Actually It was I that was klutzy. In lifting the chassis I must have pulled out the wires from the power supply to the main logic board. I traced it to the copper tracings. Finding those points I soldered the wires to the main board. Viola!!!
I started with the Apple }{ in 1982. It was fairly easy, the kids at school messed with off/on when things got stuck. That would be the power supply. Then when graphics acted up there was another chip I’d swap.
We added the Epson QX-10 and I had to pass the test based on schematics! I passed at least.
Moving to a Vaar, I had to learn IBM Pcs. Their manuals for troubleshooting were wonderful ! They took you step by step with a flow chart IF THEN. We got all sorts of PC compatible. Then I moved to a 60 person network, coding and hardware while maintaining the servers.
I think we stop short. Once it’s deemed dead there’s nothing to lose. To learn about the machine, do an autopsy. If you do see something out of the ordinary, try a fix, it won’t get worse.
Dan. thank you for the structure in trouble shooting. Just like multiplication tables, they have to be learned until second nature. At some point they become second nature. When this started I asked for points to be tested as it seemed not to be getting power. I tested that theory by trying to insert a cd. Finally when I got power to the main board, the CD was grabbed into the drive.
I appreciate your help and how you structured things. It’s a case study for others. It gives me hop to go back to some of my other “dead” machines.