PB150 hard drive dead; options and weird issue

[gibbsjoh]

Hi all!
I got a mint-condition PB150 some weeks ago and have been duly playing around with it since. I've had the fear in the back of my mind that the HD would give up the magic smoke and sure enough, that happened. Clicks on startup one morning and flickering screen (suggesting it was pulling too much power).
Annoyingly I gave it one more go and BAM, nothing, no power at all.

I've opened the unit (and noticed the PRAM battery is SLIGHTLY furred but not leaking) and pulled the drive. My MacBook wouldn't even think about getting it going over a USB -> IDE adapter - warning that it's pulling too much current. So it's dead, gone, sayonara. Oh well!
I have a IDE to SD card adapter that I've used in a G4 Mac mini and a early-2000s Dell laptop which I have popped in there (with zero expectation it'll work), but now the PB doesn't want to start reliably. I had this same issue when it arrived (wouldn't power on) but with some combination of waiting a while on mains power and removing the battery (which still holds a small amount of charge) it powered up. I've removed the IDE to SD Card adapter.

I tried to take a video but it wouldn't cooperate. What happens when I get it to fire up is the happy Mac chime, then the backlight comes on, but nothing shown, then at the floppy drive clicks once, then a noise I can only describe as a fart sound from the speaker and it turns off. Sometimes if I press the debug button on the back I get Sad Mac chimes but not always.

I've grabbed my multimeter and the PSU is fine, 7.6V.

Any ideas? Could the drive trying to pull a zillion amps have cooked something on the mobo? Or perhaps it's something as simple as a new PRAM battery (recommendations?).

 

[gibbsjoh]

OK so I'm parking the HDD issue at the moment since really it's not the critical thing here!

Seems lots of folk have this issue w/ the 150 (the chimes but no boot thing). I took a multimeter to the PSU, battery and PRAM battery after the unit sat on charge overnight.

PSU: 7.2 or whatever it's supposed to be.
Battery (which says it's a PB140/170 battery?): 6.5V, everything I can find suggests this is a 6V battery so perhaps it's OK? It does power the PB for 10-15 mins (or did anyway!).
PRAM battery: 0.99V (so it's prob dead as a doornail, no?)

I figure I'll have to send this off to someone more handy with the iron than me, to replace or remove the PRAM battery and check that Jedi board. But if anyone has any tips let me know. I'll try more PRAM resets, charging and poultry-sacrifice over the Xmas break.

 

[bibilit]

7,2 volts seems low to me.

 

[gibbsjoh]

7,2 volts seems low to me.

Oops I got numbers jumbled. 7.8V.

 

[Byrd]

Is that 7.8V under load? If not recapped I’m betting the voltage drops when trying to start the 150, flickering screen and clicking suggests this. The 150 is a rock solid unit it’s so simple what was once a hobbled, cheap PowerBook at launch is now an ideal retro laptop.

 

[gibbsjoh]

Is that 7.8V under load? If not recapped I’m betting the voltage drops when trying to start the 150, flickering screen and clicking suggests this. The 150 is a rock solid unit it’s so simple what was once a hobbled, cheap PowerBook at launch is now an ideal retro laptop.

No, just with the multimeter hooked up. The odd thing is, the PB worked great with no issues at all right up to when the HD siezed. Could that have damaged the PSU at all by the amount of current it was trying to draw to spin up? (It's been 25+ years since I studied anything related to electronics...)

I am planning to send the PB off to get the battery removed/replaced so I can ask the repair guy if he'll do the PSU as well.

Thx for the info. Yep, the 150 is great. It was my first laptop back in '96!

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

Get that PRAM battery out for sure. They always leak.

 

[gibbsjoh]

Get that PRAM battery out for sure. They always leak.

Yep I think I dodged a bullet so far.

 

[gibbsjoh]

So someone on Reddit recommended an aftermarket PSU - BOOM! Working! I suspect the drive seizing may have done some damage to the OG PSU (given it was trying to pull a ton of current). Also, for anyone interested, a standard IDE to CF adapter from Amazon with a 2GB card works great.

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

Those original PSUs almost always have the caps go bad. Not surprised at all, though I didn't mention it before because it measured fine with the multi-meter. Probably a current issue then.

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

Adding to this thread to further confirm that the issue was absolutely power related, my newly acquired 150 does the same thing as it’s barely alive battery runs out of juice. It was definitely strictly power related.

 

[gibbsjoh]

Adding to this thread to further confirm that the issue was absolutely power related, my newly acquired 150 does the same thing as it’s barely alive battery runs out of juice. It was definitely strictly power related.

Thx for the info - oddly the 150 is now dead again after leaving it powered up overnight by accident. I've tried leaving it unplugged w/out battery, plugged in with battery, everything. Not so much as a peep.

I'll see if my multimeter can measure current - or just get a new aftermarket PSU again.

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

Hmm. Not sure about that one or what's causing it. 150s can be weird from what I've heard though.

 

[gibbsjoh]

Hmm. Not sure about that one or what's causing it. 150s can be weird from what I've heard though.

Now this is just getting WEIRD... it's sort of alive again:

I got a peak reading from the aftermarket PSU of 1.8A - so below the 2A the stock PSU provides and way below the alleged 3A @ 7.5V the PSU is rated for.

I checked the stock PSU and, surprise, 2.1A. On a whim I plugged it in and guess what!? It powers on! I get a screen that fades in contrast (with a mouse pointer) from OK to unusable, then a Sad Mac chime and then it eventually turns off. I suspect the battery charging is pulling a bit too much current for the old PSU once the logic board starts to fully power up (plus the backlight). So, I'm going to try a. charging it on the stock PSU for a while and also b. a replacement aftermarket PSU. It was cheap and cheerful and I suspect it's a bit crappy inside (the PSU) so I'm not entirely surprised...

 

[bibilit]

I had several issue with old batteries, i will remove and leave the space empty for further tests.

 

[gibbsjoh]

I had several issue with old batteries, i will remove and leave the space empty for further tests.

It doesn’t seem to like starting up without the battery - I will let it sit and charge for a bit and see how it goes later.

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

Have you removed the PRAM battery yet? Mine held marginal voltage and screwed with the power manager causing it to not power on sometimes. No issues since I clipped it out. (which you should do anyway before it leaks)

 

[gibbsjoh]

Have you removed the PRAM battery yet? Mine held marginal voltage and screwed with the power manager causing it to not power on sometimes. No issues since I clipped it out. (which you should do anyway before it leaks)

No I was holding off as I thought it needed desoldering. I’ll do that this evening.

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

It does need desoldering. What I found to be easier to to the way the legs were bent was to partially desolder it out by heating each leg and pulling, just enough that I could fit my wire cutters in to clip it out. That did the trick and my 150 is very happy now.

 

[gibbsjoh]

It does need desoldering. What I found to be easier to to the way the legs were bent was to partially desolder it out by heating each leg and pulling, just enough that I could fit my wire cutters in to clip it out. That did the trick and my 150 is very happy now.

No soldering iron