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Powerbook 190cs full refurbishment & re-cap

stormy

Well-known member
Hey guys,

Here is my post about refurbishing this lovely little machine. I've never worked on a PB before so it was a learning experience. I didn't photograph the MANY brittle plastic tabs/screw mounts I fixed with ABS glue - but yes, I had to fix many. Without the glue the machine would not screw back together, I'm glad I managed to save everything. I re-capped the machine with the best organic polymer smd caps from Panasonic. The machine had the worst battery leakage I have ever seen, luckily only a small section of the power/input pcb had any corrosion which I managed to fix.

The original passive screen was actually in good condition but the internal display cable was faulty causing these line artifacts. So I decided to order a new screen from a 5300c which is an active matrix LCD & a new display connector; note that the display connectors are different and you have to have the proper cable for the particular screen. There were also different brands used. FYI this particular type of screen is still available today in large quantities as it was a highly used industrial display. I will update this post with some model numbers to help people out later.

original_screen.jpg

This machine has the full 40mb RAM! This is so great since they are hard to find these days

original_specs.jpg

The battery looks to be in a sorry state... makes me wonder what the inside of the machine is like (the outside is pristine)

battery.jpg

The insides have seen better days!

battery_leak1.jpg

The copper base sheet is in such a state of corrosion it cannot be saved (I did try) so it had to be discarded

battery_leak2.jpg

Luckily the PCB is untouched apart from a tiny segment of the power section

original_pcb_1.jpg

original_pcb_2.jpg

With a solution of 50/50 white vinegar & lemon juice I neutralise the acid

pcb_cleaning.jpg

I bathe the screws in the same solution

clean_screws.jpg

The touch pad screw plastics had broken, but managed to repair them with some good ABS glue.

fixed_trackpad.jpg

The PCB & body after being cleaned, much nicer!

before_recap.jpg

The capacitors replaced with high quality organic polymer panasonics.

after_recap.jpg

The 5300c display - I actually found an apple parts supplier in the UK that still had a 'new old stock' one sitting in their warehouse!

5300c_screen.jpg

Yes it fits nicely - note, it requires the specific display cable for this model

screen_fits.jpg

Glorious 640x480 256 colour active matrix

screen_works.jpg

She is happy :)

bootiful.jpg

Hope you enjoyed this restoration! I have a couple of little things left to do: * replace the prom battery / * fit IDE > CF and re-install OS

 
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sfiera

Well-known member
There’s a familiar sight. I’m working on a 5300 at the moment, and it’s nice to see a 190 coming out so well on the other end.

How are you booting right now? I got an IDE-to-CF adapter, but I’ve had mixed results with it so far.

 

sutekh

Well-known member
Nicely done! I need to post something similar about my nearly complete 180c refurb. I can definitely sympathize with your plastic repair comments. Glad these are ABS, as it's pretty easy to work with and repair.

 

stormy

Well-known member
There’s a familiar sight. I’m working on a 5300 at the moment, and it’s nice to see a 190 coming out so well on the other end.

How are you booting right now? I got an IDE-to-CF adapter, but I’ve had mixed results with it so far.
Just with the original HDD. I've ordered a CF to IDE adaptor for it. Will transfer the original HDD to CF via a PCMCIA card, and then put in the adapter. You mentioned mixed results, could you elaborate? Thx

 
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sfiera

Well-known member
I started by initializing the CF card with Drive Setup. It seemed to work, but the machine didn’t boot after I finished installing the system from floppies. At that point, I tried to repartition and the card stopped mounting. Initialization failed installing the ATA driver, and Drive Setup would complain about the drive having an unknown driver.

I concluded that I should do what you’re planning and image the CF card from a working HDD via PCMCIA. I’m hoping that copies over a working ATA driver, skipping Drive Setup, though I’ll lose space (750GB vs. 4GB). That equipment arrives tomorrow.

What software are you going to use to image the card? I haven’t researched that yet.

 

Byrd

Well-known member
Nice work - good to see someone who continues to persist in restoring a PowerBook after it continues to break away in your hands as you dismantle it - many would have stopped by then!

Re: CF to IDE adapter, it's often dependent on the CF card (and it's ATA standard) used, not the adapter - try using an older 512MB-2GB "industrial" CF card.  Using new "high speed", high capacity CF cards often results in odd Drive Setup errors, and partition problems.  Initially when using third party formatting utlities (eg. Lido, SilverLining, HDT) - you might get further with formatting it, but it will continue to have problems.  In short if you can't format the drive using Apple's patched HD setup or Drive Setup utility, it won't play with your PowerBook.

 
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sfiera

Well-known member
Hmm, I found another source saying that “industrial” and “true IDE” are the keywords to look for, so I ordered one of those. Of course, it's half the size for twice the price, but oh well.

 

stormy

Well-known member
Hmm, I found another source saying that “industrial” and “true IDE” are the keywords to look for, so I ordered one of those. Of course, it's half the size for twice the price, but oh well.
Sfiera,

The first part has gone perfectly...

1. I put the PCMCIA CF card reader & 2gb industrial Cisco cf card in the slot. The Mac recognised it and asked to initialise, I did so as Standard Macintosh 2gb.

2. I then simply drag 'n' dropped the entire HDD contents to the new CF drive.

3. I then removed the physical HDD and turned the machine on, it automatically found the PCMCIA cf card and booted, super quick without issues.

My next step will be to put the CF card on the internal IDE as soon as my adapter arrives. I'll let you know how this goes.

 
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stormy

Well-known member
I just had 2x VL2330 batteries arrive in the post. Soldered them together the same as the originals and plugged it in. I've set the system time and I guess I'll let them charge for a bit before testing if the date and time are kept when power is lost.

IMG_20200823_142026.jpg

 

Rajel

Well-known member
Wow, what a restoration!
I've been meaning to recap my 190CS as well.
Do you happen to have part numbers or spec for the caps still, by chance?
And wow the active matrix screen upgrade is glorious, I must do that to mine as well.
Have you looked into upgrading the CPU to a full 68040? I know of someone that tried it but it seemed they had trouble finding a legit one, or getting the FPU to function when they had one that did identify as a 68040 instead of an LC040.

I've had pretty good luck with a CF-IDE adapter with mine so far, and have been trying to use an IDE->MSATA SSD adapter, which works!... for a little bit until it gets warm, and then I think the old capacitors have had enough and the machine crashes, with no more booting until it's cooled down.
CompactFlash solutions are definitely cooler, though the SSD itself seemed faster.

 

stormy

Well-known member
@Rajel Oh I wonder if it is just due to the CF brand whether it boots or not. I've just got hold of some WD Silicondrive CF cards so I'll test them out. I'm too afraid to replace the CPU to be honest, probably not worth it as I doubt many apps use the FPU anyway. Sorry I've already lost my list of use caps but most of them were 100uf from memory. They are easy to see when you open the unit up though.

 

Rajel

Well-known member
I've had pretty good luck with "industrial" cards, Sandisk usually. I think the adapter may make a difference though, I've had luck with some but not others on the 190cs.
PCMCIA always worked consistently though.
Hasn't been as picky as the the HP 100LX for sure lol

There's some games that would benefit from the FPU, and would be *very* playable with a decent active matrix LCD panel.

 

stormy

Well-known member
Recently I was shown a horror story of capacitors inside the screen inverter board & display unit going bad and ruining someones old powerbook. I then realised that although my screen was new old stock, the caps were still 30 years old and have a shelf life. I opened it back up and replaced the caps. FYI I didn't have the correct size SMD caps in stock, so I shoe-horned in some radials. Not pretty, but this stuff is on the inside of the screen so it's not like you see it :)

PXL_20201004_143002186.jpg

PXL_20201004_152052273.jpg

PXL_20201004_140617750.jpg

 
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stormy

Well-known member
Also replaced the corroded battery connector today, not an original apple part but its dimensions seem ok.

PXL_20201005_222537387.jpg

 

mac-cellar

Active member
I just had 2x VL2330 batteries arrive in the post. Soldered them together the same as the originals and plugged it in. I've set the system time and I guess I'll let them charge for a bit before testing if the date and time are kept when power is lost.

View attachment 36710
Hi there - just wondering if you had any success with the PRAM battery rebuild.  I have a pair of 5300ce with dead PRAM batteries - I've been hoping someone had found a fix.  Thanks!

 

stormy

Well-known member
@mac-cellar

A better version I found here:



But yes the same kind of thing. I heated the batteries up too long with my solder and they unfortunately don't charge. I'm going to try again but this time I'll be much quicker with the solder.

 
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