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| Powerbook 100 happiness |
Posted by: imactheknife on 2023-09-27 19:50:23
Well, third time the charm!?? Got this locally. I didn’t recap the axials on logic board, just old electrolyte caps. Cleaned board in isopropyl and recapped with tantalums. The screen needed recapping so used a screen i had from previous pb100. She works🙂 and even booted off of the original hard drive. |
Posted by: LaPorta on 2023-09-27 19:53:26
Really happy for you! Keyboard looks virtually untouched! |
Posted by: imactheknife on 2023-09-27 19:58:22
Really happy for you! Keyboard looks virtually untouched! Yeah this thing was clean! Other screen unfortunately has the dreaded red spot. But, now I know one of my other display works, so that’s a bonus🙂 |
Posted by: desertrout on 2023-09-27 20:15:52
Nice! With every PB100 saved, John Sculley lives an extra week. |
Posted by: 3lectr1cPPC on 2023-09-28 06:17:43
Finally you’ve had a win! Congrats. |
Posted by: imactheknife on 2023-09-28 06:24:51
Finally you’ve had a win! Congrats. Yeah!! Couldnt believe it. To bad my other good display (no red splotches) doesnt seem to work, and the one that came with this has the red splotch.
If my other display is still doing the black back light i wonder if it can still be fixed?? The working display did the black backlight with the other logic boards, but works with this latest logic board in the video. |
Posted by: 3lectr1cPPC on 2023-09-28 06:44:31
Can be a whole number of things that can cause that I’d bet. |
Posted by: SophieRose on 2023-09-28 14:00:10
Wow 😍 thats a fine example. |
Posted by: bigD on 2023-09-28 14:25:22
Do that machine a favor and install System 6! 🙂 |
Posted by: desertrout on 2023-09-28 16:02:26
This is totally a tangent, but it's funny to me that at VCF this year there was a talk on 1xx series PB collecting and both speakers recommended avoiding 100's because the caps are leaky and other usual issues, but man I couldn't disagree more. I love these weird little dudes, and mine is one the highlights on my collection. |
Posted by: 3lectr1cPPC on 2023-09-28 16:22:40
As someone else who restored one of these, it’s absolutely worth it. I don’t like saying that anyone should avoid the 100 because of the caps, or any 100 series PowerBook for that matter. It depends on whether or not you want to put in the time of course. Once you recap and fix the hinges in one (the hinge fixing not being necessary on the original 100 even), they run great.
Saying you should avoid PowerBooks because of bad caps and hinge issues is the same as saying to avoid the SE/30 because of bad caps and battery bombs. They both have their issues, but they’re both worth fixing and owning! |
Posted by: imactheknife on 2023-09-28 17:39:23
As someone else who restored one of these, it’s absolutely worth it. I don’t like saying that anyone should avoid the 100 because of the caps, or any 100 series PowerBook for that matter. It depends on whether or not you want to put in the time of course. Once you recap and fix the hinges in one (the hinge fixing not being necessary on the original 100 even), they run great.
Saying you should avoid PowerBooks because of bad caps and hinge issues is the same as saying to avoid the SE/30 because of bad caps and battery bombs. They both have their issues, but they’re both worth fixing and owning! Agreed… only thing i can say about the powerbook 100’s is that after 2 duds, i was afraid to pull the $100 dollar trigger again lol.. but i really wanted a working one🙂 they are hit or miss with working or not…but this one makes me very happy now🙂 |
Posted by: s_pupp on 2023-09-28 17:48:15
It’s always great to hear a success story! |
Posted by: LaPorta on 2023-09-28 17:52:14
Heck, I have a blast with my portable. No reason to avoid a 100. |
Posted by: alexGS on 2023-10-02 00:53:13
Yes - I’ve repaired several 100s, I honestly think they’re a little nicer to work with than all the other 1xx machines. No broken standoffs, no ripped-out display hinges. Slimmer casing with a few nice curves.
The blacked-out screen is, in my experience, the caps near the trackball connector. Assuming you’ve replaced all the surface-mount electrolytics, there is one low-profile 47uF 35V radial electrolytic cap, right in the corner, which affects the generation of the LCD twist voltage (~30V). Replacing that cap has always fixed it for me, if the 1uF/10uF SMDs didn’t.
You were lucky with the Connor drive - the heads usually stick, seemingly delibrately as the head arm has a magnetic stop. You have to fill the slot (with something like UV-cured ‘Bondic’ resin) to get the head arm resting a little further from the magnet, but as I recall there’s also a small white plastic linkage that has another magnet in it, which holds the heads in place. I had to add some tape to that one, to reduce its ‘hold’.
I’ve made a battery that uses 6x NiMH AA rechargeables (has space for 12) and has a cheap board from China to charge the cells (since, unfortunately, the Powerbook itself cannot charge the ~7.2V battery). This is cheaper than the lithium-ion solution that also exists, and for my purposes, it’s pretty convenient. I can charge my battery with a USB cable, and then pop it into the Powerbook for about 1-2hrs usage (writing floppy disks, usually). The external floppy is a bit clumsy but works when both it and the PB100 are on a table 🙂 |
Posted by: superjer2000 on 2023-10-11 21:06:55
Nice! With every PB100 saved, John Sculley lives an extra week. This is awesome! |
Posted by: twelvetone12 on 2023-10-12 03:55:26
Very nice job! I'm myself a PowerBook 100 lover and magnet for broken ones to fix |
Posted by: bengi3 on 2023-12-11 10:36:51
Is there a way to power up the PB 100 without the keyboard. I am going to test a large number of logics and lcd and would like to avoid to plug and unplug the delicate keyboard connectors |
Posted by: imactheknife on 2023-12-11 15:01:10
Is there a way to power up the PB 100 without the keyboard. I am going to test a large number of logics and lcd and would like to avoid to plug and unplug the delicate keyboard connectors As far as I know the keyboard is the only way. Someone else may know differently |
Posted by: aladds on 2023-12-11 15:40:07
You can plug an external keyboard into the ADB port - the power key will work |
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