this post was submitted on 15 Nov 2025
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Testing the CPU and RAM boards from the badly damaged Apple Lisa (youtube.com)
submitted 2 weeks ago by cm0002@libretechni.ca to c/retrocomputing@lemmy.sdf.org
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It's time to revisit the battery damaged Apple Lisa from a couple weeks ago. I had a chance to test a couple of my boards in a working Lisa so I could rule out potential issues with these two boards.

Part 1

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[–] over_clox@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago

Damn, that's hella corrosion!

That wouldn't stop me though, I already have half an arsenal of techniques stemming from salvaging flood damaged and house fire damaged boards. I'd probably try to tackle such boards something like this...

  • Ultrasonic cleaner with vinegar
  • Rinse thoroughly and empty the vinegar
  • Ultrasonic cleaner with baking soda and water
  • Rinse thoroughly and empty the soda water mix
  • Spray the boards thoroughly with WD-40
  • Pressure wash the boards
  • Air compressor to mostly dry
  • Heat the boards with a hair dryer to finish drying

Then it's obviously a matter of good luck, inspection, testing and tackling any particular issues that the above process didn't quite clean up. I like dude's use of phosphoric acid, but I'd rather keep away from the extra strong chemicals until the end stages as spot cleaning only.

It would be cool to see if he ever manages to actually get all the boards running again. Obviously they'll need new capacitors and some soldering touchups and whatnot, but still these are rare relics of the past...