Powerbook 100 full recap and ghosting

[4seasonphoto]

FWIW I paid around $2300 for a PB100 w/floppy in 1/20 configuration on launch day or pretty close to it. Basically a modernized Mac Portable built for Apple by Sony. Got a ton of use out of it, and by the time I sold it, the case plastics had been repaired a number of times. Had to drill out the hard drive mounting brackets when I installed a 40 MB drive there, I guess the hole patterns weren't really standardized then. Really liked it when I had it!

 

[uniserver]

yeah i agree, with the exception of the cap issues.  The PB100 really is a nice computer.

 

[aplmak]

I just rebuilt 3.... Here is one working great!!! All 3 had bad Connor hard drives... I threw in a SCSI from an old 180.. now it's an 8/80 config... I did the caps on the screen and the main board.. There are only 3 electrolytic replacements in there!!! The others are all tantalum.... And the screen two caps are tantalum.. so don't have to open that bad boy back up again for ever I hope... Now for the battery rebuild... thank god I have this aftermarket one that comes apart..

 

[uniserver]

i remember the pb 100 screen having 8 - 3.3 uf's

 

[aplmak]

Yes there are like a bunch of 6 on the side of the screen.. but those didn't appear electrolytic... They appeared tantalum already.. I did check them... but not very closely.. again they didn't appear electrolytic..

 

[uniserver]

yeah change them because they are lytic and bad.   the package is unique.  you think they are tantalum but they are all LYTICS>

 

[aplmak]

Ok... since I like tantalums is it ok to stick with those?? And Uni do you know the values??? 

Matt

 

[aplmak]

From reading a few other boards it appears they are 3.3uf at 3.5v.. I found some 3.3 at 16v b case replacements...

 

[uniserver]

3.3 uf 35v,  i use MLCC's for those

 

[aplmak]

Wow those little sneaky bastards!!!! Yes they are small caps inside a square case similar to a tantalum... SNEAKY... and LEAKY!!!! Little time bombs.. they are ALL coming off right now!!! LOL!

 

[Paralel]

Yeah, there are more than a few cases here where screens went weird, and it was those nasty little caps in the screen.

 

[aplmak]

Ok it's finally done.. I did 3 of these little guys this weekend (they r my pb100's.. not for someone else.. lol)... All caps replaced including those little nasty buggers ( on the backside of the LCD screen... (thanks Uniserver for the info!!) Very easy to miss them since they are really electrolytic encased in a square black case.. They almost appear to be tantalum... So now all 3 PB100's have only 3 electrolytic caps.. the rest are tantalum.. These should last for quite a while (I hope)....

Boy these Connor drives in these things suck!!! I can't find one working... I can find portable Connor drives working more than pb100 Connor drives... I realize they are way past their life expectancy... but come on.. not a one.. So I have a Quantum (not much better) in this one..

 

[uniserver]

yeah i have 4, pb 100's 3 of them have bad screens.. as in big dime sized blotch in lcd,  3 of them have bad bad mb's , even after a re-cap,  all of them had dead hard drives. only one of them, works, and has a good lcd.