Any way to repair PowerBook 1xx interconnect boards?

[LCGuy]

So I've recently dug out my PB180c for the retrochallenge, since I can't use the LCIII (with me not being able to get a 3G signal downstairs where said LCIII is and all). It works great, apart from one problem - some of the keys don't work...the 6, 7, 8, 9, U, B, ], ' and / keys. At first I thought it was the keyboard, so I swapped in the one from my PB145B, which is known to be good. Surprise surprise....the known-good keyboard exhibits the exact same problem on the 180c, and the keyboard from the 180c works flawlessly on the 145B. At the moment I'm using an external ADB keyboard with it, which works fine, but it means I can't really use it as a laptop. Since both keyboards are fine, this means its likely the interconnect board. About 8 years ago I got really heavily into playing with PowerBook 1xx series machines, and found that the interconnect boards sometimes tend to have issues. Since the interconnect board in the PB180c is unique to the PB180c, and wasn't used in any other model, any interconnect board I get will have to come from another 180c, which means that its an extremely hard part to find. My best bet is to try and look at the possibility of repairing the one I have. I have another parts PB180c, but its interconnect board also has issues (mostly with the display connection, from memory)

I doubt it, but is there any way to repair these things? Failing that, I might have one from a PB165c....the PB165c interconnect board has a different Apple part number from memory, but is there any chance they may be compatible? I really want to try and fix this, as apart from this little issue, my PB180c is an excellent example of a 100 series PowerBook, apart from this issue the machine is practically in showroom condition.

 

[LCGuy]

Ok, I'm actually typing this from the 180c now. The 6, 7 and 8 keys have actually come back to life. However, the t, y and , keys have now died. Any advice?

 

[LCGuy]

Well thats weird. Now all the keys are working. I'm happy, but still, I'm convinced there's a problem there somewhere.

By the way, if there's one thing for sure, surfing the net on a 16 year old lappy with 8MB of RAM via a 3G connection is really cool - even if there is a MacBook between said PB and 3G modem.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Well thats weird. Now all the keys are working. I'm happy, but still, I'm convinced there's a problem there somewhere.

Congrats!

That said, intermittent bugs are a b***h to find! I assume you've pulled the whole thing apart and plugged/unplugged the board several times to assure a good connection? The only other thing I can think of offhand is to check for a "lukewarm" solder joint that's gone "cold" over that 19 year span?

By the way, if there's one thing for sure, surfing the net on a 16 year old lappy with 8MB of RAM via a 3G connection is really cool - even if there is a MacBook between said PB and 3G modem.

Very indeed! I'm going to have to try that Networking trick at some point, but since I don't have an Internet connection at home . . .

. . . there's no great hurry . . . :

 

[LCGuy]

Yeah, its fine now....it'll be interesting to see what happens tomorrow. Its just weird that for the past few days, the keys I mentioned in my first post were all dead, even after I replaced the keyboard. Then some of those keys came alive and others died. Then they all started working, and its been fine since. Yeah, I've taken it to bits and reseated the connections - I had to in order to replace the keyboard. Your advice to check for a lukewarm solder joint is actually pretty good - I didn't think of that myself, and it might be the problem....they tend to show up everywhere in vintage electronics.

And yes, being connected to the Internet on a '030 Mac via a 3G connection is very cool. Obviously, as I said the 180c isn't directly connected to the 3G modem, my setup basically looks like this: PowerBook 180c -> SCSI cable -> Asante EN/SC -> Ethernet cable -> MacBook -> 3G dongle, with the MacBook set up to share the 3G connection over ethernet. Oh, and another neat thing I've discovered with this (this is going rather off-topic now, but meh) - vintage Asante gear, such as my EN/SC normally requires that you put a 10Mbps hub between the adapter itself and newer 10/100/1000 gear, however the Marvell Yukon chipset in the MacBook seems to emulate whatever support is necessary to make a direct connection between the EN/SC and the MacBook work, which is certainly pretty neat...and definitely the most trouble-free experience I've ever had with old Asante gear.

 

[Mars478]

Loose Solder Joints on the interconnect board? My 150 has an interconnect board labeled "Jedi Interconnect board"

1000th POST!!!!!!!!!!!!