Recent content by Dark Goob

OK… what's Techknight? Thanks.

A few years back, I recapped my Portable, replaced the burnt-out main fuse, made a new battery, replaced the HDD (with the kind help of fellow Portlander mcdermd), and got it going. Last year it was dead but I hooked it up to a PowerBook 100's "Low-Power AC Adapter" and once the battery was...

I got a massive ImageWriter LQ off craigslist awhile back. Never hooked it up until now. I attached it to an old LC III running 7.1 with ClarisDraw. All I can say is... Awesome! See linked video!

Ants are attracted to electrical equipment due to ferromagnetite crystals in their magnetoreception system being affected by the electromagnetic fields (EMF) in the equipment. It is thought that like birds, ants use the Earth's magnetic field to navigate. Much like moth are drawn to a light...

Found an 8600/250 with Newer Tech G4/400 card and 4 Seagate Barracuda HDs (two 4gb and two 8gb ones) plus 192mb RAM (meh). Also with zip and CD burner. Cool part is that it also came with an X-Rite DTP92 monitor calibrator and accompanying software, as well as a ColorMouse with ColorBlind...

Thanks for your help, trag (sold me the tantalums I needed). I did take the advice on the solder joints and added more fresh solder, they look bulbous and shiny now. The hot air gun seemed easier since I didn't have another solder pencil small enough to get in there with dual tips to tweeze...

Self control would have been not driving two hours each way on our anniversary! Haha EDIT: But it was at the beach. And it was a sunny day at the beach to take photos. And it's never sunny at the heach in Oregon in February. And I had to do my part to get some old Macs out of that tsunami...

Picked up a PowerBook 100 and 170, plus a Jaz drive, Apple Video input card for Performa, LC, etc. and Apple Presentation Kit (last 2 items in original boxes). Ahh, craigslist. I had to drive four hours, so counting gas it was $100ish. But man, you don't find those 170's and 100's in working...

Ok I made the solder connections alot better and it was still not booting from the batt. Then finally I checked the motherboard fuse and... no continuity. There's the culprit! Bridged it with a 2A automotive fuse and presto! Booted right off the battery. Wish I would've checked that fuse first...

OK. What about the "toasted" looking caps, do you think that I should make sure they're not damaged? Or are tantalums pretty durable? They shouldn't have gotten any hotter than 320C max when I applied them,nbut I have no qualms about replacing them if that is bad for them. As for the damaged...

Photos of the (probably crappy) soldering job are below. Right next to C11 there appears to be some possible damage to a trace. The darker green area actually extends pretty far down, so I don't think it happened while I was working on the board (possible damage from previous owner, the...

In the next post, I'll post photos of my progress with the recapping itself, since I'd like to know what the experts think I could improve upon in terms of my soldering. Original condition prior to repairs, but after battery replacement: would only boot from a floppy or external drive would...

According to Apple you can use a 9V AC adapter with all the batteries removed: http://support.apple.com/kb/TA40602?viewlocale=en_US It's the funniest thing I've ever read. It suggests that although technically you can power the Portable off the mains, why would you ever want to do this, since...