Troubleshooting Macintosh Portable after loading 12V line-- self inflicted.

campbellashe

New Tinkerer
Sep 8, 2025
51
22
8
Asheville, NC
Okay. I was getting excited and tried to internally power and LCD replacement off the J15 connector -- using 4 12 volt lines and 4 GND lines to power a barrel connector and a 12 volt LCD -- yep. Shouldn't have done this. The LCD did power on; but now my computer will not boot. NO smoke; no pop, no obvious overheating.

What is working:
  • F1 good
  • +12V converter working
  • Main +5V present
  • +5V reaches RAM
  • No hard short on +5V
  • No hard short on +12V

Where I’m currently stuck​

The machine has valid power rails, but:

  • SYS_RST* never releases
  • RESET stays low
  • HALT stays low
The CPU never starts executing.

Looking at the schematic, R13 (1 kΩ) connects SYS_RST* to the CPU GLU NORM_RST* signal. My next thought was to lift one side of R13 to determine whether the PMGR side or the GLU side is asserting reset.

Questions​

  1. Has anyone seen this failure after overloading the J15 +12V rail?
  2. Is lifting R13 the best next diagnostic step?
  3. Is there a known failure in the PMGR, hybrid, or CPU GLU that will permanently hold SYS_RST* low while +5V and +12V remain normal?
  4. Is there another signal I should measure before lifting R13?

Thanks for any guidance.
 

David Cook

Active Tinkerer
Jul 20, 2023
273
336
63
Is there a known failure in the PMGR, hybrid, or CPU GLU that will permanently hold SYS_RST* low while +5V and +12V remain normal?

Yes. I believe there is an analog voltage provided to the PMGR that represents some fraction of the battery voltage. This allows the PMGR to know when the Portable is plugged into an outlet and to be able to measure battery discharge levels. I believe this also allows the PMGR to soft shutdown when levels get too low. My understanding is that if this value gets too high it can damage the PMGR (such that it won't turn on the Portable) or too low such that it thinks the battery is too discharged (and also won't turn on the Portable).

Perhaps pin 52?

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David Cook

Active Tinkerer
Jul 20, 2023
273
336
63
On other forums @techknight has said:
"What I need you to do now, is check the voltage at the Hybrid, on the pin literally behind the NMI button. it goes into that Op Amp sitting below. It should hover around 2.2 to 2.5VDC. if it falls to 0, or latches at 5V, the system will NOT stay on.

If that looks good, I then need you to check for roughly the same voltage at the PMU on Pin 52. The signal gets filtered by a low-pass sitting at R151 and C107. if anything is wrong there youll get issues."