PowerBook 160 - New owner here

indigo_k

indigo_k

New Tinkerer
Oct 13, 2023
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Hey gang! I just purchased a PowerBook 160 off eBay described as 'untested, does not power on, parts only'. My hope is that I can figure out what's wrong with it and get it running again, but these old PowerBooks are a complete unknown for me. Never had one, never used one. So I'm wondering what issues I should be aware of and look at first when it arrives and I start working on it. I'm aware of the common screen issues and different techniques to remedy that, but my main concern is getting it powered up and running smoothly.

Also, it does not include a power cable, so I'm also wondering if the OEM Apple cable is required or if another comparable power supply will do.
 
croissantking

croissantking

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Feb 7, 2023
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A comparable power supply will do it - I think you need 7V 1.5A, and the barrel jack is a standard 5.5mm x 2.1mm type but check if centre positive or not as I don’t remember offhand.

You’ll need to investigate once the machine arrives what they mean by does not power on - it could be that it chimes but the screen stays dark, or it could be stone cold dead. The screen will 100% need recapping and it could just be that. Other common possibilities include a leaky mess from the battery, bad RAM, a dead hard drive stopping it from booting, or a blown fuse/transistor/diode somewhere on the lower logic board.
 
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Yoda

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indigo_k

indigo_k

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Oct 13, 2023
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Ah! This is all great news. Yes, the first thing I'm going to do when it arrives is to open it up and check the board for any obvious messes or burn spots. The exterior looks good from the auction photos, so I've got my fingers crossed. And I'll do my best to be careful, I hear these machines are known for having brittle plastic.
 
croissantking

croissantking

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indigo_k said:
Ah! This is all great news. Yes, the first thing I'm going to do when it arrives is to open it up and check the board for any obvious messes or burn spots. The exterior looks good from the auction photos, so I've got my fingers crossed. And I'll do my best to be careful, I hear these machines are known for having brittle plastic.
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I once bought a 165 that looked good on the outside, but was trashed internally so you’ll have to wait and see. Fingers crossed it’s a good one.

There are usually issues with the plastic standoffs that hold the motherboard to the lower case, as well as the ones that hold the screen hinges to the top cover.
 
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Yoda

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I have a few 100 series PowerBooks, and none have had problems with the logic board. A 180 had a faulty RAM expansion board which gave sad mac chimes but it booted normally with out it, and a 160 that lit up, but didn't chime or start booting, which turned out to be a failed hard drive. Also a 145B which had a swollen battery, which I could only remove by opening up the machine - thankfully that's pretty easy. The battery hadn't leaked. The floppy was also faulty, and replacing that with a known-good one resulted in a couple of broken standoffs - they are very, very brittle.

All my passive matrix models (145b, 160, 165 and 165c) have ghosting on the screen due to bad caps, but they weren't exactly perfect when new!

The trackballs can be very troublesome, but are easy to clean with a bit of care, and check the screen hinges - if the screen doesn't fit flush and square when viewed from the back, it's probable one or both hinges are failing. Not hard to repair with sandpaper, 3-D printed replacement standoffs, and some good glue.

I have also found that the keyboards are by now rather variable. A good one is actually excellent to type on, but they can get very stiff. They are pretty easy to replace though.
 
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indigo_k

indigo_k

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Oct 13, 2023
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Update! The PowerBook arrived today and as advertised it didn't power on.

UNTIL I took out the battery! Then I got a chime and I think a full boot. Couldn't tell because the screen is shot - totally black and no adjustment to the contrast or brightness could fix it. And brightness only seemed to turn the backlight On or Off, no dimming at all.

So, I'll let the battery recharge for a bit and try it again later, but it looks like I might either have to bake the LCD or recap it. Either way, I was happy to hear that chime!

I will also be ordering a better charger for it - I found a 12v 2a charger and that got it booted, but I worry that if I continue to use it I'll overload the system. Hell, that could even be the problem with the screen maybe?
 
croissantking

croissantking

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Feb 7, 2023
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indigo_k said:
Update! The PowerBook arrived today and as advertised it didn't power on.

UNTIL I took out the battery! Then I got a chime and I think a full boot. Couldn't tell because the screen is shot - totally black and no adjustment to the contrast or brightness could fix it. And brightness only seemed to turn the backlight On or Off, no dimming at all.

So, I'll let the battery recharge for a bit and try it again later, but it looks like I might either have to bake the LCD or recap it. Either way, I was happy to hear that chime!

I will also be ordering a better charger for it - I found a 12v 2a charger and that got it booted, but I worry that if I continue to use it I'll overload the system. Hell, that could even be the problem with the screen maybe?
Click to expand...
Congratulations!

The black screen is bad caps on the LCD driver board, that is for certain.

I wouldn’t try using that battery again - it’s definitely dead and might blow a fuse on the logic board. Instead, pop the sliding cover off and use it to cover the battery bay.
 
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croissantking

croissantking

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Last edited:
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indigo_k

indigo_k

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croissantking said:
I’ve made a couple, the results were alright but not spectacular. I get a bit over an hour’s runtime on average but weirdly one seems to work better than the other, and they don’t always fully charge up.
Click to expand...
I kinda want to start another thread to ask all kinds of questions about the process, and get any suggestions you have for making one that lasts longer
 
indigo_k

indigo_k

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Oct 13, 2023
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Okay! So I got a new charger (thanks for the recommendation, @Yoda ! Works great. The screen still comes up dark, so I'm going to go ahead and plan to do a recap of the display, already ordered the parts based on this guide on Mac84.net. A couple things I noticed when taking it apart last night:

  1. This machine has been disassembled at least once before, it's missing a couple screws. Two of the bottom T-10 screws, and the one on the back under the modem port (T-8 I think?). So now I need a source for these. Anyone here with a donor machine and a few extra screws I could pick up?
  2. The hinge feels problematic to me. It's probably just the plastic standoffs getting soft and loose, but the hinge is pretty springy. Also, I remember from my eMate that there was a design flaw where the hinge would sometimes pinch the ribbon cable causing it to fail. Is that a known issue on these? The hinge looks really similar to me. I remember the fix was as simple as adding a flat washer to help keep the hinge wire from catching the ribbon.
Okay, I think that's it for now.
 
croissantking

croissantking

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indigo_k said:
Okay! So I got a new charger (thanks for the recommendation, @Yoda ! Works great. The screen still comes up dark, so I'm going to go ahead and plan to do a recap of the display, already ordered the parts based on this guide on Mac84.net. A couple things I noticed when taking it apart last night:

  1. This machine has been disassembled at least once before, it's missing a couple screws. Two of the bottom T-10 screws, and the one on the back under the modem port (T-8 I think?). So now I need a source for these. Anyone here with a donor machine and a few extra screws I could pick up?
  2. The hinge feels problematic to me. It's probably just the plastic standoffs getting soft and loose, but the hinge is pretty springy. Also, I remember from my eMate that there was a design flaw where the hinge would sometimes pinch the ribbon cable causing it to fail. Is that a known issue on these? The hinge looks really similar to me. I remember the fix was as simple as adding a flat washer to help keep the hinge wire from catching the ribbon.
Okay, I think that's it for now.
Click to expand...
I very likely have some spares that I could send you for the cost of postage. Where are you located?
 
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indigo_k

indigo_k

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Oct 13, 2023
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Oh that'd be awesome. I'm in Portland, OR. Dm me and we can work out shipping details!
 
indigo_k

indigo_k

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Oct 13, 2023
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croissantking said:
Congratulations!

The black screen is bad caps on the LCD driver board, that is for certain.

I wouldn’t try using that battery again - it’s definitely dead and might blow a fuse on the logic board. Instead, pop the sliding cover off and use it to cover the battery bay.
Click to expand...
Last night I recapped the display board and now the PowerBook is running great, though still without the battery! There's a little ghosting in the display, so i'm hoping to go in and do some more cleaning, but hesitant to accidentally destroy the ribbon cable.

It's got an 80MB hard drive, I'm busy installing apps and games on it for kicks, got it running with my PiSCSI thanks to an eBay powerbook SCSI 40-pin adapter. I want to max out the RAM, but it looks like the only module available for this is the Purple RAM 10MB board that is out of stock, and maybe a vintage 8MB board I see on eBay. I'm thinking about it. Also considering replacing the HD, but I know this age of Mac can only handle 2GB partitions, and it's impossible to find a modern HD solution that's only 2-8GB these days. I know SD->SCSI is a thing, so I'll look into that.

I did try inserting the battery while the PB was running and it immediately shut down, so yeah. This battery is useless to me as-is. I'm going to do some research on refurbishing these batteries and see if I can make this PB explode.
 
eric

eric

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@jcs has some good instructions (without using a welder) for new batteries here https://www.printables.com/model/974484-powerbook-1xx-battery - I have one in my 170 and it hold charge a long time.

Since I frequently want to swap SD cards and do other things I added TERMPOWER to the HDI-30 connector so I can just have my BlueSCSI DB25 hanging off the back (or of course you could get an internal one) - https://tinkerdifferent.com/threads/adding-termination-power-to-the-powerbook-hdi-30-adapter.3069/

I too have been waiting for some new/affordable RAM for these to come in stock.
 
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indigo_k

indigo_k

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Oct 13, 2023
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Oh nice! I went ahead and downloaded that STL file for the battery enclosure, but I'm wondering if it's possible to just use the one that's not working right. Like, just replace the cells with the pack @jcs recommends on the Printables page. Or would the existing enclosure get destroyed just opening it up? Anyway, I like the idea of having someone print this up for me in some nice bright translucent resin or something. I'm also thinking of casting myself a new battery cover to go with it.
 
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