Does the Portable require AC power for a certain period of time to boot?

[jsarchibald]

I'm having my two Portables refurbished, and it's going on 12 months now (don't ask).

I've been told they are being finicky with powering on properly, in that they need to be plugged in for up to 12 hours to "charge the circuits to make them work".  He goes on to add, "These issues are related to a gate in the daughter board which needs the unit powered up for a while before starting it".

Now I could understand it if these needed further repairs, but I arranged to have everything fixed on these two machines, even right down to replacing rubber parts in the trackball.  i would have thought that having these fully recapped and refurbed that they would come back and work like they did out of the factory (or at least operate as they were designed).  I can't see them requiring up to 12 hours of charging in order to work, especially with a battery installed, when used as they were designed.

Can someone please shed some light on this, or advise what I'm getting myself into?  I'm a little concerned that I'll need to plug these in for half a day each time I want to use them...

 

[techknight]

I'm having my two Portables refurbished, and it's going on 12 months now (don't ask).

I've been told they are being finicky with powering on properly, in that they need to be plugged in for up to 12 hours to "charge the circuits to make them work".  He goes on to add, "These issues are related to a gate in the daughter board which needs the unit powered up for a while before starting it".

Whoever said that? your restorer? Doesn't know anything about these machines sadly, that alone scares the hell out of me. Anyways... 

I know these machines inside and out, and even have the schematics for them. I do know this much: The battery must have a >0% charge for the machine to operate properly. 0% (5.8VDC) charge is the baseline for which the machine will operate on the AC adapter, and still have "just" enough voltage in the battery to keep things stable for use, while the battery is accepting a charge. 

If the battery is flat, the machine wont work. 

These machines need NO warm up. Once a charged battery is inserted, and a possible PMU reset the thing should fire right up. 

I keep a spare portable power brick and external charger nearby to keep the batts topped up, so they dont go bad. 

Now onto the cause: 

The problem with the portable, they usually sit stored sideways, so the caps leak and drain/goo up the Hybrid IC and that usually damages them, and this is one of MANY symptoms of Hybrid IC failure. Repairing the Hybrid is a 50/50 shot. Also trace rot is rampant in the portable as well. These were stored in non climate controlled environments for the last 20+ years and its absolute MURDER on the logic boards! 

 

[jsarchibald]

He gave me the option earlier in the year to either have a full battery rebuild, or a different battery setup that hides inside the original battery case and holds a charge for up to 3 hours for $30.  Considering the expense I'm going to for the rebuild, and that I would be using this connected to mains, I went for the cheaper option.  Could this be having an impact?

The guy runs an Apple Authorised Repair Centre, but I was never made aware that this would be a side project in his spare time, hence why they've taken so long.  Yes I am concerned, so if there is any additional info I can pass his way, it might lead to a better outcome.  What he advised above was after conferring with a 'Portable Guru', but I could swear that this was the guy who has repaired and owned over 20 Portables (and likely still does).  What to do?

 

[techknight]

Well a portable board takes me a few hours to fix if its a real tough dog before I give up. If its easy it only takes me a few minutes. 

So them having it for 12 months really really scares me. 

Also the "cheap" battery method is probably using one of those little 6v alarm panel, or emergency lightning batteries which will work fine. Not ideal, but not a problem. 

The problem is they have no bloody idea whats wrong with the logic boards. If they did, they would work PROPERLY and have been fixed months ago. If they insist on trying to fix the problem, they need to take a look at the LTC1040CN and make sure its working properly. Chances are, its not. 

the only chance they have with a Hybrid IC, is to add SMD294 or equivalent reflow flux to all the pins, and heatgun the hybrid until the solder joints reflow. Gotta be careful, overheat and youl crack it! Underheat, it wont do anything!

Once its reflown, clean up the hybrid with alcohol (smd294) or recommended solvent for the flux, and try again. I have had about 80/20 success with reviving hybrids this way. If that doesnt work, then it needs extensive troubleshooting that might be outside their capabilities. 

The reflow flux absorbs residual cap goo, and it also freshens the existing solder joints on the ceramic substrate. 

Out of about 200 or so portable boards I had come across, I only had to change 1 LTC1040CN because the sample and hold latching oscillator would not run. 

 

[jsarchibald]

I probably should clarify.  He's swapped parts back and forth to make one great and one average Portable, and lots of little stuff like replacing worn and broken rubber parts, tickled the hard drives back to life, and a host of other things along the way.  He even had one of them recapped and booting in October last year.

The reason for the delay is because he doesn't get a lot of downtime, and was quite ill earlier in the year.  I went into this thinking it was through the shop, he went into it as a vintage side project, and here we are.  Comms could have been a lot better, but we both had different expectations, I just wish he had told me of this before we started.  I've been confident of the repairs to date, but this latest update has me scratching my head.

 

[aplmak]

Techknight is the portable master.. He has developed memory upgrade boards and has repaired MANY, MANY, MANY of my logic boards that I gave up on. He probably knows just as much as the original engineers of the portable... Your story is real scary as he said.. It's too bad you are all the way in Australia as getting what you need done would be a lot easier if you were here in the US. At any rate Techknight is by far the portable expert and is #1 at his trade in not only the portable but in electronics (in my as well as many others opinion).

As far as your repair tech... I just can't get over his excuses... it's so crazy I am not sure even how to respond to it...

 

[jsarchibald]

Yeah, it's gotten pretty heated recently but we are so close to the end, I backed down.  To be honest, I just want my Portables back, so maybe it's best I take them as is and move on with a different repairer.

Thanks so much for the advice!

 

[aplmak]

Just be nice and careful so you can get them back..... Don't let him screw you... there is plenty of time to communicate after you have them back in your possession!

 

[techknight]

Yea he got a little deeper than I would have. I repair the circuits and thats about the limit of what I do. rubber restoration, and etc I just don't have the patience for. 

As far as taking a long time because of a day job, I know how that is. I only have time for this kinda stuff on weekends now. 

 

[jsarchibald]

Well, I got the machines back yesterday.  He still hasn't told me how much the total bill is, but he still sent them back.  It came back in the same box I originally sent them off in, and I saw the consignment date: 01 October 2015!  Wow...

I opened up the 'good' portable and can see a crack right around the battery, on the seam where the two halves join together.  It's not a clean cut, but a snaking break, like it's been forced open in stages.  It's also been taped up, which seems concerning and not what I was expecting.

I plugged it in but it wouldn't turn on at all.  Left to charge overnight, it still won't turn on.  I now have serious doubts about their operation.  At the rate, I won't be paying a cent, so this should go down well...

 

[jsarchibald]

The other one has tested fine however. Did the reset and it powered right up, seems to run a treat but the battery situation is a bit iffy. I was told battery life would decrease but not that much? Will leave charging and see what happens.

Swapping the battery back into the other one, no dice.

 

[techknight]

Well after what happened, it really doesnt surprise me. 

However, I am glad you got one that is functional! 

as far as the battery seam being cracked/taped, Expect that. you have to crack them apart to replace the cells inside. No way around that.