Hi folks! Long time, no type. Like, *really* long time no type. (I just realized I've had an account here for fifteen years!)
Some of you may remember that I used to have a bit of a soft spot for the PowerBook 5300 in all of its terribleness. And I successfully managed to canibalize some partially dead ones into a pretty decent one. (you can see some of the photo progress here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/aminorjourney/albums/72157632263457145 -- I since put everything back together and emigrated to the US fron the UK in the intervening time. I've been 'busy' with other projects).
I managed to salvage a couple of spare power supplies, but I think there's maybe a capacitor problem. Here are the symptoms. 1: Plug Powerbook in. It boots. It's happy. 2: It dies toward the end of the boot cycle, or after a few minutes of use. 3: It doesn't respond to power brick any more. If I wait for a significant amount of time, it does *eventually* reboot, but then does the same thing.
I'm guessing a bad capacitor in the power supply, and I'm not sure if it's actually blown two power supplies which no-longer work. It appears I'm getting voltage at the pins on boot, but then it's dying. (Short?)
My 'less likely' suspects: PRAM battery. I think these wer rechargable on the 5xxx series? The main powerbook (NiCad?) battery died a LONG time ago.
Something fishy with the main board (I don't think there's an issue, because otherwise it wouldn't boot for a short while and then die)
Any thoughts? Also, good to be back :) I've missed y'all :)
I haven't had to troubleshoot that problem on a 5300, but I can tell you that bad PRAM batteries can do *weird* things to PowerBooks. The power supply is a relatively straightforward affair, generally they either work or they don't. I'd start by disconnecting the PRAM battery, but also be sure to inspect inside the 5300 for any failing capacitors there too.