• Updated 2023-07-12: Hello, Guest! Welcome back, and be sure to check out this follow-up post about our outage a week or so ago.

Macintosh Portable power regulation

Mc128k

Active member
I did not add diodes, they were pre-built in the cable, an official "Apple Hack". They are for both protection and voltage dropping, I can't remember their type, but any rectifier I think will do fine, they don't need special features. They were the black type, not the glass ones.

 

Raoul

New member
Hi 
I found your topic searching for "Macintosh portable Q16". I've opened my Portable for the first time yesterday, because I wanted to recap it after some years in my attic. One of the last time I used it, many years ago, I have tried to install the Com card, and instantly I've got a burn smell. Shut the Portable off, removed the card, booted it again, and it was still working.
So today I've checked the card : light corrosion near the ports, one capacitor seems leaky, and Q16 seems fried.
So I've some questions, and here seem one of the best places to get an answer :)
I don't want to do more damages.
• Do you think after recap I can boot it securely without changing Q16 ?
• Do you have the reference for Q16 ?
• I'm not an expert, and not used to such heatsinks, what's the best protocol to remove Q16 ?
I thank for any answer.
Raoul

 

IMG_7883.JPG

 
Last edited by a moderator:

Raoul

New member
For my Q16, it's not corrosion, but overheating.
Reading again the full topic, I'm wandering if the culprit was not the Com card, but me (I don't remember exactly, it was a very long time ago) using a grey power supply in place of the white one.

 

techknight

Well-known member
For my Q16, it's not corrosion, but overheating.
Reading again the full topic, I'm wandering if the culprit was not the Com card, but me (I don't remember exactly, it was a very long time ago) using a grey power supply in place of the white one.


No it isnt. I was replying to your post. 

Your Q16 heatsink is blackened from tarnish/corrosion. Not heat. 

That is not to say that the transistor got hot over the years, but the blackening of the heatsink is due to tarnishing. 

 
Last edited by a moderator:

techknight

Well-known member
ok great thanks! 


If it shorts, it'll send 6V to 7.5V to all the 5V chips which would fry everything up stream, basically bricking the board. I have seen it. its rare though. The first thing it takes out is the SWIM, and a handful of 74 series logic next to the CPU. 

 
Last edited by a moderator:

glay78

Well-known member
If it shorts, it'll send 6V to 7.5V to all the 5V chips which would fry everything up stream, basically bricking the board. I have seen it. its rare though. 
because sometimes after I run my portable from start to sleep cycle and a few times within an hour or so , it will register as low batt even the batt is fully charged. It will then go to sleep to prevent batt from draining. I’m not too sure what’s causing it.

 

techknight

Well-known member
because sometimes after I run my portable from start to sleep cycle and a few times within an hour or so , it will register as low batt even the batt is fully charged. It will then go to sleep to prevent batt from draining. I’m not too sure what’s causing it.


Thats a bad PMGR/Hybrid. Very common, and short of that, could be caps/resistors support components in the circuitry between them. 

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Top