Powerbook 1400c with cracked cover and PB 1400cs with sound problem

I have 2 PowerBooks with these 2 problems. The 1400c is much better: G3 card, full RAM and more. The 1400cs has an annoying continuous tone that can only be turned off with the volume control.
My question is:
Can I attach the cs top part to the c bottom part or are there problems with the monitor connection?

sorry: both originally with 166 MHz.

The 1400cs and 1400c rear display housing should be the same part. Keep in mind though that your intact housing will form the exact same cracks if nothing is done to reinforce the plastic.

Thank you. Yes I know about the cracks. :-(
Should I grease the hinges in the meantime?

It definitely wouldn't hurt to relubricate them. Of the three I've dealt with, two were substantially stiffer than the third. It doesn't matter how loose the hinges are though - it will still crack, just a little slower. Unfortunately, the process of reinforcing one of those panels is a MASSIVE pain. I did it with two rear panels. It involves 3D printing a hinge fix part that replaces the original hinge mounting posts, and extends behind the LCD. It has to be epoxied into place, and the original brass inserts have to be melted into place with a soldering iron. In both cases, the holes didn't line up right with the hinge and I had to spend multiple hours re-aligning them.
It has dramatically slowed down the cracking on my 1400c/166 - I don't think it's stopped, but I think it will be a LONG time before I have to worry about it. If I do ever have to, I think fixing it will be as simple as filling the crack on the outside with epoxy - ugly, but will work. Again though, I don't think this will happen for a while.

Unfortunately, I made the mistake of stacking all my PBs 1400 on top of each other. I was an idiot. :-(

How many was it? Stacking too many could pressure damage or crack the screen, but it shouldn't cause those stress cracks above the hinge mounts. That will only from opening/shutting the lid. I store all my laptops on their side on a set of shelves. They might pick up a few scratches from time to time, but it doesn't cause too much pressure to be put on anything, and it's space-efficient.

I swapped my original 1400CS display for a cannibalised 1400C display (much better). There's certainly an issue with some speaker setups. My 1400c had speaker distortion, but a 68KMLA member said it wasn't the speaker, but a motherboard fault. This implies that it could be fixable.

Re hinges: my solution is to open and close them as infrequently and as slowly as possible, leaving it in the open position and the PB1400 stored open once used.

Three 1400 PowerBooks. I have several PBs 5x0 too but I stored them vertical, so they are still ok.
I always took care of the PRAM batteries and removed or replaced them with new self built ones, but I didn't think about the plastics. :-(

MikeatOSX - what damage are you dealing with? Is it cracking near the hinge mounts, or did the stacking cause damage elsewhere?

> My 1400c had speaker distortion, but a
> 68KMLA member said it wasn't the
> speaker, but a motherboard fault.
I know now, as I bought some PB 1400 speakers....
I had too many PowerBooks before (more than 30), so I was not able to leave them all in open position. I sold half of them 5 years ago on ebay, as I had too many.

only hinge (cracking) damage on the 1400 PBs. Some cracking on PBs Duo elsewhere (battery front).

I now will store my PBs 1400 in open position forever.

MikeatOSX said:

> My 1400c had speaker distortion, but a
> 68KMLA member said it wasn't the
> speaker, but a motherboard fault.
I know now, as I bought some PB 1400 speakers....

Click to expand...

Aaaah. I only had the single speaker from the other cannibalised PB1400. That was a fun project though. I bought it fairly cheaply from a French guy on eBay (I'm a UK member) as spares / repairs. It didn't work, but that was fine as I figured there might be enough bits and pieces to improve my PB1400cs/117/16MB (as it was at the time). I found it had a working active matrix LCD and another 16MB of RAM, taking me to 32MB of RAM. Then I found out it was only the 133MHz CPU that didn't work (and still doesn't, but is close to working as @croissantking found out). This second PB1400c (now bits of a PB1400cs) was missing screws, but I gradually built it up over a year and then sold it on.

MikeatOSX said:

I had too many PowerBooks before (more than 30), so I was not able to leave them all in open position. I sold half of them 5 years ago on ebay, as I had too many.

Click to expand...

I think it can be a bit addictive, because many Macs have quite a bit of individual character and then one starts to think of the need for backups in case the one you use the most fails. These days I consider the 68KMLA and other online groups (and eBay) to be the backup: that is, we have lots of spare bits and more importantly, knowledge.

I myself have had a few PowerBooks in my time. I started with a PowerBook 100, which I saw in an advert in WHSmith (a supersized-newsagent chain in the UK), in Manchester, in 1996, which was the epicentre of the IRA bomb a couple of weeks later! I loved it, but then it got stolen when I accidentally left it behind at Manchester Uni around mid-1997. Then Steve Furber (who invented the ARM CPU) sold me his old Duo 230, but I've also had a PB5300; access to a PB150 (briefly); a PB190 (but I don't remember how I got that); two iBooks (original Tangerine/300MHz and ice 600MHz) as well as a PB G4 12"/1.5GHz.

But I've never really had more than a few at a time. I still have the PB G4 12", but I can't screw the heatsink down (a turret is stripped); the iBook/600 whose GPU is dodgy and a PB5300c/117 whose power board needs the battery corrosion cleaned off.

Also, the more computers, the less time I can spend on any one of them. The PB1400c is now 166MHz with 56MB of RAM, a Floppy drive and CD-ROM. So, it's pretty good now!

As others have said, the housing is fully compatible. However: remember to replace ALL the electronics, including the display board to motherboard cable, as the C and CS cables are NOT the same and not interchangeable.

If at all possible, I’d do what I did: scoured eBay for a 1400 that is as plain Jane and boring as possible…except that it has a non-cracked hinge. I did that for a while and purchased two that were not broken: I’ve got one good one currently installed and one as a spare.

What I did, however, was pre-empt the cracking: I installed the aforementioned shim fix onto a non-cracked cover, hopefully preventing cracking if I am careful. It works so well that I can open and shut the cover like any other machine. I am not cavalier about it, though: I generally put pressure on the bottom of the housing near the clutches rather than the top of the screen, thus not putting pressure on where the shim is glued to screening housing. Since the shim fix is screwed directly into the clutches, all the pressure I’m applying should just be between the shim and the clutch…with the rest of the housing, screen, and all just passively going along for the ride.

My write up on my experience with installing the shim can be found here:

> as the C and CS cables are NOT
> the same and not interchangeable.
omg! :-(

At this moment I decided to store it open.
It's the best of my 3 PB 1400.
It can be used normally.

I had a badly cracked top and with a 3d printed shim this came out quite ok..



seems very stable, I can open it with one finger now..so this is doable, your hinge almost looks separated but I would try it.
the shim is located exacly at the weak spot.
other have linked some repairs, heres mine:

Snial said:

My 1400c had speaker distortion, but a 68KMLA member said it wasn't the speaker, but a motherboard fault

Click to expand...

I’ve had this on a couple of different 1400s, so it seems to be a common issue.

The hinge fix is a real great thing!
But too much work for me at this time.