PB180c relay click on startup and PB190 adapter question?

[CVKealey]

Unearthed my box of old Powerbooks yesterday and tried starting them up. One that did not respond well is a PB180c (the only one I have of that model). Basically, I plug in the AC adapter, wait 30 seconds or so and then press the power button. There's the startup chime, and the screen lights for about half a second, then there's a noise like a relay clicking (2 or 3 clicks) coming from the right rear corner of the base (around where the adapter plugs in). If I try pressing the power button again, nothing. Unplug, plug in, wait 30 seconds, press power, startup chime, click-click(-click), black screen. This worked when I put it in the box (~7-9 years ago?).

Also, somewhere I got a hold of a PB190, but I don't appear to have an AC adapter for it. This doesn't use the same brick as the other PB1xx series, correct?

 

[maceffects]

Its probably either the caps in the AC brick unit or on the board inside the computer, both are common.  I would start with a good recap job.

 

[MikeatOSX]

Did you hold down reset and interrupt buttons for 5-10 seconds on the PB 180?

 

[CVKealey]

Its probably either the caps in the AC brick unit or on the board inside the computer, both are common.  I would start with a good recap job.

Tried 3 different bricks, all of which work with my PB 170. Probably the internal board. Not thrilled with the prospect of opening it up since I'm sure the plastics are quite brittle by now.

Did you hold down reset and interrupt buttons for 5-10 seconds on the PB 180?

Did not try that...will give it a shot before anything invasive. Thanks!

 

[PB145B]

Its probably either the caps in the AC brick unit or on the board inside the computer, both are common.  I would start with a good recap job.

180c’s don’t have electrolytic caps on the logic board.They do however have them on the LCD and possibly the inverter board. 

 

[CVKealey]

Ok, I started pulling this apart to troubleshoot it. With the whole top section (keyboard, screen, etc) disconnected, it appears to power on just fine. The drive spins up, sounds like it's booting normally, but with no video, I can't tell for sure. I suspect the the problem is the backlight driver board (I don't think that's the actual name, but there's a pic below) or the backlight itself. The clicking seems to come after the backlight is on for more than about a second. Of course, in the process of disassembling it, the screw mounts for the hinges ripped out of the lid panel, so I'm thinking it may be a better use of time to just part this thing out. There's a 200 MB HDD, 4 MB RAM board, basically the whole bottom half (including a modem) that appears to work just fine. The other option is to seek out a video adapter and hook it up that way. 

Picture of problem board: https://www.flickr.com/gp/46004541@N02/538811

 

[CVKealey]

On a related note, does anyone know if the PB145b or 170 display is compatible with the PB180c base? Obviously, it wouldn't be in color, but at least as a way to verify the rest of the components in the base.

 

[bibilit]

No, both are not compatible.