Turns out it is a problem with the way the daughterboard is mating with the main board. When fully screwed down, it won't boot. When i released the screws a bit and played around, sure enough it booted! I shimmied a guitar pick under one of the daughterboard screw posts and it gives pretty consistent results, but when i pick the 170 up and the chassis flexes a bit, it can be problematic. So either i've got a bad trace, or the daughterboard isn't seating properly.
Does anybody have any more permanent solutions to this problem? I'm thinking i might put some small washers between the main and daughterboards. What type of washer material would be smart? Obviously you wouldn't want wide metal washers bridging traces etc, but i'm hoping someone else has figured something out if this is a common problem.
The battery lasts for 5 mins. Are there any tricks to restoring some life to it, without rebuilding?
The display on this thing is one of a kind! I absolutely love this computer; might be my new favorite Mac! The machine is laden with retro software, a lot of it business and internet oriented. I'll post up some pics soon. It's Classy and a timeless design really in terms of computers we have today. The 170 looks like it should be used for a lunar expedition or something.
Thanks,
Mark