Black PowerBook 45W adapter with white iBook

[Dog Cow]

If you need to, you can get replacement power adapters from PowerBook Medic for around $25 USD. They are sold in the same black config as a 1400 adapter. Also try ebay and the like.

Thanks for the tips. I have just secured a good deal on a 3rd-party power adapter, and should have it in hand this coming week.

Somehow, when that plug was made Apple snuck in a resistor and tied it in series between either tip-to-sleeve or ring-to-sleeve. I don't recall what the ohm value was (I think somewhere around 47 ohms or higher). Somebody may want to try and trace out the schematic for that plug. I don't have my original anymore, since I threw it out a while ago.

Indeed. There is almost certainly a 3rd circuit in there somewhere that handles the bi-color LED for the charge indicator.
Hopefully by this time next week, I will have all the parts together and the iBook repaired. The battery seems to be in decent shape. It did successfully charge and support the iBook for over an hour of time.

 

[Dog Cow]

Uh, well.... Let's just say that I'm on the market for a new motherboard. 8-o

 

[H3NRY]

You probably had power hooked up backwards if I read your post right. The early PB had a 2-contact "barrel" plug, center POS 24V, outside NEG. Wallstreets and later G3s use a 4-contact plug like a stereo headphone with an added outer shield like an RCA plug. The wiring on the plug is, TIP=ADB data for smart charger/battery, RING=NEG, SLEEVE=POS 24V, SHELL=GROUND (usually connected to NEG inside laptop). iBooks use a smaller 2.5mm version of the 4-conductor plug with the tip hooked to the green and orange LEDs. Since the sleeve is the last contact to enter the socket when you insert a live plug, it is the "hot" one, not the tip as you might expect.

If you do replace a broken plug on your AC adapter with a stereo headphone plug, be sure to insulate the sleeve from the outer shield of the laptop or you'll have a short. The outer shield contact isn't required for operation, and the most common failure of Apple's AC adapters is the wire fraying and shorting where it enters the plug.

 

[Dog Cow]

Well, the solution for next time is to not pull stunts like I did. ) Haste makes waste.

However.

It's worse than that. I had the power problem solved. In fact, I had everything solved. I was watching DVDs on it Saturday evening and on Sunday morning. The battery was charging, and had probably a good 2-hour life on it. The only thing left to fix was the backlight cable. It was loose. Putting the screen in the right position and squeezing the left of the trackpad would get it to stay on.

So I decided to open up the iBook on Sunday afternoon and see what I could do about fixing the cable. Since I needed to have the power on to test if the backlight was on, the iBook was booted up, but it was completely apart, and the screen was detached too. The battery was in and the AC cable was in too.

For some reason ... I don't know why ... I decided to pick up the iBook and move it. That was the mistake. When I set it back down, I think that some component came in contact with metal. Either a short circuit, or high voltage ran across the wrong component.

Anyway, as soon as I set it down, I heard a high-pitched noise. It got higher in pitch. After about two seconds, I pulled out the AC plug, and it stopped. Plugging the AC back in resumed the pitch.

I think that at this point, I had already done the deed. I put the plug back in again, and after some seconds, the noise got higher and higher in pitch, then stopped. I heard a little pop, and smoke wafted out of the iBook.

Now I've got an iBook which will work from the battery, but it does not recognize the AC cord (even System Profiler does not acknowledge it). I also heard a crackle from the DC in board when I put the plug in again to confirm. So I think that I even blew up the replacement DC in board which I had installed on Saturday.

It's not dead, but it's in worse shape than when I originally obtained it. :-/

 

[H3NRY]

Ow! You're not the only one who's moved a running gadget and let the magic smoke out, though. :I

 

[Dog Cow]

Yeah, well at least I have gained experience, and I won't likely repeat the mistakes (yes, plural) that I made on this one again.

(First time that I've ever disassembled and attempted repairs on a laptop!)

 

[phreakout]

Actually, that's not entirely bad, Dog Cow. All that was damaged is the DC-In board. If the rest of the machine works fine, then you just need to replace that one part, along with anything else you were planning on fixing.

73s de Phreakout. :rambo:

 

[Dog Cow]

All that was damaged is the DC-In board.

No, I don't think that's true. I think that I blew up a component on the logic board that has to do with the managing power from the battery and AC plug. I think that I also blew up the replacement DC-in board which I had purchased.
I wish you were right, because that would just set me back another $6.

But, as always, we shall see... I'm not ready to give up yet, though.

 

[Dog Cow]

There's a short on the motherboard. Last night, I had some time to strip the iBook completely down. I had the bare motherboard connected to the battery and the LCD screen (data + power). Attempting to plug in the AC adapter made a small pop, and the indicator light on the adapter dimmed and flashed regularly. I assumed that was because it is a switching-type power supply, and it was attempting to save itself and/or the iBook due to an exceptional condition.

I think that the short is most likely due to the component that blew up on Sunday and released its magic smoke. I still have not identified which component it was. I could not locate any scorch marks or other signs.

Also, I disassembled the screen and used the volt meter on the inverter board. The 4 wires going into the board tested OK. They had DC voltage. However, the two wires coming out of the plastic connector that connects to the LCD panel did not register on the volt meter. However, the LCD panel still shows an image. It's just the backlight will not come on with any amount of fiddling.

Just to recap: the iBook will still boot up and load whatever OS is on the HD. I can still use it with an external monitor (which is what I did last night), and it claims that the battery still has about 2 hours of life left on it.

However, due to the fact that the logic board has a fault, and now the inverter board also appears to have a fault, I think that I'm going to call it quits on this poor machine. I'll save some of the components (AirPort, RAM, HD, DVD, battery) and recycle the rest.

 

[phreakout]

RIP. :'(

Alas, poor Yorrik (sp?), I knew him well.

73s de Phreakout. :rambo: