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PowerBook 145b

Louie

Active member
Does anyone have a diagram of what each item on the PowerBook 145b's motherboard is? I recently purchased one that was in "good condition" but untested. The motherboard looks clean and there is no corrosion however it doesn't turn on.
 

3lectr1cPPC

Well-known member
Alright then. So, nothing when power is pressed? Disconnect all non-essential parts. If any keys are stuck on on the keyboard it won't start for whatever reason. If it has a hard drive then you can use that as a test to see if it starts with the top case off I'd assume. I don't think there are schematics for the motherboard unfortunately, but you can test to see if any tantalum/ceramic caps have shorted.
 

xreactx

Well-known member
Alright then. So, nothing when power is pressed? Disconnect all non-essential parts. If any keys are stuck on on the keyboard it won't start for whatever reason. If it has a hard drive then you can use that as a test to see if it starts with the top case off I'd assume. I don't think there are schematics for the motherboard unfortunately, but you can test to see if any tantalum/ceramic caps have shorted.
Any damaged connectors?
 

3lectr1cPPC

Well-known member
The power button and power jack are directly soldered to the logic board. As long as the hard drive cable isn’t damaged, you should at least hear the drive spin up.

Oh, and also, check the SMD fuses. I’ve heard of them being blown before. Not sure exactly where they are on the logic board though, there’s a thread somewhere on it.
 
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pezter22

Well-known member
I just finished repairing several PowerBooks 180,170, 165 and now working on a 145 all with no power issues. I found that they all are similar. Remove the board. Either the main fuse F1 near the battery terminal is blown (check for continuity) or a diode (D15 or 16) on the back of the board near the power connector is bad (it gets hot). Occationally there is a transitor that gets hot on the front of the board Q22 that fails (boots but to a grey screen).
 
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