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| Troubleshooting a PowerBook 160 |
Posted by: peafour on 2016-10-29 22:33:06
Hi all,
I picked up a PowerBook 160 as part of a lot on CL, found what I thought might be a suitable power adapter, fired it up. It chimes, but then displays a grey screen with a narrow band around the edge of the screen with what looked like little triangles with 3 dots in the middle spaced about every inch or so. I've tried to get a picture, but it's so faint that I can't get a good snap of it before it restarts on a loop after about 15 seconds or so. I'm using a 12V adapter, which may be a part of the problem. I'm hesitant to fire it back up again using that adapter, but I don't want to start pumping money into replacement parts if there's an issue that requires recapping either the main board or the LCD board. Reading around the forum, it seems like these are pretty susceptible to cap issues on those two boards, in addition to a couple other weak points (LCD cables, etc).
I've got enough to play around with from the rest of the lot, that if this is going to be a major project I can cut bait and keep my eyes open for something else in the future.
Thanks in advance!
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Posted by: bibilit on 2016-10-29 23:37:04
7,5 volts only .....
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Posted by: MikeatOSX on 2016-10-30 01:57:35
Perhaps you've already destroyed it with 12 volts.
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Posted by: peafour on 2016-11-04 07:41:40
I got the proper power adapter, and the good news is that I don't think that I did much if any damage to the machine using the wrong voltage adapter. It chimes, and stays on, but doesn't seem to be doing much more than that. I can't tell if there's any HDD spinning, but I don't think there is. This is what the screen looks like: http://imgur.com/a/VVtMm
I haven't been able to find much googling, mostly because I don't know if how I'm describing it is the common nomenclature. Any guidance would be appreciated.
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Posted by: techknight on 2016-11-04 13:34:09
the display needs recapped.
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Posted by: peafour on 2016-11-04 13:35:31
the display needs recapped. OK, thanks, that's what I was assuming. I was looking for confirmation, and I got it.
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Posted by: Rajel on 2017-02-28 14:03:41
The lines and triangles around the border are actually normal, that's the circuitry edges of the screen panel.
If you're not getting display at all though, you should definitely recap first if you haven't yet.
There's a thread here that goes over a bit of that process:
https://68kmla.org/forums/index.php?/topic/28313-powerbook-160-display-issues/
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Posted by: techknight on 2017-02-28 17:52:55
Thread necromancy! and an answered one at that!
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Posted by: Rajel on 2017-03-01 10:39:35
Yeah... new user, figured a thread a few months old wasn't *too* necromantic.
Just picked up one of these at a flea market and have started diving into the community.
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Posted by: techknight on 2017-03-01 11:55:05
Well, Welcome Aboard! Hopefully you don't get too addicted, because if you do, the computers tend to multiply rather strangely. 🙁
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Posted by: Rajel on 2017-03-01 13:29:55
Thanks!
This is something of an indulgence to a long-standing retrocomputing addiction, and my first functional foray into m68k computing - I recently acquired a 520ST but it needs significant work.
The Powerbook is something far more useful.
I really don't have space for much more than this. If I acquire something new, I tend to have to be rid of another, so I must make my choices carefully.
The Powerbook was an impulse buy, in great physical shape including the power supply, and removing the battery made it boot right up!
There are a number of interesting documents on the system as well that I've been given permission to release once I get them transferred and converted, should be of interest to anyone a fan of 90s TV and the cyberpunk genre.
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Posted by: zuctronic on 2017-03-07 10:28:27
I really don't have space for much more than this. I said this a few years and dozens of Macs ago...
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Posted by: Rajel on 2017-03-07 12:24:24
If you only saw my workspace... I almost don't have room for the Powerbook as it is, and the 520ST is still sitting in the back seat of my car.
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