Q: Powerbook 100
There seems to be a sudden interest in the PB100.
Well, I too, have one. For some reason, I decided to haul it out of the closet to try to get it working. It stopped about 10 years ago. After, a bit of tinkering -- took it apart, changed pram batteries,re-soldered the pwr connections, did the reset routine -- it started up and asked for a system drive. I just about fell over. As the hard disk had definitely failed years ago, I went about attaching the HD-30(?) connector and a jazz drive. Well I got the chime of death on that one. After that, it would not start up all the way. I replaced the batteries again, and after some time it started up again, and continued to start up for the whole evening while I went about devising a system disk solution. Then, suddenly, it would not begin start up again. It remains that way currently -- startup chime plus a click.
I believe it actually DOES begin to startup, but video is not working properly for me to see it ask for a startup drive and complete the process. I suspect a capacitor has gone bad somewhere -- finding it seems a bit daunting.
I should mention that, upon inserting the pwr adaptor plug, the screen backlight turns on. In this state, pressing any button on the keyboard will not begin the startup process. After the rest routine, the keyboard will initiate startup.
Well, I too, have one. For some reason, I decided to haul it out of the closet to try to get it working. It stopped about 10 years ago. After, a bit of tinkering -- took it apart, changed pram batteries,re-soldered the pwr connections, did the reset routine -- it started up and asked for a system drive. I just about fell over. As the hard disk had definitely failed years ago, I went about attaching the HD-30(?) connector and a jazz drive. Well I got the chime of death on that one. After that, it would not start up all the way. I replaced the batteries again, and after some time it started up again, and continued to start up for the whole evening while I went about devising a system disk solution. Then, suddenly, it would not begin start up again. It remains that way currently -- startup chime plus a click.
I believe it actually DOES begin to startup, but video is not working properly for me to see it ask for a startup drive and complete the process. I suspect a capacitor has gone bad somewhere -- finding it seems a bit daunting.
I should mention that, upon inserting the pwr adaptor plug, the screen backlight turns on. In this state, pressing any button on the keyboard will not begin the startup process. After the rest routine, the keyboard will initiate startup.
mac pro, Mac OS X (10.4.10), PB 100, 9650. G4, Mac Pro
Posted on May 2, 2008 1:45 PM