NEED HELP with a Powerbook 140 to 145 upgrade

[Johnnya101]

Hi all,

My Powerbook 140 clicks randomly, but has an SCSI2SD, good screen, etc. I bought a 145 off ebay.

It was to my knowledge that 140s, 145s, and 170s have the same logic board, but CPU boards are different.

I first tried swapping the entire bottom but installing my SCSI2SD. I did this, plugged in the main cable, installed the bottom, and plugged in a power adapter. It started chirping loudly. I then noticed it was my unrecapped adapter. No big deal, it just needs the caps replaced. I swapped it with my KNOWN GOOD recapped adapter. Same thing, chirps loudly.

Next, I opened it back up again and removed the CPU card from the 145 and installed it in my 140 bottom, and installed it with my 140 top (Keep in mind all 140 stuff is known good). Plugged it in. Chirped once quietly (Like it should), and turned it on. It chimed, lit up the screen. Yay! Then all h$#% broke loose. The speaker started buzzing super loudly and the screen had gibberish and lines all over it. I quickly unplugged it.

What the heck is going on here? Am I wrong, 145s are not compatible at all with 140s? Or is my 145 completely dead? I dont want to try anything else until I find out whats going on. Bad 145 CPU board? I know the 145 logic board is junk, it makes the adapter chirp when plugged in and not even on, so not even gonna attempt to use it.

Got a modem card and RAM card out of the probably dead 145 though.

 

[Johnnya101]

Update: swapped in my KNOWN GOOD 140 CPU board. Same thing, screeches (clicks) rapidly, bbbbrrrrrrrrrrr and has lines flashing all over the screen. This means something on the logic board I guess now?

 

[Johnnya101]

D16 on the 145s logic board looks burnt. My 140s logic board looks perfect.

Down from one working Powerbook to none.

Unsure on what to do now. Maybe I'll just sell the parts, LCD separately and the SCSI2SD and move on. Unless someone has a KNOWN GOOD 140 logic board. Not paying $80 on eBay for one.

It seems that the buzzing and screen flashing starts when happy Mac would normally show up. Wonder if the scsi2sd is dead or something. I guess I have nothing to lose by trying it without it.

 

[Johnnya101]

Just tried the SCSI2SD again to confirm. Works great now... Perhaps there was a bad connection somewhere and replugging everything helped. I'll update this thread with the results of my 140->145 upgrade.

Errr... Isn't a 145 CPU like... Supposed to make it a 145 or are there extra things on a 145 logic board that makes it a 145? Still says it's a 140.

Well ... In all I got a 2mb ram card and a modem. And I have narrowed it down to the logic board. Anyone got a 140/145/170 logic board that WORKS laying around somewhere?

 

[LaPorta]

John, I believe that the ROM itself has the ID in it to tell the computer what model it is.

 

[Brett B.]

^ I think that is correct.  The 140 allegedly does not need a system enabler, so it must be in the ROM.  FWIW after 7.1 or so you usually won't see a specific model there anyway... a universal system software install may just show "Macintosh" or "PowerBook" or something generic.  Ignore it.  What you really need to do is run a more in depth utility, IE TattleTale/TattleTech and see if your hardware is actually running at PowerBook 145 specs or if it has downclocked itself or something weird.

 

[Johnnya101]

Ah, that makes sense. What is weird is that the CPU board is labeled 140/170... I will try and run a test when possible. That would be great if it could keep the 140 name and run at a 145 speed.

 

[Johnnya101]

Tested finally.

The supposed 145 board:

The stock 140 board:

Maybe the 145 board is really just an old 140 someone threw in. It says copyright 1991 and 140/170.