PowerBook 170 troubles

[beachycove]

I have a PB170 here that I am trying to fix for somebody, and that intermittently:

• will not power on
  will power on but cannot find the hard drive (flashing question mark)
  will start up from floppy Disk Tools but cannot find the hard drive
  will start up absolutely fine (repeatedly, from what I can see, if it is used regularly) and the hard drive of which will check out OK in Disk Tools tests.

The errant behaviour seems to begin if the machine is left disused for even a couple of days.

How to explain? Is it most likely the result of:

• corrupt power management software (needing reset due to flat backup battery)
  bad hard drive (stiction)
  bad power supply
  misc. failing components/unknown gremlins?

I am for the present putting my money on the power manager and a flat backup battery, but would be glad of further advice. I know very little about the typical behaviour of 1xx-series machines.

 

[Byrd]

I'd take it apart and reseat the RAM and CPU card; this is a common issue with 1x0 Powerbooks (some guides I recall reading in the past referred to putting a small shim on the CPU card so it makes better contact. While you're there, check the hard disk ribbon for any damage.

Then I'd remove the battery and leave it be for a day or so. Dead batteries in infrequently-used 1x0 Powerbooks cause the system to not turn on at all, or boot erratically (video corruption, HD doesn't spin up properly). Once the system is hopefully booting normally, you can put the battery in while it's turned on - this will usually result in the Powerbook turning off. But, persevere with this, and generally the Powerbook will work with the battery installed.

Regarding the HD, again if not used a great deal stiction can take place - a firm "spank" on the right hand rest usually sorts this naughty boy out

JB

 

[beachycove]

I had already taken it apart and made fresh connections in HD cable, processor daughter card and ram card - along with the interconnect cable between the two halves, obviously.

Good advice on the battery, though, and it could well be that a dead main battery is part of the problem. And there are indeed video artifacts when the battery is completely flat.

The main battery does take a small charge, however, and that could explain why if it isn't left unused, it boots up fine. However, when the machine is misbehaving, it won't power on etc. even with the main battery out, so one suspects that there are further issues....

Is there a GLOD-equivalent on the 1xx-series?