Macintosh Performa 5400 Capacitor Replacement Guide

This guide covers capacitor work on the Macintosh Performa 5400 series. Apple documents the Power Macintosh 5400/120, 5400/180, 5400/200 and 5500/225 together with the international Performa 5400/160, 5400/180, 5420 and 5420/180 in one manual.

This is an all-in-one machine with a CRT. Read CRT Discharge Procedure before opening it and follow it every time.

What This Page Cannot Tell You

No verified component-level capacitor list exists for the Performa 5400 series. This page previously carried a logic board table running C1 to C10 in tidy pairs — 100 µF, 47 µF, 10 µF, 100 µF at 10 V, 22 µF — and a power supply table of seven values with quantities. Neither came from a source; both have been removed, along with an unsupported "+3.3 V rail: 3.2–3.4 V" check.

What was searched: Apple's own Service Source for the 5400/5500 (no capacitance, working-voltage or designator data anywhere — the machine is serviced at module level); Recap-a-Mac, which has no 5400-series page; wiki.console5.com, which could not be reached from this session and is worth checking manually; and the 68kMLA and TinkerDifferent archives, which carry complete lists for several supplies of this generation but nothing for the 5000-series all-in-ones.

Read the capacitor markings off your own boards before ordering anything.

What Apple Does Document — and It Is Useful

The 5400 shares its chassis, power supply, analogue/video board and CRT with the Performa 5200 and 5300. That is not an inference: the same Apple part numbers appear in both service manuals.

Assembly	Apple part numbers	Also fitted to
Power supply board	661-0331 (Rev. A, with thermistor connector) • 661-0930 (Rev. A) • 661-1117 (Rev. B)	5200, 5300, 5400, 5500
Analogue/video board assembly	661-0928 (Rev. A) • 661-1356 (Rev. B)	5200, 5300, 5400, 5500
CRT assembly	661-0952 (U.S.) • 661-0954 (Southern Hemisphere)	5200, 5300, 5400, 5500
Logic board	661-1072 (120 MHz) • 661-1327 (160 MHz) • 661-1324 (180 MHz) • 661-1330 (200 MHz)	5400 series

Apple is explicit that the three power supply boards are not interchangeable — exchange them like for like. Note also that the CRT assembly is hemisphere-specific — 661-0952 for the northern hemisphere, 661-0954 for the southern. That is a purity and convergence matter, not a mains matter; the supply itself is universal.

The practical consequence is that the power supply, analogue board and CRT service procedures on the Macintosh Performa 5200CD Capacitor Replacement Guide apply to this machine too.

Identifying Rev. A from Rev. B

Apple gives a physical check: remove the front bezel and look at the speakers. If they are part of the bezel, it is the original version; if they are attached to the sides of the metal chassis, it is Rev. B. Apple describes the Rev. B changes as not backward-compatible, and notes that the 5500 series is built entirely from Rev. B parts.

Safety

This machine contains a high-vacuum picture tube and a mains-rectified switching supply:

• The CRT and anode hold a high-voltage charge long after the machine is unplugged. Discharge the tube and remove the anode cap as described in CRT Discharge Procedure. Apple's own take-apart lists "Discharge the CRT / Remove the anode cap" as a preliminary for almost every internal procedure.
• The power supply primary side sits at mains potential and its reservoir capacitors hold a charge after unplugging. Discharge each through a 1 kΩ / 5 W resistor and confirm with a meter before touching anything. Where two 200 V bulk capacitors are fitted in series across the rectified mains, replace them as a matched pair — on 230–240 V mains the DC bus sits at roughly 340 V and only the series pair holds it off. Never substitute one part for two.
• The tube is under vacuum. Do not knock the neck.

Work one-handed where practical, and use an isolation transformer for any measurement taken with power applied.

The One Adjustment Apple Actually Documents

There is no power supply voltage adjustment on this machine. Apple's Adjustments chapter covers light meter setup, geometry, video and high voltage; there is no rail trim of any kind and no documented tolerance band for +5 V, +12 V or +3.3 V.

The high-voltage adjustment is real and gives a number you can check:

1. Let the monitor run for at least 10 minutes.
2. Run the Display Service Utility and show the crosshatch test pattern.
3. Locate diode D713 on a Rev. A analogue board, or D703 on a Rev. B board.
4. Connect a digital voltmeter: red lead to the cathode of that diode, black lead to the metal chassis ground.
5. With a fine-tipped plastic adjustment tool, set the high-voltage control — VR501 on Rev. A, VR702 on Rev. B — so the meter reads 29.5 V DC ± 0.1 V.

The control is inside the analogue board; on Rev. B machines the board has to be tilted back to reach VR702. Apple calls for this adjustment whenever the CRT or the deflection board is replaced.

When It Is the Analogue Board and When It Is the Supply

Apple's symptom charts separate the two, which is more useful than any capacitor table:

• Will not start from the keyboard but starts from the rear power switch → analogue board (after checking the keyboard).
• Restarts continually after Shutdown → analogue board.
• Distorted or garbled sound from both speakers → analogue/video board assembly. From one speaker only → that speaker first.
• Crackling when playing sounds other than system beeps → a software problem first (Audio Volume Extension 1.1 or later), then the logic board.
• Screen black, too dark or too bright while audio and drives work → contrast button, then the Screen control panel, then the yoke cable, then video adjustments, then the analogue/video board, then the power supply board, then the CRT — in that order.
• Predominant colour tint that cannot be adjusted → on a Rev. A analogue board, replace the internal RGB cable before condemning anything else.
• No video, no audio and no drive operation → power cord first, then the analogue board, then the logic board.
• System does not start up → reset the logic board first, then the power supply, then the power cord, then the logic board.
• Smoke or odour → analogue board, then power supply, then logic board. Stop and investigate rather than repeating the power-on.

Other Apple-Documented Faults

• Flashing "?" at start-up on a 5400/120, 5400/180 or 5400/200 with the 1.6 GB ATA hard drive (P/N 661-1107), corrected by a restart: check the serial number on the drive's bar-code label. If it falls between XXX6099XXXXX and XXX6131XXXXX, the drive is the fault.
• Out of convergence. Apple says plainly that this "rarely indicates a defective module" and that some misconvergence, especially at the edges of the screen, is normal. Do not chase it.
• Screen jitter or flashing. Apple's first check is external interference — other monitors, scanners, fluorescent lighting — and moving the machine to another room before suspecting the hardware.
• White areas with blotches of colour is a purity problem from a magnetic field: move the machine, then degauss with a manual coil.

Battery — Not the One You Think

The 5400 series does not use the 3.6 V half-AA lithium cell found in the Quadra and Centris machines. It uses a 4.5 V battery pack — a Rayovac "Battery Clock Computer" type — mounted on a hook-and-loop base and connected by a plug.

Apple's check: set a voltmeter to the 10 V DC range, measure across the pack, and replace it if it reads below 3.0 V. That threshold belongs to this machine; Apple specifies 3.2 V for the Quadra and Centris machines and 2.8 V for the Quadra 700. Do not fit a cell from another model.

Cuda reset and logic board reset

The 5400 and 5500 have a Cuda reset switch on the logic board — the 5200 does not. Apple's procedures:

• Cuda chip reset: remove the power cord, I/O door and logic board, then press the Cuda reset switch with a flat plastic tool.
• Logic board reset: remove the power cord, I/O door and logic board; pull the battery connector up and lift the pack off its base; wait 5 to 10 minutes; refit the battery; press the Cuda reset switch; refit the logic board at an upward angle to clear the EMI clips and seat it fully.

Apple's symptom chart for "system does not start up" puts the logic board reset first, before replacing the power supply or the logic board.

Electrical Specification

Apple's figures for the machine as a whole:

Item	Apple specification
Line voltage	100–240 V AC
Frequency	47–63 Hz
Power	125 W
Surge voltage	300 V RMS for 100 ms
Peak inrush current	40 A peak
Current	2.5 A maximum for all line and load conditions
Power, worst case	220 W maximum for all line and load conditions

The supply is universal, so there is no voltage selector to set wrongly.

Inspection and Replacement

Since no verified list exists, the work is inspection-led:

1. Discharge the CRT and remove the anode cap (CRT Discharge Procedure).
2. Remove the rear housing, front bezel, logic board and rear EMI shield, then the power supply shield and the power supply.
3. Photograph every board and cable before disconnecting anything.
4. Inspect each electrolytic for a domed top, a split vent, a dark glossy halo on the board or crusty residue on the pads. Wipe with isopropyl alcohol and inspect under magnification — a leaking part often looks fine from above.
5. Record the marking on every electrolytic before removing any of them — capacitance, working voltage, temperature rating and physical size.
6. Desolder with a temperature-controlled iron and a pump or wick; clean the pads with isopropyl alcohol.
7. Fit replacements the right way round — on aluminium electrolytics the stripe marks the negative lead — using 105 °C, low-ESR parts rated for switching-supply ripple.
8. Reflow every joint you disturbed before the machine sees mains again.
9. After any work on the CRT or deflection board, perform the high-voltage adjustment above.

Reflow the flyback transformer pins while you are in there; cracked joints are a common fault on all-in-ones of this age.

Audio faults on this generation are worth treating as a capacitor and corrosion problem on the board that drives them rather than as a dead chip — but check Apple's symptom chart routing above first, because on this machine the speakers are driven from the analogue/video board, not the logic board.

For what capacitor failure looks like generally, see Capacitor Failure Symptoms. For the kit this wiki recommends, see Recommended Tools.

Related Pages

• Macintosh Performa 5400CD
• Macintosh Performa 5400 Troubleshooting
• Macintosh Performa 5400 General Maintenance
• Macintosh Performa 5200CD Capacitor Replacement Guide — same chassis, power supply and analogue board
• CRT Discharge Procedure
• Capacitor Failure Symptoms
• Recommended Tools