Thread
Powerbook 100 full recap and ghosting
Ok, just finished a full recap on two of my powerbooks 100s. Got a little lazy and just used Uni's cap reference page since I just got too excited and pulled every cap off without making a cap reference sheet 
I replaced all caps on logic board, daughter card, and LCD screen. Except the ones on inverter board and the ball pointer. Anyway later on when i got to the second powerbook, i realized two of the references didn't match. a 220uF should be listed as 330uf, and one of the small 1uF should have been listed as 10uF. Laptop is working great even with the incorrect values on those two but i see some minor ghosting on the screen. I haven't ordered the 330uf yet, but I'm at least going to fix the 10uf one. Still would this be the cause of ghosting, i have my doubts since they are both located on logic board and not lcd? Or is it just an issue this would have been there even when the thing was brand new?
Anyway i'll update once i get more free time to fix this up. Next thing on my list, run the thing on a scsi2sd, I have too many to play with and the tinkerer in me wants to make a big thing fit where its not suppose to. so I'm going to get creative with the dremmel and make one of the 3.5" fit in there, even if i have to bypass cutoff traces! If i manage to get this to work i'll post some pics lol . BTW i know there is a new version out there that will work and is designed for 2.5", but I have too many of the old version to tinker with so why not I say!
I replaced all caps on logic board, daughter card, and LCD screen. Except the ones on inverter board and the ball pointer. Anyway later on when i got to the second powerbook, i realized two of the references didn't match. a 220uF should be listed as 330uf, and one of the small 1uF should have been listed as 10uF. Laptop is working great even with the incorrect values on those two but i see some minor ghosting on the screen. I haven't ordered the 330uf yet, but I'm at least going to fix the 10uf one. Still would this be the cause of ghosting, i have my doubts since they are both located on logic board and not lcd? Or is it just an issue this would have been there even when the thing was brand new?Anyway i'll update once i get more free time to fix this up. Next thing on my list, run the thing on a scsi2sd, I have too many to play with and the tinkerer in me wants to make a big thing fit where its not suppose to. so I'm going to get creative with the dremmel and make one of the 3.5" fit in there, even if i have to bypass cutoff traces! If i manage to get this to work i'll post some pics lol . BTW i know there is a new version out there that will work and is designed for 2.5", but I have too many of the old version to tinker with so why not I say!
You are so right about that, the rosin core flux actually spilled a bit into the screen and it looked like a small blob on the screen ( I always taught you can never use too much flux but in this case i did lol). I didn't realize this until i turned it on, the fix up actually made it look worse! I taught I messed up the polarity of one of the capacitors initially since it looked like a burned spot. I was about to give it up when i decided to pull the whole thing apart, the flux actually got sucked up behind the glass and the paper cover sheet. Took me a while to clean up but screen looked good as new once i did. I would have been easier to solder with the plastic piece removed but that is also a hassle on the LCD since I didn't want to deal with dirt getting on the glass. Regarding the original caps I always clean up with cotton swabs and make the original pads and surrounding areas as clean as possible so shouldn't be an issue there. btw I pulled a third powerbook and the LCD screen looks like it has a pink spot on it I hear this is common for the powerbook 100's from an old thread on here.
I didn't realize there were multiple versions of this board. I think mine are newer since nothing looked like it was modified or tweaked. Both original hard drives still boot and have some nice old games I was fiddling with. I also took 3 of the power bricks with me to work last friday and cracked them open using a technique from a user on 68klma here, plastic didn't break! Still on my waiting list for recap, Sometimes I wish I had more time for this hobby!
Passive matrix screens = puke.
My first laptop I had ever owned, which was a Presario 1247. Got it new for christmas in 99 I believe. It had a passive matrix screen, and that drove me nuts. it was a 400Mhz K62, and I still kept finding myself at the 200Mhz desktop PC because of it.
My first laptop I had ever owned, which was a Presario 1247. Got it new for christmas in 99 I believe. It had a passive matrix screen, and that drove me nuts. it was a 400Mhz K62, and I still kept finding myself at the 200Mhz desktop PC because of it.
Hmm that might as well be it, the only laptops I've used have been post 2000 so that could be. My initial taught was that since this laptop is so old perhaps the screen is meant to work like this . I ended up with a stack of 20 powerbooks on one of my conquests and have been ignoring repairs on them until memorials weekend.
I been using my phone to light me up under the car hood and has gotten the camera lens so scratched my pics wouldn't be clear. Been holding on getting a new one since Verizon we screw me out of my unlimited data plan. iPhone 4 is feeling old haha.
. I ended up with a stack of 20 powerbooks on one of my conquests and have been ignoring repairs on them until memorials weekend.I been using my phone to light me up under the car hood and has gotten the camera lens so scratched my pics wouldn't be clear. Been holding on getting a new one since Verizon we screw me out of my unlimited data plan. iPhone 4 is feeling old haha.
Ok.. a little help.. I didn't take a photo either before removing the caps... I saw the pic of the cap at C20 which should be 10uf 16v rather than the 1uf 50v.. So I have a question.. what is the true value at C43?? Right now I have a 1uf 50v there... but the other guy here has it marked as a 10uf 16v.. Does anyone know the correct cap for C43 on the PB100 board? I pulled my old caps out of the trash barrel to try process of elimination.. and sure enough I am missing one bad cap so I don't know what belongs there..
FWIW I paid around $2300 for a PB100 w/floppy in 1/20 configuration on launch day or pretty close to it. Basically a modernized Mac Portable built for Apple by Sony. Got a ton of use out of it, and by the time I sold it, the case plastics had been repaired a number of times. Had to drill out the hard drive mounting brackets when I installed a 40 MB drive there, I guess the hole patterns weren't really standardized then. Really liked it when I had it!
I just rebuilt 3.... Here is one working great!!! All 3 had bad Connor hard drives... I threw in a SCSI from an old 180.. now it's an 8/80 config... I did the caps on the screen and the main board.. There are only 3 electrolytic replacements in there!!! The others are all tantalum.... And the screen two caps are tantalum.. so don't have to open that bad boy back up again for ever I hope... Now for the battery rebuild... thank god I have this aftermarket one that comes apart..
Ok it's finally done.. I did 3 of these little guys this weekend (they r my pb100's.. not for someone else.. lol)... All caps replaced including those little nasty buggers ( 
on the backside of the LCD screen... (thanks Uniserver for the info!!) Very easy to miss them since they are really electrolytic encased in a square black case.. They almost appear to be tantalum... So now all 3 PB100's have only 3 electrolytic caps.. the rest are tantalum.. These should last for quite a while (I hope)....
Boy these Connor drives in these things suck!!! I can't find one working... I can find portable Connor drives working more than pb100 Connor drives... I realize they are way past their life expectancy... but come on.. not a one.. So I have a Quantum (not much better) in this one..
on the backside of the LCD screen... (thanks Uniserver for the info!!) Very easy to miss them since they are really electrolytic encased in a square black case.. They almost appear to be tantalum... So now all 3 PB100's have only 3 electrolytic caps.. the rest are tantalum.. These should last for quite a while (I hope)....Boy these Connor drives in these things suck!!! I can't find one working... I can find portable Connor drives working more than pb100 Connor drives... I realize they are way past their life expectancy... but come on.. not a one.. So I have a Quantum (not much better) in this one..