PB 100 resurrection

[superpantoufle]

Ok, the title of this topic is maybe not the most original… sorry for that!

I recently conquered a "dead" PowerBook 100 which cost me next to nothing. It came with its power brick alone, no floppy drive nor anything else. I found it on a local auction site, and the person who was selling described it as making weird sounds when plugged in.

Actually it soon occurred to me that it wasn't dead at all. It did make strange electro sounds through its speaker when plugged in, though, with its LCD switched on and nothing else. I had to press the programmer's switch to stop the sounds, and then it would boot to the question mark floppy icon. Dead hard disk. I took it apart, hit the disk and shook it a few times, then put the thing back together, and it booted fine. I don't know how long the disk will survive (seems to be at the end of its life), but for now I don't have another 2.5'' SCSI disk.

So everything is fine, I could format the disk and install a clean System via an external disk. Now, there still is the strange sound when plugged in, that stops when the programmer's switch is pressed. What could this be? If anything, the main battery is dead, and so are the three backup batteries.

Thanks for your help, and sorry for my bad english which most certainly prevents me to make myself clear…

 

[Byrd]

I had a PB100 that did the exact same thing - weird flickering screen/static noises and needed a firm slap on the 2.5" SCSI drive before it span up after years of not being turned on. I could never get it to boot reliably, and then I was given a PB100 with smashed screen so merged two into one. Batteries and "stacked" PRAM batteries were all dead, so I don't think that was the issue.

During this repair I was also fixing up a Quadra 840AV and SE/30 by replacing the capacitors from member trag; and noticed the PB100 also has the exact same type of leaking caps. First though I'd reseat the RAM and rebuild everything. Then I'd do the old "clean the board with metho" or put in in a dishwasher, leave to dry for a week and see what happens then. If it's any better, replace the caps.

JB

 

[superpantoufle]

Thanks for the answer!

First though I'd reseat the RAM and rebuild everything. Then I'd do the old "clean the board with metho" or put in in a dishwasher, leave to dry for a week and see what happens then. If it's any better, replace the caps.

I first wanted to hear from PB100 owners, since that machine is a bit special, or at least the only one of its kind. But you're right, after all it's a 68k Mac, prone to cap failure as well…

 

[Byrd]

I first wanted to hear from PB100 owners …

Err what I posted about was expressly about a PB100, unless I'm wrong!

JB

 

[superpantoufle]

I first wanted to hear from PB100 owners …

Err what I posted about was expressly about a PB100, unless I'm wrong!

JB

Sure! I just meant, maybe a PB100 owner around here would have had a similar issue (just as you did), and it required some specific fix, as opposed to the more general mobo cleaning / capacitor changing kind of fix. Absolutely no offense intended, I really appreciate your answering!

And I'll sonn take some time to first clean the mobo. I'd rather not change capacitors as of yet, since I'm a beginner with a soldering iron. I recently registered my first success with restoring a LCIII board, but those are much more common and widely available (in case something goes wrong) than the PB100. So my goal is to avoid it getting worse!