PowerBook 165 won't boot.

[mx-v]

Hey.

I got a PowerBook 165 from eBay. Auction stated it was working but when I got it, it wasn't. So I'm doing some troubleshooting and I'm kinda stumped, having no experience with 68k PowerBooks at all.

First, it won't start using the power button.

Hitting the reset switch will start it. It chimes, spins up the hard disk and gives a blank white screen, then it stays there.

If I put a floppy in, it won't scan it nor eject it. Will just start as described above.

Opening it, I can't see anything obviously wrong. But lacking a T8 screwdriver, I can't really dig into it yet.

If I unplug the keyboard/trackball ribbons, the power button will work. (odd?) But will still boot as described above.

Battery is dead, of course.

My next step will be to hook an ADB keyboard and mouse to see if that changes anything, buy a T8 and dissassemble/clean/reseat/reassemble everything.

It's not much info yet, but maybe someone had ran into the same problem before? I hope no major parts are fried.

Thanks for any advice.

Here's a link to the auction, if it's any help:

http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=140499243598

 

[techknight]

this may appear as a dumb question, but did you adjust the contrast control?

 

[mx-v]

Yes, contrast control works. Brightness seems to have no effect though.

 

[coius]

I can't remember, but is the CPU on a seperate board. The PB 14x/170 has a seperate board that sits above the logic board that holds the CPU, RAM and the ROM. Is this the same setup on the PB 165?

I would try (if you can) cleaning the contacts on it, and reseating the whole board. Also, check for broken traces, and in some case, you may actually have a bad power section. You might have to source the bottom board. Especially if you are having issues getting it to turn on from the power button (which is on the back, right?) which indicates component failure.

Is there a RAM module in it? Take it out. see if that fixes it. It could possibly be a bad/shorted RAM module, causing issues. Then the other things to try is disconnect the hard drive and floppy and try starting it. Remember the hard drive pulls a lot of power, which can rob the system of power when it sucks all the power if it's defective.

 

[Concorde1993]

Have you considered returning the unit to the seller (even though it was auctioned off very cheaply), or at least advising him/her that the unit arrived DOA? It would appear that the unit was damaged in the shipping process. It's pretty typical of Canada Post to be overly rough on transporting goods.

 

[mx-v]

I can't remember, but is the CPU on a seperate board[...]Is this the same setup on the PB 165?
I would try (if you can) [...]

Is there a RAM module in it? [...]

Yes, daughtercard indeed. My next step is to do exactly that, clean/reseat. No RAM module, no modem. Disconnecting the HD did nothing but I didn't try the floppy. Guessed it wouldn't change anything.

I'll keep you informed on what I'll find when I get to remove the daughtercard.

Have you considered returning the unit to the seller[...]

No, not worth it. I told the seller about the DOA though, he repeated that hitting the reset switch would start it. I replied that it indeed does but it doesn't boot at all and that the auction clearly stated that the machine was at least loading the OS. Seems like it didn't like the ride with Canada Post. Waiting for a reply but not expecting anything.

In any case, having it DOA just takes it from a Great deal to a Fair deal. (and I wanted that mic for my LC)

 

[Concorde1993]

Waiting for a reply but not expecting anything.

Well hopefully the seller is willing to co-operate with you, and that everything works out to your benefit.

Btw, was the unit properly packaged? That could also be another contributing factor as to why your PB suddenly doesn't boot.

 

[mx-v]

Succes!

Upon removal of the daughtercard, I noticed some of what looked like corrosion on the solders joints of the connector and on some close by chips. Cleaned with a toothbrush, re-assembled and woot! It booted.

Then I went on to investigate the power button problem. Toying around in the Finder (System 7.1 btw) I noticed that clicking was acting like the shift key was held down. KeyCaps confirmed this, showing that the Shift, Option and Enter keys were always pressed. I removed the keyboard and trackball, plugged in an ADB kb and mouse and voilà, power button and everything else working just fine.

So now I'm on to finding a way to clean a most likely very dirty keyboard.

Thanks for the tips guys, it's appreciated.

 

[mx-v]

Hmm, just cleaning the keyboard didn't cut it.

I tried to flex it a bit. Go the Option and Enter key to unstick. Flexed it some more... and now some keys are sending two scancodes. (ie: typing "H" gets you ">H"). And Shift is still stuck. Joy.

Anyone ever disassembled such keyboard? Had any luck getting it back together?

Btw Concorde1993, packaging was ok.

 

[techknight]

Your not out anything by trying. At the very least i have a 145B parts unit. was destroyed in shipping. keyb and mobo/screen still work though. HDD is dead.

But you could just break all the plastic rivets on the bottom side of the keyboard plate. That will let you disassemble the keyboard and you can get down to the membrane. From there you can clean up the goop/spillage that has gotten inside.

 

[mx-v]

But you could just break all the plastic rivets on the bottom side of the keyboard plate. That will let you disassemble the keyboard and you can get down to the membrane. From there you can clean up the goop/spillage that has gotten inside.

Exactly what I did.

I actually cut the head of the rivets at an angle in hope they would snap back on that way. And they did.

The membrane had spillage remnants that I cleaned. Reassembled the whole thing and now it woks great.

So I'm happy to report that I'm now the owner of a fully functional PowerBook 165.

 

[Concorde1993]

The membrane had spillage remnants that I cleaned. Reassembled the whole thing and now it woks great.

Congrats, mx-v! Although this kind of begs the question as to how the unit was working in the eBay photo.