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Help with Powerbook 170 Boot failure
Posted by: tbullet on 2023-08-10 10:12:27
Rummaging through an old box i found a Powerbook 170 in unknown condition.
Seemed dead so i soldered on a new PRAM battery. To my surprise it boots up with a mouse curser on the screen,
the HD spools up for 5 or so seconds then stops. After a 10 second or so delay, it spools up again with no change to the boot screen.
Just a gray background with the mouse curser. Trackball works and the curser moves around but just keeps doing the HD spool up and down sequence.

I am completely new to this realm of computers and google led me to this forum for help. Thanks to anyone who can lend a hand.



Cheers,

Edit: I did the reset procedure (2 paperclips) several times with no change in boot result.
Posted by: 3lectr1cPPC on 2023-08-10 10:24:09
The failed hard drive is holding up the SCSI bus, and so you never get the blinking question mark that you'd expect from a computer with a dead hard drive.
The hard drive can likely be repaired though. There's an internal rubber bumper in those drives that turns sticky and gets the heads stuck. If you carefully take the drive apart and tape over this bumper, there's a solid chance that it will come back to life. My 170's drive was fixed this way.
Posted by: tbullet on 2023-08-10 10:51:38
The failed hard drive is holding up the SCSI bus, and so you never get the blinking question mark that you'd expect from a computer with a dead hard drive.
The hard drive can likely be repaired though. There's an internal rubber bumper in those drives that turns sticky and gets the heads stuck. If you carefully take the drive apart and tape over this bumper, there's a solid chance that it will come back to life. My 170's drive was fixed this way.
That's my project for tomorrow am. Thanks, and i'll let you know how it comes out.

Cheers.
Posted by: 3lectr1cPPC on 2023-08-10 11:10:12
Hope it goes well!
I've got pages on the 170 on my website as well with more info about these: https://macdat.net/macintosh/powerbook/100_series/170_home.html
Posted by: tbullet on 2023-08-11 12:56:05
Hope it goes well!
I've got pages on the 170 on my website as well with more info about these: https://macdat.net/macintosh/powerbook/100_series/170_home.html
IMG_9902.jpg

Thanks for the hint about the HDD sticking. Seemed to work like a charm!!!
Posted by: 3lectr1cPPC on 2023-08-11 13:43:46
Awesome! Enjoy it.
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