Sad Powerbook 150.

[Mr. Ksoft]

So I grabbed a Powerbook 150, which I've been interested in due to it still being a very late BW/Trackball Powerbook with an IDE drive.  I knew going in it had hinge problems, so I thought since it was going to get tossed anyway, I might as well see if I could take drastic measures to fix it.  Anyway, the package got stuck in a shipping loop for a while, and when it finally showed up today... the box was absolutely wrecked -- all torn up and crushed and the packing peanuts had mostly fallen out, and to top things off it seems the AC adapter had fallen out of the package at some point and is long gone. The good news is the system and loose screen bezel were completely safe and well packed, so I can still work on that, but I've got no way to turn it on.  I've been digging through my AC adapters to see if I can find something that fits the specs (apparently 17W, although the specs I saw for the adapter seem to suggest that it actually is 15W... 7.5V@2.0A) but I haven't dug anything perfect up yet and I'm afraid to try something that's sort of close but not exact, for obvious reasons (5V@2A is the best I've found so far... no good).  Can't decide if it's worth the cost to try and find an original, or hack something up that works.

As a consolation prize, it does have a hefty RAM upgrade, so I can always use that in another system if this one is dead in the water.

 

[unity]

You will need exact voltage (7.5) and minimum amperage (2 amp) for it to work. Dont worry about wattage.

 

[Mr. Ksoft]

Apple's site seems to say otherwise, that any adapter >19W will fry the system:
https://support.apple.com/kb/TA32393?locale=en_US

So I've been doing the math and trying to find something that isn't too high.  Also I thought more amps is bad for electronics, but voltage is okay because of the regulator.

 

[unity]

Oh thats right, the 150 was an odd one.

Well get the right adapter then maybe?

 

[Mr. Ksoft]

Looks like I might as well.  I just found one of them (APS-17adp) for under ten bucks so I ordered it.  We'll see if I get sent the right thing or if the listing was a lie (feeling a bit pessimistic today).

 

[Elfen]

You will need exact voltage (7.5) and minimum amperage (2 amp) for it to work. Dont worry about wattage.

Apple's site seems to say otherwise, that any adapter >19W will fry the system:

https://support.apple.com/kb/TA32393?locale=en_US

So I've been doing the math and trying to find something that isn't too high.  Also I thought more amps is bad for electronics, but voltage is okay because of the regulator.

7.5V X 2A = 15 Watts. It's not going to surpass 19 Watts.

 

[Mr. Ksoft]

Right.  Was just saying that if those values differ it could hop over 19.  Either way, now it's just (another) waiting game until the adapter arrives...

 

[J English Smith]

Ksoft - I've got a working PB 150 that has had a little hinge repair, but otherwise is in good working condition. PM me if you are interested in that for parts/combining as you get into your restoration project. I sold my other one with the power brick last year, so alas have no power supply for this one.

 

[Mr. Ksoft]

Alright... finally got an AC adapter.  Looks like this adventure isn't over yet, though-- yet more problems await.

Firstly, I guess the screen got damaged in transit or something.  The top right corner of the screen has a rectangular spot that's totally blank.  I thought it might be loose or something, so I took the display apart and found that if I apply pressure near it, roughly the bottom right corner of the "box", it turns yellow for a bit but then reverts back to black.  Fixable or just a totally dead spot?  The box shape seems odd to me.  (Pics attached)

Other problem... I can't seem to get it to boot from an external SCSI drive connected via HDI30 adapter.  I have a 2GB disk with System 7.5.5 on it and some utilities, including Internal HD Format (I want to erase the drive that came with it and install fresh, because it's full of crap)... but it seems to completely ignore it.  Tried the usual cmd-opt-shift-del, etc, PRAM clear, PMU reset.  Doesn't work with this drive, or an AppleCD 600i I tried to rig up.  I checked IDs and termination as well.  The drive works on my Quadra 800.  I tried pulling the internal drive to force it to try booting off SCSI.  I also can't check if it's picking up anything from the install that came on the machine because not only does it not have any SCSI tools, but it doesn't even have the Apple CD extension.  And the floppy drive's dead.

Gets weirder though.  While messing with this, twice in a row, I got the ? Disk icon, then it seemed to access the external and I got a Sad Mac (00000F/000003) which confused me.  Trying it again, things went back to how they were before (Just the ? Disk)  and THEN on one boot it did a full out Chimes of Death with a blank screen.  Couldn't get it to boot.  Then it suddenly booted again, but of course back to the ? Disk.  And now, still trying, it hasn't Sad Mac'd again, but then it stopped booting again.  Unplugged it for a few seconds, now it boots again.  Bad PRAM battery?  Where is it anyway? I didn't see it anywhere on the board.  I pulled the main battery because it's not looking so healthy (lovely blue flakes on the connector...)

Might take you up on that spare 150, this one could be a lost cause.  Although it does have a 20MB Duo memory card inside, so I got that out of it!

 

[Mr. Ksoft]

Update: Finally found a disk to put in the enclosure that it agrees to boot from, so I can at least get Mac OS installed.  Other issues still stand... noticed that if the screen is in the yellow state pictured above, it'll persist after the machine is shut off, then fade away.  I don't like the look of that, as it suggests a probable physical defect. :-/

 

[techknight]

Yup. Like tunnelvision.

 

[Mr. Ksoft]

Doesn't really remind me of tunnel vision.  It seems very "digital" whereas tunnel vision is more "analog".  This is just a perfectly clean-edged square of blankness.  Plus it's a passive matrix, I didn't think those were susceptible to that.  I don't know much about these kinds of displays, but I guess it might be that there's a dead spot in the "grid" that means everything from that point on simply cannot display?  I couldn't really tell how it works from my disassembling of the screen.