After months of waiting, a PowerBook 3400c popped up on eBay for a price that I was actually willing to pay. All I knew going into it was that it turned on, was a 200MHz model with 48MB of RAM and a 2GB HDD, and that it came with the charger and FOUR batteries. The seller didn't give details on whether the batteries worked, but the one inside of the laptop appeared to be charging in the photos. I ended up buying it.
The main concern with this laptop is the PRAM battery. It's a horrible 6 cell NiMH Varta battery, which is notorious for leaking. These were put into a ton of late 90s laptops, including those by Dell and Toshiba, but they also ended up in the 3400c. It's also placed directly over the logic board, and these batteries have killed a ton of these systems. This one working already is a good sign that it hasn't leaked too badly yet, but it could have still caused damage that didn't yet render the computer dead, such as destroying the keyboard connectors.
Today it came in, and luckily wasn’t damaged at all in shipping. Here it is next to it’s older brother, the 5300c.
I went ahead and swapped the original 2GB hard drive for a newer 20GB drive I stole from my PowerBook 1400c. The 1400c will have to do with a 6.5GB drive for now until I get these all running with SD Cards.
What about the PRAM battery? Well, it sure was beginning to leak, but it hadn’t gone bad enough to damage the board yet. It’s super easy to miss when one of these starts to leak. The first place you‘ll see evidence is on the connector pins, and they had turned green on mine!
The casing on these batteries is the same color as the corrosion they cause. Alas, this hasn’t been enough of a warning for people to remove them it seems. Get yours out if you haven’t already, and check your old PC laptops too! Dells and Toshibas are known to have these from what I’ve seen, but others may as well!
It will now sit on the shelf of shame, next to 2 other green devils pulled from Dell laptops, and a Tadiran block battery that wrecked my PC/AT!
I‘m super stoked to have one of these now. The hinges on it are intact, the port doors are present and undamaged, and the keyboard and trackpad have very little wear. The only damage on the whole system are some minor scuffs which should clean up nicely with a magic eraser. I’m super pleased to finally have one of these awesome laptops in my collection, and guess what! Also, 2 of the batteries so far hold charge! I still have to let the other 2 charge up, but I’m really happy that I can take this guy untethered!
That‘s all for now.
The main concern with this laptop is the PRAM battery. It's a horrible 6 cell NiMH Varta battery, which is notorious for leaking. These were put into a ton of late 90s laptops, including those by Dell and Toshiba, but they also ended up in the 3400c. It's also placed directly over the logic board, and these batteries have killed a ton of these systems. This one working already is a good sign that it hasn't leaked too badly yet, but it could have still caused damage that didn't yet render the computer dead, such as destroying the keyboard connectors.
Today it came in, and luckily wasn’t damaged at all in shipping. Here it is next to it’s older brother, the 5300c.
I went ahead and swapped the original 2GB hard drive for a newer 20GB drive I stole from my PowerBook 1400c. The 1400c will have to do with a 6.5GB drive for now until I get these all running with SD Cards.
What about the PRAM battery? Well, it sure was beginning to leak, but it hadn’t gone bad enough to damage the board yet. It’s super easy to miss when one of these starts to leak. The first place you‘ll see evidence is on the connector pins, and they had turned green on mine!
The casing on these batteries is the same color as the corrosion they cause. Alas, this hasn’t been enough of a warning for people to remove them it seems. Get yours out if you haven’t already, and check your old PC laptops too! Dells and Toshibas are known to have these from what I’ve seen, but others may as well!
It will now sit on the shelf of shame, next to 2 other green devils pulled from Dell laptops, and a Tadiran block battery that wrecked my PC/AT!
I‘m super stoked to have one of these now. The hinges on it are intact, the port doors are present and undamaged, and the keyboard and trackpad have very little wear. The only damage on the whole system are some minor scuffs which should clean up nicely with a magic eraser. I’m super pleased to finally have one of these awesome laptops in my collection, and guess what! Also, 2 of the batteries so far hold charge! I still have to let the other 2 charge up, but I’m really happy that I can take this guy untethered!
That‘s all for now.
