Powerbook Duo 230 Restoration

[kb3wmh]

I have a very nice PowerBook Duo 230, but it needs work. It has some leaky caps that need to be replaced. I have some soldering experience, but is there anything that I need to know so I don't damage the motherboard?

Also, is recelling the battery a big job? I read something about it, but will it blow up if I mess it up?

Thanks

 

[kb3wmh]

Also, what should I pay for a microdock and floppy drive? I have the full dock, but it is kind of a space hog.

 

[Elfen]

Most of the caps are at where the power plug comes in. There are a few tiny can caps on the rest of the board. You should wash the board to eliminate the leaked cap goo. I use a 3 parts water/2 parts ammonia bath. It it dried with hot air from my heat gun; you can use a hand hair drier set on high and hot. I then scrub areas around the caps with acetone and a tooth brush and lightly rinse with acetone. Followed by a high proof isopropyl alcohol heavy rinse. Then blow dry with the hot air. This is for the logic board, not the LCD Panel.

Remove/replace the caps one at a time while using a q-tip and acetone to clean the board under the cap. Check electrical connections with a multimeter. At the same time check for rotted traced and fix before putting in the new cap.

I did a clean up and recap of a 230 sometime last year, it is easy, just take your time doing it. And double check your work.

 

[Garrett]

Do you have a BatteriesPlus or a similar battery store near you? If so, they may be the best option for changing the cells in the battery as they know how to do it properly.

 

[raoulduke]

Lol. Most likely it won't blow up if you mess up... unless you mess up really bad

 

[Elfen]

NiCad Pack? Type 1? Should be simple. There's some sites with instructions.

http://www.fenestrated.net/~macman/DuoBattery/

(main link to another battery is dead, lower link is there from archive.org)

https://web.archive.org/web/20011226061530/http://www.fastlight.demon.co.uk/jg/duobatt.html

Read carefully.

 

[kb3wmh]

I noticed the hard drive is SCSI. Is it possible to get a SCSI - CF card adapter? (or do I have to go SCSI - IDE - CF)

 

[Elfen]

There is an Aztec Monster CF->SCSI adapter but it's on sale on ebay once in a while from a seller in Japan. Its about $120. There are two kinds that he sell, you want the laptop version of it and it fits into the hard drive space in the laptop nicely. Many swear by it but some curse it.

The CF should be a 2GB in size, partitioned into 700mb partitions in each. The Partitions should not be bigger than 1GB. You could set it up as:

200GB for System to boot.

900GB for your apps.

900GB for your files.

 

[kb3wmh]

So I got it mostly apart...

Unfortunately, I can't unplug the display switch cable from the motherboard. I'm thinking that I'll have to cut it and re-solder it when I finish.

Luckily, the cap damage doesn't seem bad at all, in fact I can't see any leakage. I'll still replace them, but seeing that is a relief.

The CF adaptor seems expensive, I think I'll keep using the original drive (and pray, as it's 20+ years old -- though there is nothing important on it.)

Thanks!

 

[Elfen]

You should not cut anything when dismantling the 230.

Check if the wire plug was glued in place or not or if there a "locking" lip on it. It should lift off straight up.

 

[Elfen]

Here's some how to links:

Download this PDF:  http://tim.id.au/laptops/apple/powerbook/powerbook_200_series.pdf

Read link:

https://archive.org/stream/manual-apple-service-powerbook-200/powerbook_200_series_djvu.txt