PowerBook 5300-gotchas?

[Snial]

Does anyone have a summary of what's likely to have gone wrong with a PowerBook 5300 (apart from catching fire... only kidding). A friend on mine has a PB5300cs/117 and we hope to meet up in Feb.

I'm assume the NiMH battery is either dead or charcoal* ;-).

This reminds me, I'm thinking of replacing the cells in my PB1400c's battery. Will this NiMH cells work?

RS PRO 12V NiMH Rechargeable Battery Pack, 2Ah - Pack of 1 | RS

uk.rs-online.com

-chers from Julz

*and yep, I know it was the 2 Lithium Ion batteries that caught fire.

 

[Phipli]

The batteries in them leak corrosive gunk is the worst thing. Hinges are really stiff (more than other PBs) and break the screen. The power jack socket becomes detached from the PCB and is generally a bit flimsy... Erm.

They're not great physically, even when they were new.

Caps are failing in them already. Only take 16bit PCMCIA cards. RAM is expensive / hard to get.

They boot well from CF cards in the PCMCIA slot if you get an adapter and an old, small card that works (newer cards don't seem to work).

Bring an external CD drive or zip drive for recovery stuff. But you know the era of PBs. It's basically like a PB1400, but slightly worse in every way.

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

The battery leaking is likely to be the biggest killer, but as Phipli said, power jacks and caps as well. Also check the power supply for voltage. They can fail.
The hinges on the ones I’ve seen aren’t any more stiff than others, they just have the same poor design where they use small plastic standoffs to hold it all together. There’s now 3D printed hinge fix parts you can make thanks to @jmacz’s great work

On CF cards in the PCMCIA slot - mine works and boots fine off a fairly modern 16GB Lexar card. What issues have you had with that Phipli?

 

[bibilit]

A very cute Powerbook, but yes some hinges and power jack issues.

The 5300 CS was the common one, but the screen was not great, the C and CE were far better units.

Strangely yours is CS but 117 Mhz ? (should be 100 Mhz instead) so probabaly upgraded at some point.

 

[christcc2]

Is booting off of a PCMCIA card common to all Powerbooks that accept those cards?

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

I believe so, at least, the old world ones. Ive done it on 5300s, 1400s, and 3400s.

 

[joshc]

Unhelpful answer but what most people are probably thinking: The gotcha, and what has gone wrong, is that it's a 5300.

The 1400 and 3400 were superior models in probably every way; and neither are hard nor expensive to find, so I do struggle as to why anyone would intentionally collect/use a 5300 other than for completion sake, let alone spend time troubleshooting one.

Maybe I am too practical/impatient for this stuff now...

 

[Snial]

A very cute Powerbook, but yes some hinges and power jack issues.

The 5300 CS was the common one, but the screen was not great, the C and CE were far better units.

Strangely yours is CS but 117 Mhz ? (should be 100 Mhz instead) so probabaly upgraded at some point.

Correction, it is a 5300c/100. It's not mine BTW, but a friend's. I once had a PB5300(mono)/100 with 40MB of RAM and a frighteningly small 500MB HD which I managed to get Mac OS 8.1 on it (not HFS+ formatted). It also had an external video card which compensated for the pathetic LCD. The HD and PowerBook seemed to be dying at the end of my MPhil thesis, but I was able to buy an iBook/300 by then.

So, that explains things I think. Ha, pity you can't just bolt a 117MHz CPU from a PB1400 on it!

 

[LaPorta]

The 1400 needs eight 4/3A cells WITHOUT the nubs on the positive terminal. Having the nubs will not allow them to fit in the battery pack.

Something like this:

Exell 1.2V 4/3A 3700mAh NIMH Rechargeable Flat Top Battery for use with high power static applications (Telecoms UPS and Smart grid) radio controlled devices electric tools Data Meters

1.2V 4/3A Rechargeable Flat Top Battery For Solar Lights, Remotes,Telecoms

www.batteriesinaflash.com

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

5300 OEM battery uses AA-size cells.
1400 does use what LaPorta describes. I need to buy some now that I have a spot welder!

 

[LaPorta]

5300 OEM battery uses AA-size cells.
1400 does use what LaPorta describes. I need to buy some now that I have a spot welder!

That’s fancy! How much did something like that cost?

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

I got this one that @Powerbook27364 recommended: https://www.amazon.com/Seesii-11000...ords=seesii+spot+welder&qid=1704301536&sr=8-5

Probably not the best one out there, but it apparently works pretty well. I haven't gotten a chance to try it out yet though.

 

[Snial]

5300 OEM battery uses AA-size cells.
1400 does use what LaPorta describes. I need to buy some now that I have a spot welder!

You can make a spot welder with a capacitor I hear ;-)

spot welder – Hackaday

hackaday.com

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

I'd heard, but for me I'd rather just pick up something pre-built than risk a safety issue or it not working that well. Even though I'm sure they aren't too complicated.

 

[Phipli]

The hinges on the ones I’ve seen aren’t any more stiff than others, they just have the same poor design where they use small plastic standoffs to hold it all together. There’s now 3D printed hinge fix parts you can make thanks to @jmacz’s great work

They were so bad I believe there was a hinge related recall - you might have been lucky and yours were done

Mine you can lift them by the closed lid with the latch open and the lid doesn't move.

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

Does yours have the "AA" mark in the bottom right corner of the serial number sticker on the bottom? That marker indicates that it went through Apple's repair program. Both of my units (working and parts) have been. From all I've seen, units that don't have the marker are more rare than ones who do, EVERYONE seemingly sent their 5300s in for repair.

From memory, the general extended repair program went for 5 years, and the hinge program went for 7(!).
Some hinges just go stiff over time though, it could have nothing to do with whether or not it's been through the program. Different environmental conditions, defects, etc. Mine used to be maybe a tiny bit stiff but I added some Lithium Grease last time I had it open and they're better now. They weren't nearly as bad as yours are though.

 

[Phipli]

Does yours have the "AA" mark in the bottom right corner of the serial number sticker on the bottom? That marker indicates that it went through Apple's repair program. Both of my units (working and parts) have been. From all I've seen, units that don't have the marker are more rare than ones who do, EVERYONE seemingly sent their 5300s in for repair.

From memory, the general extended repair program went for 5 years, and the hinge program went for 7(!).
Some hinges just go stiff over time though, it could have nothing to do with whether or not it's been through the program. Different environmental conditions, defects, etc. Mine used to be maybe a tiny bit stiff but I added some Lithium Grease last time I had it open and they're better now. They weren't nearly as bad as yours are though.

I have two, the first I picked up doesn't have an AA in the corner of the barcode sticker (like I assumed - as like I said, the hinges are stiff on this laptop, really stiff, like, twice as stiff as my PB1400).

The second... Does have an AA, but I don't use that machine, it's the parts machine. I never bothered fully assembling it when I stole the screen from it in about 2007.

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

That would probably explain it. You could try lubricating them still, but you may be better off stealing them out of your AA parts unit.

 

[Phipli]

That would probably explain it. You could try lubricating them still, but you may be better off stealing them out of your AA parts unit.

I sort of ignore them, I'm really not a PB5300 fan. For a while it was my only classic Mac and... Personally I think they are the worst computer Apple ever made. I can't think of anything I dislike more.

Back when I was trying to use it I bought a focus video/ethernet card for it and so was just using it closed with a keyboard, mouse and monitor.

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

I completely get why you wouldn’t like it, the stuff that came before and after was way better. Mine is far from my favorite, but I do bring it out fairly often for variety’s sake. They do have some redeeming qualities.