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PowerBook 180 battery prevents bootup
Posted by: LimeiBook86 on 2008-06-26 01:17:10
Hey guys

Just a quick question. I have a PowerBook 180 I just received and if the battery is plugged into the machine when the AC adapter is connected it will not power on. However once the battery is remove the machine will boot from the AC source fine. The machine of course doesn't boot from the battery alone.

Am I safe in assuming the battery is dead? I guess it may be defective too since it doesn't even allow it to boot from AC.

-Steve

Posted by: 30pin on 2008-06-26 09:57:01
I had the same problem on one of my PB180's. I saved the dead battery in case I get around to replacing the cells in it. I took the cover off the dead battery so the powerbook would look complete, and not have the big hole showing on the side from the missing battery. The ac adapter works well and you can use the same adapter in the car with the aftermarket ac to 12v adapter plugged into the lighter socket. I picked up one of those on sale for $9.00. Works with any laptop that draws less than 100w's

Posted by: Brett B. on 2008-06-26 13:12:17
In my experience the 1xx series refuses to boot with a defective or completely dead battery. Try putting it in the refrigerator overnight and then charging it, if you have a charger. If that doesn't help then it's probably toast.

Posted by: Morrick on 2008-07-07 14:49:48
The same problem happened to me with my Duo 280c. I had to do this procedure many times before succeeding: 1) reset the Power Manager; 2) boot the PowerBook without battery; 3) when Mac OS starts loading the extensions, insert the battery.

I had to do that many times, because at first the PowerBook just shut down when I inserted the battery. Then, after many attempts, the boot completed with the battery in. Since then, I keep the duo plugged with the AC adapter.

Cheers

Rick

Posted by: benjgvps on 2008-07-07 17:43:51
The freezer trick worked pretty well for me. It charged and ran for 45 seconds to a minute and a half. Though I then bought a new battery from here: http://www.battery-plaza.ca/products.php/205/1 . There is a USA version of the site, I am just Canadian 🙂 .

Posted by: thinkdifferent on 2008-11-01 16:28:33
Hey guys
Just a quick question. I have a PowerBook 180 I just received and if the battery is plugged into the machine when the AC adapter is connected it will not power on. However once the battery is remove the machine will boot from the AC source fine. The machine of course doesn't boot from the battery alone.

Am I safe in assuming the battery is dead? I guess it may be defective too since it doesn't even allow it to boot from AC.

-Steve
Most likely your battery IS dead. I am having a similar problem with my PB 180... when I plug it in and the battery is in, it starts up. When I plug it in and the battery is not in, it doesn't start up. When I don't plug it in but put the battery in it doesn't start up.

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