. But you can boost the LC580 very easily with a Logic board swap from a number of Macs.
The easiest boards to use are the 6400, 6500, 5400, and 5500 series Macs.Using the above listed boards there are no power supply issues and the swap can be done in about 30 minutes by a novice. I did it, and I don't know what the hell I'm doing !
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LC580 Project Mac
Just a plain old cheap LC580 in working order. These are from Schools who have replaced them with faster Macs. LC580's are selling for about 20.00 and can even be found brand new in the box for 39.00 on the Shreve Systems website.
The second donor Mac was a Power PC 5500 all-in-one from a Scool surplus as well. (Most of the old All-in-ones were only sold to schools) The 5500 had some video issues but the logic board was good. I also swpped the original 2x CD-ROM with the 5500's 12x CD-ROM to give it better game playing ability.
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The Black Mac LC5500/225
Now the little Mac has some kahunas. It is running a 225Mhz processor, with 256K cache card, and 128MB RAM.
This is now a nice funtional Power PC that can be upgraded with a L2/G3 card that is 2-3 times faster than the PPC processor per the reviews I have read. Current programs running are: SoundJam MP3 player, Photoshop 4.0 as well as some games like Tomb Raider I & II, Carmageddon, and Quake I.
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STEP 1 - Logic Board removal
The first step is to remove the logic boards from both Macs.
The plastic covers have two screws that have to be removed before the cover can come off.
Note: your Mac may or may not have the screws and/or cover, as some have broken tabs and were left off over time. Next you must remove the two screws that hold the metal backplate to the chassis of the Mac. There is a handle that flips up so you can pull the logic board out. It works best if you lay the Mac on it's monitor face down and pull the board straight up out of the Mac. You may need to wiggle the board from side to side a little to loosen it up if it is tight. |
Step 2 - removal of metal backplates
The metal backplates have to be swapped, or at least put the LC580 backplate on the 5500 logic board. See the photo above for the screw locations. |
Removal of backplate screws (cont.)
You may have additional cards attached to the backplate (#3). Remove any screws that hold misc. cards on first and remove the cards. The backplate will come off easier if all cards are removed first. The external SCSI screws (#4&5) have to be removed with a small socket driver. |
Step 3 - Testing the board
Now is a good time to test the 5500 logic board in the LC580. You can slide the logic board in without the backplate if you are careful for testing. Make sure the board is firmly seated in the socket.
Now is also a good time to swap that old tiny 500 MB IDE Hard Drive with a larger one (upper left corner of photo). The PPC 5500 came with a 2GB Hard Drive and makes a good donor. Just lift the Hard Drive sled tab on the bottom of the drive and slide it out. Disconnect the power cable and the IDE ribbon. Install the larger IDE drive in reverse order.
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Step 4 - Swapping the CD-ROM
The LC580 came with a 2x speed CD-ROM and can be swapped easily with the CD-ROM from the 5500.
First you have to remove the front bezel from the LC case. Under the bezel is a slot you can insert a large screwdriver. Pry straight out on the bzel and slide it downwards to clear the tabs.
Once you remove the bezel you simply lift the sled tab and pull out, install in reverse. That's as simple as it can get. You gotta love Apple Computers at this point. Ever worked on a peecee box ? You'll know what I mean. |
