Pismo won't turn on

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Pismo won't turn on

I got a pismo, and when I press the power button, nothing happens. What would this indicate? Bad power board, or something fixable?

gobabushka's picture
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try disconnecting the pram ba

try disconnecting the pram battery under the keyboard, i had the same problam with mine.

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I got it to start two times w

I got it to start two times with that, but it turns off after about five seconds. Usually it won't start.

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Try resetting the PMU

On the Pismo, there's a little inset button near the external video port on the back panel of the machine. You'll need to insert a straightened paper clip or other similar device to push the button.

With the machine off, press and hold the inset button for 5-10 seconds. Connect to wall current, and see if it boots up. If not, let it charge the battery overnight (a confused PMU will not read the charge on the battery properly -- this is the source of a lot of problems) and try again in the morning.

Keep us posted!

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I tried to reset the PMU, and

I tried to reset the PMU, and it still would not boot. I then connected it to the AC adapter (which I know to be good, it reads 24.0VDC on my multimeter) and put in a battery to charge overnight, and in the morning, the battery was still dead. So, I'm thinking I must either have a bad PMU or a bad battery, but I don't know much about this unit. Any ideas?

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Ok I got it working by leavin

Ok I got it working by leaving it unplugged for a few minutes, but now I am getting input/output errors when trying to format a hard drive in the tiger install DVD. I have tried two different hard drives.

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If the IDE bus is dead, could

If the IDE bus is dead, could I use a firewire hard drive like a normal IDE drive, like would it boot from the FW drive normally, like an IDE drive?

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re: If the IDE bus is dead, could

In answer to your question, Pismo can boot from an external FW drive, either HD or optical (in a proper FW case of course.)

However, it's unlikely your drive bus(ses) are the problem, more likely you've got either - A) a failing DVD drive (I'm assuming you're using the EBM optical drive), or Dirol you've got a bad HD cable.

For A), try using a different mechanism in the drive sled, or alternately you could use an external FW DVD drive. As for B), you'll need a known-good part with which to test.

dan k

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I have access to some Powerbo

I have access to some Powerbook G3 233mhz Wallstreet machines, could I use the cables from those machines, or are they different cables?

coius's picture
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USB also boots on the Pismo

been there done that, just a bit slow...

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I've gotten it to turn on now

The sound is gone and it makes a crackling noise from the speakers when a move the laptop...

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Bad DC board

The DC input (where you plug in the power adapter) and the sound in/out are on the same card. From the symptoms you're describing, it sounds as if this board is dead.

You can find a replacement board on eBay for around $35-50. Search for "pismo dc board" or similar phrases. DC boards from Lombard, Wallstreet, Mainstreet and Kanga are *not* compatible with Pismo.

You'll have to do quite a lot of teardown to get in to the DC board, but if you have patience, dexterity, and a T8 screwdriver, you can do the job yourself. (An egg carton to sort the screws wouldn't hurt either). You can find the service manual or similar step-by-step guides via various Internet sources.

I *have* done this same job before, and although I likely won't be able to do the job for you (I'm in southwest Iowa), you can feel free to contact me with questions. The PM system here at AppleFritter should get you started.

Good luck!

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Same here...

I've completly torn down my pismo and put it back together. Feel free to contact me w/ questions!

coius's picture
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to be honest

it's not that hard. I tore it down in a matter of 30 minutes the first time i did a tear down. It's not that difficult. Just make sure you watch that you don't pull the ribbon wires off the board like i did :/.

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Hmm could it be that the soun

Hmm could it be that the sound chips on the DC board are bad? I ask because the pismo will turn on and seems to run ok, but there's no sound.

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Hmm could it be that the soun

doublepost. man this site lags

coius's picture
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i don't think the audio/dc board had the sound chips

iirc, it just passes the power and the sound along...

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