There should be a Special Place reserved below (En Enfers, the French would call it) for people who mentally decommission PowerBooks, and then tuck them into a cupboard for 99 years without first removing the battery. I take that back. They should suffer the tortures of Tantalus.
I bought a 'PB 160' (for only AUD 10.50), which was in fact (and so marked) an amalgam of a 165c and a 180, from someone who was not the last user (I hope). The machine had last been used, judging by the external paper labels and some of the content of the HDD, at a western Uni. in Sydney some dozen years ago. The seller cannot have inspected the PB before sale (again, I hope), because the battery was right royally cemented into the PB with the products of its own decay and spillage. In the ultimate, it was only the corner few square cm of logic board and daughter card that were affected, but again one of the battery connectors to the main board was totally destroyed. With acidified water and a toothpick (between the IC contacts) I cleaned both boards, which had been bared of lacquer in places.
The 180 mobo was still a writeoff, but I yet held hopes for the colour display, which I hoped to be able to get going with a NOS 180c daughter card and a spare 180 mobo that I had. That is, however, another story for another time.
Hell should reserve its best delights for battery neglecters.
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