Macintosh Portable Will Not Turn On! HELP !!!

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patrick symes's picture
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Macintosh Portable Will Not Turn On! HELP !!!

Hi I bought a Macintosh Portable from eBay I know some of the issues with the unit includes the lead-acid battery so if it dies or does not charge the unit will not turn on. I have heard of ways to power the unit with a PowerBook 100-series AC adapter, I tried it but the unit still does not turn on.
So can someone give me some ideas.
Thanks Patrick

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Hmmm...

I have one of these machines, and they are sensitive. First, remove the dead cell and try again with the PB1** adapter. Also, make sure a 9v battery installed, but only during the initial power-up (I'll explain in a moment). Hold down on the two programmers buttons on the left side for a couple of seconds (up to ten), then hit the space bar to see if it powers up. If it does, let it boot, then shut it down. Now for the bad news...
The Portable was never meant to be run with an external adapter, the paltry amount of juice coming from that adapter is just enough to wreak havoc on the PMU circuitry. I've already wasted a resister on the logicboard due to this. With a 9vdc battery in place, the unit will try to boot off of that; kills that battery in no time. One solution that was suggested was to run 9vdc through the PRAM battery, but with a wall wart with perhaps 1.5 amps (no more than that!). It does work, but again, the trouble is, the Portable was not meant to run this way either.
This leaves the lead cell. You can either 1.) replace it (a number of people on the Web have rebuilt them, and PowerSonic made a compatible unit) 2.) Turn the Portable into a display item only (yeah, right) or...
3.) Make an adapter that pumps the correct voltage (6vdc, 1 amp) through the battery housing. Haven't tried it, but this is probably the best solution without replacing the battery.

Good Luck!

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try pressing the 2 buttons on

try pressing the 2 buttons on the side

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I was able to get it to boot

I was able to get it to boot up after holding down on the two programmers buttons, it work great but I'm afraid about the resister on the logicboard like you said that it was wasted, can it be replaced easy? Have you replaced it?

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yeah i can get mine to power

yeah i can get mine to power on all the time by hitting the 2 programers buttons on the side. when using a powerbook 1xx adapter as well

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Portable Resistors

Mine went while I was showing a class I was teaching how portable and laptop design have changed; got this funny smell and the computer died. Was running for about an hour when that happened. The resistors are surface mounted and very difficult to replace. However, this could just perhaps be an intermittent problem on some Portables.
Here's a good site about Portables...
The Apple Macintosh Portable Site
Can't seem to find the one site that was out there that warned against running them indefinitely on a PB1** adapter. However, try it as long as you need to. Before my Portable had it's second rebuild, I actually used it quite a bit. Probably going to replace the logic board at some point.
Enjoy it!

Rob

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OK I also have a mac portabl

OK
I also have a mac portable and love the little bugger very much, i have the backlit version.
BUT there is a problem when it boots up (wich is not the case because the battery is empty but charging as i type, i'l explain that later) it gives an error code with a sad mac logo.
I have found the original repair manual and have found out that there is some module not working (looking up the error code) the repairment wich is suggested in the manual is: replace mainboard.
This might be an easy task back then (i've tried it is indeed very easy to take it out because one of the most beutiful features is that you don't need a screw driver to take this baby appart) but nowadays it's very hard to get a new mainboard.
I'm quite the tech kid and want to replace the dead chip wichever one it is and if i can find it.
I fear it's the same chip wich is mentioned in this thread and that it is dead because of the powersuply problem.
If anyone can tell me wich error they get because of the power problem chip let me know and i will compare it to my error code (i will post it when the batery is loaded).

OK charging the batery is VERY simple, ofcourse the battery has to be alive.
If you have a working batery but no original power suply (just as i do), then there is a very easy way to recharge the battery.

Take any power supply wich has 6 or less volts (avoid using a power suply with high amperage as it will charge the battery to quickly)and connect it to the contact points of the battery, take good care to connect the positive and negative pole correctly (should be indicated on the battery) you will probably put some nonconductive weight on the wires to make sure wires stay in contact with the poles of the battery.
Now you will have to wait.
If the voltage of the power suply is lower than 6 volts it doesn't cause any problem, it will only charge the battery slower, but hey if you're only interested in speed you would not want to power up the portable :P.

Greets from R.D.

JDW
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Portable Info & AC Adapter Question

Here is about the best set of technical information I've seen on the Portable:

http://12.25.246.15/dissport/Port_Tech_Stuff.txt

Now for my question...

I have read much about the use of a PowerBook 100 AC adapter to drive the portable. In fact, there are three models of the PB100 adapter to choose from:

M 5140 - 2.0 amps
M 5651 - 2.5 amps
M 5652 - 3.0 amps

Apparently, you can just plug one of these PB100 adapters right into the Portable, into the same socket that the Portable's AC adapter plugs into. And with the PB100 adapter, you can remove the lead acid battery from the Portable.

All 3 of the above PB100 adapters provide more power than the stock 1.5A Portable AC adapter. And while I have never tested one myself, I have read that all 3 will work to make a portable boot of the internal hard drive just fine.

However, some people say that only the 2.0A M5140 should be used because the other two "supply too much power." But that seems odd since an electrical system will take only as much power as it needs. The lone exception to this "take what it needs" principle is when charging a battery (you don't want to overcharge the battery). But I don't understand why a 3.0A or 2.5A rated power source would be any worse than a 2.0A power source because we are simply driving the Portable off it, and we are not charging any battery! And I cannot find anyone who has a practical written report on the matter. Hence my inquiry here for that information.

All the heresay aside, does anyone out there use a Portable with a PB100 AC adapter "all the time"? And does your machine work fine? How long have you used it in that condition?

Thank you!

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About My Portable

I haven't used my Portable in months, not since discovering the scorched resistor. Well, I decided to test all of my machines prior to Apple's 30th anniversary. I wanted all of my machines to wish Apple a "Happy Birthday". This meant trying one more time with "Galatea", my Portable.

And it's running, but off of a 2.0a generic power supply.

Here's what I've discovered -
1. It runs, but it is very cranky. The moment it tries to access the floppy drive, it crashes, and it takes a long time to get it stable again. Obviously a power management issue.
2. The hard drive was showing signs of "stiction", and this, too, caused problems. However, once it spun up on 31st March '06, it's run fine since.
3. When a crash does occur, the best thing to do is to disconnect everything; the power supplies, the batteries, the whole smack. Let it sit for an hour and then reconnect everything and do it again. I lose all of my PRAM settings, but Galatea does run.
4. For moving files, I now use an external hard drive and plan to install AppleTalk soon for the same purpose.

Galatea has been plugged up since the 31st of March, and aside from a power surge, she has run fine. I just have to handle her carefully.

Peace,
Rob

JDW
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RE: About My Portable

But, Rob, are you doing this with the 6v battery installed? Or do you have the PB100 adapter connected? Or do you mean that your 2.0-amp "generic supply" is powering the Portable via the 9v battery input?

Thanks.

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Battery? Battery? We Don't Need No Stinkin' Battery...

I still have my Portable's original lead-acid battery.
I use it for exercise.
Seriously, though, I'm pumping the 6v 2.0a through the power connector. I've tried the power through the 9VDC connector before, and that (I believe) is how the resistor blew.
I'm looking at a PowerSonic battery for a replacement....

Peace,
Rob

JDW
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Clarification

Thanks, Rob. Just to clarify...

1) You have removed the battery completely and,
2) You are using only a model#M 5140 PB100 AC adapter, plugged into the original AC adapter socket of the Portable, to power the machine.

Is that correct?

Thank you!

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About Point 2)

2) I'm using an aftermarket PB100/150 AC adapter.
1) Battery is serving as a free weight

JDW
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RE: About Point 2)

Meaning, you have the battery removed and not used. If so, the PB100 2.0A AC Adapter alone can power the machine just fine, without producing any problems. Interesting. A lot of what I read on the net says it can cause problems. But again, not many people have made these reports, so it is difficult to say what information is reliable. But if you have been using that setup for sometime now, I suppose you would be the foremost authority on the subject.

Anyway, I have another question...

Why doesn't anyone just put a Lithium Ion battery back (6v) in the machine? Or does the stock battery have digital or analog circuitry inside it that prevents another battery from charging?

Thanks.

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DON'T use a Li-Ion!

You definitely do not want to use a lithium-ion battery to replace the original lead-acid battery in the Portable. The two use very different charging methods, and if you were to try to charge a Li-Ion battery in a charger designed for lead-acids, you could very well cause an explosion!

I'm not an electrical engineer, but it seems to me that the main question is whether the original Apple AC adapter was regulated or not. A regulated supply will adjust itself to always output the same voltage no matter what the current draw is. An unregulated one, on the other hand, outputs a voltage that varies inversely with current load -- as load increases, voltage decreases, and vice-versa. If the supply lists "nominal 7.5 volts, 1.5A", it means that when the load on the supply is 1.5 amps, it will output 7.5 volts.

On the other hand, if a regulated supply says it outputs "4.0A", what it really means is that it can regulate the voltage up to that amperage, after which it will break down / catch fire / blow a fuse / etc.

My guess is that the Powerbook 100 and the Portable power supplies are linear, unregulated supplies, given that the specs for the adapter list both a "nominal" amperage and a "maximum" amperage. If that's true, if you use the 2.0A PB100 adapter with a Portable pulling 1.5A, you're actually getting a higher voltage out of the adapter, although not significantly enough to cause damage. (It might account for the folks on the net saying there are problems, though -- perhaps their Portables have parts in them that are less tolerant of a higher voltage.)

This would be easy to verify, by hooking a multimeter up in parallel with the Portable, and measuring the output voltage of the power supply. Or, for that matter, putting a voltmeter on the output leads of the supply with nothing connected should show a much higher voltage than normal, due to the extremely small load on the supply (the voltmeter itself, and any current bleed that happens to be occurring).

IF I am right about this (and, again, I'm no EE, so I'm only going on the classes us computer scientists were forced to take in college), you could probably hook up a 7.5 volt switching power supply with just about any load specification above 2.0 amps, and it would work well, unless the Power Manager actually measures the incoming voltage from the adapter to determine the current load the Portable is pulling.

I've found a generic, unregulated linear AC wall transformer that has an output rating of 7.5VDC and 2.1A, so I'm going to give that a shot with the old "untested, as-is" Portable I picked up. I'm sure its battery is entirely shot too, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

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Galatea: An Update

I think I may have fixed my Portable.
I was thinking about the improvements in floppy design over the years and remembered (in a combination "eureka/duh" moment) that newer floppy drives had lower power requirements. Also, older floppy drives are prone to "stiction". So, I recently gutted a PowerMac 8500 and decided to move its floppy drive and cable over to my Portable "Galatea". It sat a little too low initially, but at least the cable was long enough for me to run it out the side.
Eagerly, nervously, I powered up the old girl... and she booted with no problem whatsoever. Good... first hurdle jumped. Next hurdle - the floppy drive itself. I grabbed the nearest disk... and it happened to be a Windows 98SE boot disk (for my niece's computer). Since Gally is stuck with System 6 and hasn't been outfitted for reading DOS disks, she promptly informed me that the disk was not initialized. Second hurdle; she read a disk and did not reboot. She also cleared the third hurdle with ease - ejecting said disk.
Final hurdle - reading an actual Macintosh disk, in this case a copy of Disinfectant that I've been trying to load onto her for weeks. She read it, ran Disinfectant from it, and ejected it... with no problems.
So, it was apparent that a newer, lower power floppy drive solved the problems. The only other problem was one of mounting the drive. It sat too low in the bay, but with two 6" (150mm) strips of .25"x.06" (3mm x .75mm) styrene (I'm a model builder...) attached with double sided tape on the sides of the bottom of the bay, the unit was raised up enough.
There it is. Next... that long, sought battery.

Peace,
Rob

JDW
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Rob, what is the model number

Rob, what is the model number of the old Portable floppy drive you removed? And what is the model number of the PM8500 floppy drive you inserted in its place?

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Floppy Drive Numbers

The new unit that I dropped into Galatea is a Panasonic F6813 (can't be certain if that is the model number). The unit that was removed from Galatea is a Sony Model MP-F75W-11G. By the way, the new drive came from an 8600, my mistake. At any rate, was just using the Portable just before I came in here... on my lap; like holding a toddler. It is running fine now. I'm happy.

JDW
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But Rob, isn't the 8600 flopp

But Rob, isn't the 8600 floppy drive much smaller than the stock Portable floppy drive? If so, how did you mount it such that the slot can be accessed from the outside of the case in the same manner as the stock floppy drive?

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Mounting Floppy Drives That, By Logic, Are Not Meant To Be There

It is the same width, and the screws are in the same place. The big difference is in thickness; easily 1/4" (6mm) (<--- note the metric conversions? I try to remember that this is an international forum. And besides, an ounce of prevention...). That's why I used the strip styrene in the base of the drive bay. Just raised it up enough. Works beautifully. Again, the strips were 6" x .25" x .06" (150mm x 6mm x 1.25mm... made a mistake in the conversion earlier and am floggin myself with a SCSI cable as we speak). The Portable does not appear to be struggling anymore as a result. She's running great. Just need that battery...

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Mounting Floppy Drives That, By Logic, Are Not Meant To Be There

It is the same width, and the screws are in the same place. The big difference is in thickness; easily 1/4" (6mm). (notice the metric conversions? I try to remember that this is an international forum. And besides, an ounce of prevention...). That's why I used the strip styrene in the base of the drive bay. Just raised it up enough. Works beautifully. Again, the strips were 6" x .25" x .06" (150mm x 6mm x 1.25mm... made a mistake in the conversion earlier and am floggin myself with a SCSI cable as we speak). The Portable does not appear to be struggling anymore as a result. She's running great. Just need that battery...

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hello all!sorry for being so

hello all!sorry for being so old theme but i can't start my macintosh portable and found this topic in googleI can't understand what about dead resistor you all sad?

My main topic in another forum:

http://www.vcfed.org/forum/showthread.php?35664-Macintosh-portable-not-starting 

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