Fixing Powerbook 160... Need help! (56k beware!)

limpport · Post by **limpport** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 7:19 pm

I recived a Powerbook 160 from my physics teacher. Someone left it in his classroom last year, and never came back for it. I have pictures I took of it.

It does not power on. It makes a humming when the wall cord is plugged into it. I think there might be something with the battery. Any suggestions?

Adam G · Post by **Adam G** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 11:47 pm

I wonder why they never came back for it?

Jk, you say when it is plugged into the wall that it makes noise, does it actually start up? Does the LCD backlight turn on or does the screen stay unchanged? If it powers up while it's plugged in, it's probably the battery, judging by the age, it might be dead.
Btw, I'm disappointed, you didn't include any specs.

More info? Model name/number?

~Adam~

"Does not turn on", so I guess my first few questions are answered.
Does the hard drive start to spin; might that be the hum?

Post by **bicostp** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 6:51 am

Try unplugging the hard drive. It may be seized and putting too much of a strain on the electrical system to boot the computer. Also unplug the battery. There should also be a coin battery or half-AA size battery. I's there to keep PRAM settings alive (things like key repeat and mouse speeds). My SE/30 acted dead with a weird pattern on the screen and no startup chime, but I took it apart and removed the PRAM battery and it booted right up.

Honestly I don't think that particular model is worth everyday use, since it only has a 25 MHz 68030 and a 640x400 16-gray passive matrix screen. (It's okay for playing old Mac games or just for restoration, though.) If you want a good Powerbook, look for a 1400 series and track down a G3 upgrade for it.

Just remember, that PS/2 style plug isn't for PS/2 keyboards. It's ADB. (Sorry if you knew this already, but it's amazing how many people try it anyway.)

If push comes to shove and it's really dead, you might be able to find a new screen to stuff in there and put in a small PC motherboard.

limpport · Post by **limpport** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 9:26 am

It's ALIVE!

@Adam: The hum was not the hard drive, it was from the bottom motherboard. There was a yellow thing in there that said 125v, so I'm guessing it came from somewhere around there.

@bicostp: I unplugged the hard drive and plugged it back in. It now works only with a wall chord and the battery inserted. The battery will hold no charge at all.

Newest problem: The screen likes to start to go dark. I can stop it by fiddling around with the contrast. It will also whiteout, and I have to wait for it to darken again, or look at it at a weird angle.

Post by **bicostp** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 10:18 am

Is it the backlight (I'm pretty sure the 160 has a backlight), or is it the LCD itself? You could try cleaning or replacing the contrast pot. You could add a backlight or replace the existing one with LEDs or something. As for the battery itself, you can probably have it stuffed with new cells if you get the machine working reliably.

Overclocking to 33 mhz:
http://homepage.mac.com/schrier/spec.html

If you need something to write documents with, here's Nisus Writer Compact. It should fit on a 1.4 MB floppy no problem (remember to unstuff it on the Mac, NOT your PC):

http://www.tucows.com/download.html?sof ... 205066&t=2

If you need StuffIt Expander 4, just ask and I'll see if I can dig it out. I've got a bunch of that System 6 and 7 stuff around (sorry, I won't give away Word 5.1, PowerPoint 1, or Excel 4).

I recommend System 7.1.1. All Powerbooks besides the 100 and its cousin the Macintosh Portable need at least System 7, and 7.1.1 is as new as you should go with most of them. It could run System 7.5.5, but there's not really any point to it and it would take up too much memory and hard drive space. Youc an find System 7.0.1 and an update <a href="http://download.info.apple.com/Apple_Su ... /">here</a>, but they're 5 MB self mounting images so you will need to copy them to real floppies on another computer. Ideally, you should use another Mac, but if you don't have one around you can use Basilisk II.

Another fun toy is Backdrop, which can take any MacPaint document and make it your wallpaper. You should be able to find it around.

Let's have some specs! How much RAM does it have? 40 MB HD? Mac OS version?

limpport · Post by **limpport** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 2:28 pm

It already has MS Word 4.0, and MS Excel 3.0

System Software 7.1
80mb hard drive
8mb memory built in, 14mb total memory

Some programs
Mac Draw II
ACT! - Reminds me of MS Outlook
Hypercard 2.1 Player (no idea what this is)
Word and Excel

Anything else you want to know?

About the backlight, I'll need to open it up later. I don't think it is the backlight, though. I think it is just the contrast being weird. I'll open up the screen part later. Got a job interview to go to.

Post by **bicostp** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 3:22 pm

Hypercard was a hypermedia program with a programming environment. It's not quite software, it's not quite an OS. The best description would be "interactive multimedia productivity environment" I guess.

Obviously the 160 doesn't have an Ethernet jack, but just for fun you could probably run an old version of the iCab browser on it. (You'll need a couple extensions but it should work.) You could go the old school route and run a dial-up modem, or maybe you can use some Windows software to share a network connection to it over the serial port. It will be very slow either way, but just the fact that you can do it is amazing in itself.

http://www.icab.de/
http://www.jagshouse.com/classicinternet.html

EDIT: This will definitely work if you have another Mac (with Ethernet) at your disposal.

http://www.jagshouse.com/IP_sharing.html

EDIT 2: Or, if you can get your hands on one, a GatorBox will do this as well. (GatorBoxes are Ethernet to LocalTalk bridges.)

limpport · Post by **limpport** » Wed Oct 24, 2007 9:14 am

bicostp wrote:You could try cleaning or replacing the contrast pot.

You mean where all the lcd liquid is stored? (sorry if that is a dumb question) Is it something I could buy byitself, or would I have to take it out of another laptop?

Post by **bicostp** » Wed Oct 24, 2007 9:47 am

limpport wrote:
bicostp wrote:You could try cleaning or replacing the contrast pot.
You mean where all the lcd liquid is stored? (sorry if that is a dumb question) Is it something I could buy byitself, or would I have to take it out of another laptop?

Yup. Go down to Napa and get some blinker fluid. That will clean it up.

No, I meant the potentiometer. The variable resistor that controls the contrast. (Think "volume knob".) If you can get to it safely, hook up a multimeter and test to see what its rating is. (Turn it all the way in both directions and write down the high and low measurements.

All the LCD liquid is stored in the screen inside a glass mesh. Don't worry about that.

If you need to undo those annoying plastic snap clip things, slide a putty knife into the seam and work them free. (After removing the screws, of course.) It works for me.