Ah, I see the Holy Grail now.
But you can make it work....

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Hey Man, BRAVO! I was about to reply to your previous entry (for that, see below) and mention this fact when I tripped over this last entry. Among this very esteemed crowd you ride with here, I'll also bet you're not the only one to figure it out. It's those context clues, you know. I'd love to know how many private messages may have been sent on this.

Just so you (all) know, I came here on that tip from another eBayer simply out of interest and curiousity about what is decidedly a T-E-R-R-I-F-I-C resource, - and I thank those who have responded on this topic wholeheartedly. No hidden ulterior motives on my part; ie: I had not planned on pulling the listing if for some miraculous reason, I had gotten it working this week as a result of advice here. And as a new member, I was also being cautious about raising this flag to an offsite listing. My listing is 110% honest; I strongly believe that this thing can be made to work, although not by me :'( and my limited skills and means, - and I hope one of you will be that person. I am humbled in your cumulative presence. There are 11 watchers currently. So, beachycove, you win the "Sherlock Holmes Award" for the week, and do share with your pals, or not! I can only keep a stable of working Macs, unlike a lot of you whose greater skills I envy. As I said, this machine is not a "work up my tech chops" unit! Alas, it is not meant for me.

I am about out of ideas, and am not the best equipped of 68kmla members to answer these questions. However, some random thoughts: 

1. A multimeter would offer a ready means of confirming the working condition of the PS.

 

2. It occurs to me, though, before you go to such further trouble, that some powerbooks with a dead battery will not start with the dead battery inserted, or at least, they will not do so when they are giving problems. I am not sure why, but I have found that this has been the case with a number of different models.

 

3. It could be that you have the 5xx-series equivalent of GLOD on other older PowerBooks. The 550c's behaviour here would not be well documented, or not documented in English at any rate, though it would presumably be akin to that of the 5xx series in general. GLOD is, of course, generically a problem related to the backup battery and to the power management system in the machine.

 

4. I can also tell the tale of getting a 540c given to me some years ago that I later gave away again, and that finally came back to me as and in parts. It first came to me from a local chap who is really very knowledgeable, but who could not for the life of him make the machine boot. I got it home and promptly took it apart, piece by piece, in hopes that reseating everything might make it work. I reassembled and was delighted to find that it started up first time after reassembly and subsequently never skipped a beat — until being physically mangled by the developmentally delayed young man I in turn gave it to. What was left I eventually got back in pieces in a plastic bag....

 

Apart from that, I don't know what to tell you, apart from something like, "Sure, you just send that old 550c on to me!"

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Thanks for all of these and prior attention & thoughts.

1. I could be creative and find a way to get something small enough in the plug's holes that my multimeter's contacts could then read.

2. I'm very, mostly, pretty sure I tried just the AC adapter with both batteries still removed back when this first occurred but not lately. I'm methodical that way. Kind of like when I suggested we all try all of our keys to try to open someone's keys-locked-inside Toyota pickup at 2am after work in the freezing cold. Turned out another guy's Toyota ignition key opened the passenger side (only) door of the stuck truck. 8-o True fact!

3. The GLOD thing has been my suspicion all along; the 500-series is not my forté, but other deep-discharged battery issues I've had (Wallstreet & orig iBook) seemed similar.

The Wallstreet actually required repeated (and I mean dozens) of Power On key presses to slowly bring the startup process to completion, little by little, with the HD spinning up further and further each time. Very weird.

4. The "DDYM" with your 540c should have just shot himself and never told you anything. Never give back Macs in body bags... at least not to them who gave it to ya'

Hope to see one of you on the other side. :beige: