Projects

Apple Lisa 2/10 - February 15, 2026

The Apple Lisa was the machine before the Macintosh, and was overall seen more as a failure in Apple's history, but it did play an important role in getting the average person to use a computer with a graphical user interface. That is why, when I was contacted by someone on Facebook asking if I would be willing to repair his Apple Lisa, I said yes. I do not normally take in machines for repair, but I made an exception for this one, because of the historical importance and the chance to use one (let alone fix one!) doesn't come along very often. This system came to me because it was seemingly completely dead- it would not turn on. It did try to start though, and the +5V standby power was getting to the logic for power control (the Lisa has "soft power"), but it would only make a little sound when the button was pressed and the power supply wouldn't start. After bringing the PSU to the bench, I quickly found that there was a shorted Motorola MR854 rectifier diode. I took a quick trip to Ax Man in St. Paul, and by some miracle, they had exact replacements in stock. Within 36 hours of having the machine here, it was turning on, passing its diagnostics, and it even booted the operating system from the original Apple Widget hard drive! I also went ahead and replaced the capacitors on the video board, and also replaced a voltage regulator as I have had bad experience with them failing short in the past. Another tech had replaced the capacitors in the PSU four years ago, so that was thankfully not a concern. The keyboard didn't work at first, but it is a foam and foil keyboard, so it is typical for the foam to deteriorate and for none of it to work as a result. After waiting about a week for parts, I rebuilt the keyboard and the whole system was finally fully functional. It has since returned to its owner, and he traded me an Apple III, which will be the next Apple failed product project! Updated 03/04/2026