Powerbook 145 weird issue

[techknight]

Well, i got a powerbook on ebay real cheap because the screen went out so they said.

Arrived cracked screen, got destroyed in shipping. Unit powered on and began to boot from the HDD so it was worth it for just that alone, plus it has the rear door still.

However, the cracked screen would show random white bars/lines on the left side. So i just went ahead and replaced the screen anyway from my 160/165 parts unit I had here.

Same issue... weird, it starts up and i can vary the brightness and contrast, but each time I start the machine, the white bars and/or lines will appear at random spots with no picture whatsoever. You can see the scanning going on though in the screen. It chimes and boots. But cannot see whats going on.

Anyone ever run into this before? maybe the panel driver had died. hard to say.

 

[Bunsen]

It could be as simple as a solder issue between the ribbon connector and the logic board. Might be worth inspecting those joints with a magnifier, and or touching them up.

 

[nvdeynde]

It can be the display cable or the connection bewteen the interconnect board and the daughter board.

You can try the daughter board + interconnect board from you PB165 on that PB145 and see what it gives.

If this works, then you at least now it's not the display cable.

Leaving only the daughter board and interconnect board. A faulty daughter board is rare, problems with the interconnect board are more common, especially with the cable to the daughter board.

However, it's known that the LCD of all Powerbook 100 series have leaking capacitors. I have already replaced them in all my LCD's and it solves a lot of problems. It's something that has to be done anyway.

After recapping the LCD, you will get a stable display, no more fiddling with the contrast slider to compensate for over- and under contrast.

 

[techknight]

I had already restored the display, it came from my PB160/165, i cant remember which. the 160/165 plastics were completely shrunk and broken standoffs, etc... this one is alot better condition, but its getting there, might epoxy everything around all the standoffs to help against the cracking issues.

Anyway, ill dig through the junkbox and see what i can peice together. I hope its not the daughter card, as i dont think the 160/165 will interchange. The LCD plug is wider on that unit. It isnt a solder issue, I had checked for that already, wiggling stuff, putting pressure against connectors and boards, makes no change. the display powers up in a random state when the unit is switched on.

 

[techknight]

You cant put anything in the 140/145/170 outside of that series. I tried my 160/165 daughter card, and they are physically different. Wont plug into motherboard.

Anyway, Its a parts machine. ive scavanged everything i could to peice together my 160. the 165 is all busted up so i took its daughter card and made a PB160 franken165. So it has the HDD/Floppy of the 145, the daughter card of the 165 and the plastics/LCD of the 160. the PB145 also had its rear cover still and the power adapter. So that fit nicely with the franken165.

The 145 was in nice shape, but as soon as i took it apart, the plastic standoffs just fell apart all over it.

The 145 I had concluded the LCD Timing ASIC had failed. I had valid data being pumped into the IC during video refresh, but nothing coming out to the panel. The panel was only displaying what was stored randomly in its registers. (verified against my 160 ASIC).

 

[nvdeynde]

You cant put anything in the 140/145/170 outside of that series

You're right. Indeed the motherboard of the 140/145/170 series has another socket for the daughter card than other PB100 models.

It has been a while since I opened a Powerbook 100 series.

As for the plastic standoffs braking off: that's regrettably perfectly normal. They brake due to aging plastics or bumbing the laptop.

It's next to impossible to buy a used powerbook with no broken standoffs on the bottom place or the display backplate.

A few years ago I had an opportunity to buy a bunch of Apple service parts for these powerbooks, mostly bottom plates and some display housings so my powerbooks are in mint condition as I replaced the housing on all of them.

As for the hinges: in order to relief the stress on the standoffs in the display backplate, I can recommand to take the metal hinges apart, remove the old grease and grind a tiny bit away inside the coiled spring with a dremel.

This will make the hinges go smoothly again and put less stress on the fragile plastic standoffs.

 

[techknight]

ive thought about doing some type of plastic epoxy.

Maybe using some type of sand paper or dremel bit to rough up the plastic around the standoffs including the standoffs, and gooping in some epoxy. Maybe itll restrengthen it?

 

[nvdeynde]

ive thought about doing some type of plastic epoxy.

I haven't tried that yet. If you decide to give it a go, let me know if worked.

 

[beachycove]

I'd probably use JB Weld, which contains metal as well as epoxy, for a very strong bond. The colour would be a decent match, too.

 

[techknight]

yea, I am thinking about using JBweld. That is some crazy stuff, a buddy of mines radiator split. (plastic end-caps) and we used it to repair the crack.

that radiator worked and didnt leak a drop until the day he finally replaced it. lol.