The Elusive PowerBook 550c

[beachycove]

Ah, I see the Holy Grail now.

But you can make it work....

 

[NeverGoBack88]

Ah, I see the Holy Grail now.
But you can make it work....

Hey Man, BRAVO! I was about to reply to your previous entry (for that, see below) and mention this fact when I tripped over this last entry. Among this very esteemed crowd you ride with here, I'll also bet you're not the only one to figure it out. It's those context clues, you know. I'd love to know how many private messages may have been sent on this.

Just so you (all) know, I came here on that tip from another eBayer simply out of interest and curiousity about what is decidedly a T-E-R-R-I-F-I-C resource, - and I thank those who have responded on this topic wholeheartedly. No hidden ulterior motives on my part; ie: I had not planned on pulling the listing if for some miraculous reason, I had gotten it working this week as a result of advice here. And as a new member, I was also being cautious about raising this flag to an offsite listing. My listing is 110% honest; I strongly believe that this thing can be made to work, although not by me :'( and my limited skills and means, - and I hope one of you will be that person. I am humbled in your cumulative presence. There are 11 watchers currently. So, beachycove, you win the "Sherlock Holmes Award" for the week, and do share with your pals, or not! I can only keep a stable of working Macs, unlike a lot of you whose greater skills I envy. As I said, this machine is not a "work up my tech chops" unit! Alas, it is not meant for me.

I am about out of ideas, and am not the best equipped of 68kmla members to answer these questions. However, some random thoughts: 

1. A multimeter would offer a ready means of confirming the working condition of the PS.

 

2. It occurs to me, though, before you go to such further trouble, that some powerbooks with a dead battery will not start with the dead battery inserted, or at least, they will not do so when they are giving problems. I am not sure why, but I have found that this has been the case with a number of different models.

 

3. It could be that you have the 5xx-series equivalent of GLOD on other older PowerBooks. The 550c's behaviour here would not be well documented, or not documented in English at any rate, though it would presumably be akin to that of the 5xx series in general. GLOD is, of course, generically a problem related to the backup battery and to the power management system in the machine.

 

4. I can also tell the tale of getting a 540c given to me some years ago that I later gave away again, and that finally came back to me as and in parts. It first came to me from a local chap who is really very knowledgeable, but who could not for the life of him make the machine boot. I got it home and promptly took it apart, piece by piece, in hopes that reseating everything might make it work. I reassembled and was delighted to find that it started up first time after reassembly and subsequently never skipped a beat — until being physically mangled by the developmentally delayed young man I in turn gave it to. What was left I eventually got back in pieces in a plastic bag....

 

Apart from that, I don't know what to tell you, apart from something like, "Sure, you just send that old 550c on to me!"

Thanks for all of these and prior attention & thoughts.

1. I could be creative and find a way to get something small enough in the plug's holes that my multimeter's contacts could then read.

2. I'm very, mostly, pretty sure I tried just the AC adapter with both batteries still removed back when this first occurred but not lately. I'm methodical that way. Kind of like when I suggested we all try all of our keys to try to open someone's keys-locked-inside Toyota pickup at 2am after work in the freezing cold. Turned out another guy's Toyota ignition key opened the passenger side (only) door of the stuck truck. 8-o True fact!

3. The GLOD thing has been my suspicion all along; the 500-series is not my forté, but other deep-discharged battery issues I've had (Wallstreet & orig iBook) seemed similar.

The Wallstreet actually required repeated (and I mean dozens) of Power On key presses to slowly bring the startup process to completion, little by little, with the HD spinning up further and further each time. Very weird.

4. The "DDYM" with your 540c should have just shot himself and never told you anything. Never give back Macs in body bags... at least not to them who gave it to ya'

Hope to see one of you on the other side. :beige:

 

[NeverGoBack88]

There are only three connections to be made. The other is a dummy.

Well maybe this will get a reply...

Just unpacked/repacked the 550c from the fully prepped outer shipping box for the 2nd time this week, in order to test the AC power adapter and to recheck if the power adapter would start it up with neither battery in their bays as you suggested, which proved to be a moot point. I was pleased to be reminded that my newer multimeter has very pointed tips that can actually contact the adapter plug's sleeves in their little holes, and LO & BEHOLD, the readings come back at a vacillating 0.01<->0.02 volts. As you face the plug with the alignment slots down "at 6 o'clock", and if you number the contacts 1,2,3,4 going clockwise from upper left, upper right, lower right, lower left (the unused one), 1+2 show nothing, 1+3 show the faint reading, as do 2+3. It should be in the vicinity of 16v, so it seems dead to me! What a surprise. Should have gambled $20 on eBay (most are untested) for another M1893 adapter, - the same used for 520's and 540's. Even with the great MUG here in our little town, tracking one down to borrow would be a real adventure. So there are no guarantees, since, as we all know, even the act of shipping vintage electronics can cause more new headaches, it is entirely possible that a working AC adapter may start this up properly as it was when I first received it last Fall. Hmmm. As stated in a previous entry, I will not go back on my word and change my mind about having listed this last weekend, - although it would be great to converse with interested parties. This is a very nice community you've got here and I'm sure someone other than I would be the right long-term caretaker. Frankly, I could use the dough. And as the line goes: "Eight is Enough". Guess I'll have to edit my signature... :

 

[beachycove]

Alas, with Herself near at hand, I don't think life would be worth living were I were to bring your 550c into the house, but it looks like you may have found the source of your own 550c troubles.

The fact that it is boxed and more or less mint does, however, makes it very attractive, even at the price (which is not unreasonable, given what you have).

Good luck with the sale. I think probably eBay is your best bet, as a great many of those posting here are young people, for whom the price of any 550c is just going to be too much, though for rather different reasons than myself!

My hunch is that you'll get a flood of offers at the last minute. I hope it goes to someone who can appreciate it.

 

[NeverGoBack88]

Alas, with Herself near at hand, I don't think life would be worth living were I were to bring your 550c into the house, but it looks like you may have found the source of your own 550c troubles.  

The fact that it is boxed and more or less mint does, however, makes it very attractive, even at the price (which is not unreasonable, given what you have).

 

Good luck with the sale. I think probably eBay is your best bet, as a great many of those posting here are young people, for whom the price of any 550c is just going to be too much, though for rather different reasons than myself!

 

My hunch is that you'll get a flood of offers at the last minute. I hope it goes to someone who can appreciate it.

In the vernacular of our daughter: "Dood!" Nice to hear from you, thanks!

I hear that, it's a delicate balance, and in the past few days of reading posts had many occasion to ask others about the "significant-other factor", but held my tongue. It can be a touchy issue! Despite having a big home office, I only keep two of my soon-to-be-8 stable out and setup fulltime, - this iMac and the Color Classic. The laptops are easy to yank out of their bags. The Cube remains at my folks house as backup. I live in the town where the MUG was founded by Robin Williams and John Tollett in the mid-90's, so there are many of us with piles o' Macs in our homes with varied degrees of acceptance. My wife is very good about it since I'm also "the IT, maintenance, and helpful hints guy" for the family. In fact, one of the MUG's SIG's used to host an annual Mac-Fix-Up Weekend or two to get "The Pile" of donated Macs out of the storage unit, transport it all to someone's garage in 4 to 6 vehicles (did it here once) and we'd spend the day creating as many functioning units at as high a level as possible to redonate to folks in need. Really great! And also where I got over my fear of major disassembly/reassembly under "adult supervision"! 68K's and early PPC (601>604) units mostly.

I really hope the AC adapter is all it is with my 550c, - that will certainly make someone happy; oy, such an easy solution! Am still honoring my word not to pull it, despite a very strong desire to obtain a functioning adapter. Don't know if you noticed but I changed the starting auction price to $399, - I figured an extra $4 is the least I can justify for all the time I've spent on it this week. I wouldn't have bought it in the first place if it hadn't been in the condition and original box status that it is. Always more attractive, protective, and says a lot about previous owners. All of my other four laptops have their complete original box and contents, as does the outstanding Mac Plus 1MB I got for free. :beige: Glad to hear you think my price is not unreasonable. We'll see what happens! I'm very used to the last-minute flurry of bidding, and do the same thing myself, - although I bought the 550c using the BIN price, about 90 minutes after it first appeared.

Speaking of youngsters, a 20-year old who just got his Color Classic working (a neat scenario in it's own right) PM'd me in regard to getting an era-appropriate version of After Dark I had mentioned in another topic somewhere, maybe his. I spent yesterday afternoon (mostly waiting for OS 7, 8, 9 to startup!) getting it from the still-unopened original 800K disk, first checked out on my (Disk Copy-less) Color Classic, into a disk image using the 3400c, over to my Pismo where it could then go onto a USB thumbdrive on its way to the iMac for emailing an attachment. Thank God for floppy disk modules and great fun using SneakerNet! (My wife was out of the house!)

I also hope the 550c ends up in the hands of the most deserving person, in the best home possible.

kind regards, and enjoy your weekend when it arrives!

 

[beachycove]

If it were mine, I'd pull it. Apart from anything else, it will be worth twice as much in a few years.

A local Apple salesman/ reseller confided to me a couple of years ago that he had given away a Lisa back around 1995, little realizing what a functional Lisa would be worth ten years later. I reckon a boxed 550c will be worth a grand before long.

 

[NeverGoBack88]

If it were mine, I'd pull it. Apart from anything else, it will be worth twice as much in a few years. 

A local Apple salesman/ reseller confided to me a couple of years ago that he had given away a Lisa back around 1995, little realizing what a functional Lisa would be worth ten years later. I reckon a boxed 550c will be worth a grand before long.

If this was still functional for me, assuming the AC adapter, that has apparently given up the ghost since I've had it, is the culprit, I probably wouldn't have ever listed it in the first place. Or at the very least, doubled the price, as you surmise. Did you ever see the clear-plastic-cased engineer's prototype Color Classic that went for $5000 on eBay a few years ago? Apparently there were only 5 or 6 of them made that way in order to check inside clearances the easy way before the full production release. Talk about rare...

 

[NeverGoBack88]

A local Apple salesman/ reseller confided to me a couple of years ago that he had given away a Lisa back around 1995, little realizing what a functional Lisa would be worth ten years later. I reckon a boxed 550c will be worth a grand before long.

Postscript: The only Macs I've ever given away were a IIsi with 13" RGB monitor (no loss there, those IIsi's were hobbled by Apple almost as badly as Color Classics) and a PowerComputing Pro 240 desktop with a 17" Color Pivot Monitor (which might have been great on eBay, all the original boxes, packaging, and The Stuff, - excellent working order, and clean, but oooh the shipping cost!) however they apparently did some real good inspiring a youngster at the nearby community college where I donated them, into a very successful first major job in his career path. Go Macs! The other thing was that the PowerComputing system, all boxed up, took up almost as much room as my first apartment in NYC! My 3400c was purchased in order to replace that system to maintain access to old apps & docs. I have a great photo of the 3400c sitting in between the two boxes towering over it...

 

[freudling]

Yes and no. It is worth what the market is willing to pay for it. And in this economy...

And if people need money...

 

[bd1308]

possibly nobody discuses one because nobody has one ?id like to discuss the powerbook 2400 240 mhz version but ima but hard pushed to get it

I have one with a G3 card in it

 

[NeverGoBack88]

I have one with a G3 card in it

Excellent! You are the brave and skilled adventurer!

 

[bd1308]

I think i'm going to end up selling it...I really want a 2300 duo with a duo-dock. I had a whole MESS of Duo stuff, but my storage unit got robbed and most of my mac stuff got taken