Thread

Help me diagnose this PowerBook 160

Help me diagnose this PowerBook 160 Hardware 9 posts Nov 26, 2015 — Dec 29, 2015

#1 Thu, 26 Nov 2015 - 22:48

Purchased a PowerBook 160 off of eBay of unknown condition as a project piece, and also because I wanted a grayscale PB.

The unit did not come with a power brick, so I am using the brick from my PowerBook 165c. When I boot the machine:

I get the dong
Screen turns on
I can hear something spinning (fan?), a pause, and then the process repeats. Does not boot up

Trying to boot from floppy yields the same result; I don't even hear the floppy trying to spin up.

So...any ideas on where to start to diagnose the problem(s)?

Cheers.

-10d

#2 Fri, 27 Nov 2015 - 01:00

It definitely needs a recapping. That noise is the Hard Drive as these powerbooks did not have fans.

Q: No Smiley or Sad Mac? Could be bad boot blocks. Create a boot floppy disk with the 165 and try it out on the 160.

#3 Fri, 27 Nov 2015 - 06:58

also screen has small super leaky caps. Huge downfall at this age. I am about 50/50 on screen repairs on mine for myself. the connections to the screen dont like all the movement and can let go (delamination kinda).

#4 Fri, 27 Nov 2015 - 13:38

Elfen said:
It definitely needs a recapping. That noise is the Hard Drive as these powerbooks did not have fans.

Q: No Smiley or Sad Mac? Could be bad boot blocks. Create a boot floppy disk with the 165 and try it out on the 160.

Nadda. I tried my emergency boot floppy, but the floppy drive doesn't even spin up.

#5 Fri, 27 Nov 2015 - 23:21

Macdrone said:
also screen has small super leaky caps. Huge downfall at this age. I am about 50/50 on screen repairs on mine for myself. the connections to the screen dont like all the movement and can let go (delamination kinda).

Are the 180 screens the same? I recently acquired a 180 that is in amazing condition and works perfectly (with some slight tunneling on the screen after an hour/hour and a half or so). Is there some kind of preventative maintenance I should be doing on this guy?

#6 Sat, 28 Nov 2015 - 02:19

tendim said:
Nadda. I tried my emergency boot floppy, but the floppy drive doesn't even spin up.

Time to open her up and look at her. Take photos to post here. But no doubt it will need a recapping.

khannonnd said:
Are the 180 screens the same? I recently acquired a 180 that is in amazing condition and works perfectly (with some slight tunneling on the screen after an hour/hour and a half or so). Is there some kind of preventative maintenance I should be doing on this guy?

They are not the same. The tunneling means that there is a leak along the seam of the glass plates - it's unrepairable. You need a whole new LCD in that machine. the PB 180 has an Active Matrix Screen, the PB 160 I believe is passive. Passive displays do not tunnel and would have a different connector and video driver board in the machine compared to the 180 and its active matrix screen.

You can upgrade however, using a 185c screen to get a color PowerBook with a screen swap. Nothing else is needed.

- - - - -

For LCD Recapping, ask Ferrix97 or Uniserver for detailed information. Ferrix97 did a couple posts on the subject here and a video on youtube for the PB145. The principal in doing to other screens are basically the same:

https://68kmla.org/forums/index.php?/topic/23893-powerbook-145b-also-for-140-160-145-display-capacitor-replacement-video-tutorial/

#7 Thu, 24 Dec 2015 - 13:24

tendim said:
I can hear something spinning (fan?), a pause, and then the process repeats. Does not boot up

If it has a Conner drive in it, it means that the head assembly is stuck. You can open it and apply some thin tape on the two rubber bumpers. this should fix the drive

#8 Tue, 29 Dec 2015 - 02:49

Elfen said:
Time to open her up and look at her. Take photos to post here. But no doubt it will need a recapping.

Any recommendations on what to take pictures of, exactly?

I did reach out to Charles @ MacApps, and the feedback I received was "the pb160 i don’t think needs caps on the mb…as they are solid chemistry caps, now those are known for leakers in the screen and maybe inverter/BL board."

Cheers.

#9 Tue, 29 Dec 2015 - 06:48

Pics of the logic board and a couple zooms into selected areas - the PSU area (a lot of larger caps there), and the large square chips. One of the back where the ports are would be great too.