owerbook specific problems

The powerbooks are wonderful machines and most (contrary to what you read) give people little problem. Hard drive and system problems can be solved by looking in those sections of this book.
The powerbook line is changing fast as of this writing. Models include the 100, some 145's and 170's, some in the 200's and now some in the 500's. There have been some specific problems with some models. I have compiled them into categories and included them here.

A Typical Powerbook serial number   F2105xxx

Your powerbook has a serial number. The first two digits indicate where it came from. F1 or F2 are for Fremont, CA. and CK or Cork, Ireland are examples. The next item in the sequence is the year of manufacture. A 1 is 1991 for example. The next two numbers are for the week of the year. 05 is week five of the year. The remaining numbers are for your individual Powerbook.

Product recalls and problems are indicated by serial number. These numbers will be referred to in succeeding chapters.

Powerbook: Screens

The Screens of a Powerbook come in many varieties; passive and active matrix in both monochrome, grayscale, and color.  A discussion can be given about each but let's just say that an active screen is faster on the uptake and sharper than the passive screens.  You also pay a premium for them.
The screens are pretty reliable but there have been some problems with certain models.

The Backlight
A screen saver is not needed for powerbooks because the screen cannot undergo burn-in. Burn-in in cathode ray tubes is when electrons light up the coating lining the inside front of the screen. If the same area is lit up for a long time it can imprint the image on the screen. I have seen many MS-DOS machines in offices with a menu screen permanently  visible even when the monitor is turned off.
The screen of a powerbook is activated when it is black. Yes, a black pixel is on and a white pixel is off. Go figure.  But there is another light. The backlight that lights up the screen. You have a control to tone it down or turn it off.  So even though a screen saver is completely unnecessary, it is important to set your powerbook controls to dim your screen after a specific length of time. If the light lasts umpteen years then setting it to dim will make it last more umpteen years.
Replacement of the light is not impossible but Apple dealers would rather replace the entire screen. The repair is tricky and the bulb is hard to get a hold of.

Stuck Pixels
An active-Matrix screen with a pixel (small dot that forms characters) that stays black qualifies for a screen replacement. This problem is rare.
If you have pixels that always stay off (white) then you can get a free repair if you have 5 or more of them. It is rumored that if you have two voids within an inch of each other you can get a free repair if you persist enough.

Flickering Screens
If the screen sometimes flickers on your early model 140 or 145 try squeezing the right side of the screen case to see if it corrects the problem. If it does you have a cable problem within the screen case. The fix is a small shim built into later models. You have a corrected model if your serial number is F2208xxx or higher, or CK121xxx or higher of any serial number starting with FC

Problems reading floppies
Early model 140's and 170's had problems reading disks. You would often get a "This is not a Macintosh disk" error or you might experience just too many read/write errors to be a coincidence.  If you turned off the backlight you might experience relief.  The problem was because of poor shielding of the backlight converter. The computers with the proper shielding were 140's with serial numbers of F2150xxx and higher and 170's with serial numbers CK205xxx and higher.  In 1992 Apple began using a new drive that fixed the problem. Models with the new drive are 4/40 140's with serial numbers F2211xxx and higher, and 4/80 140's with serial numbers F2212xxx and higher, and 170's with serial numbers FC213xxx or CK213xxx and higher.
You can get the problem fixed or the new drive installed. If I had the choice I'd go with the new drive.

PowerBook Case

The case of some Powerbooks have some minor irritations. Read on.

Doors
The doors on the back of 140's, 145's, 170's and 180's are of poor design. The hinge pins and latch tab are just too small and flimsy.  If you call Apple they may send you another one.

Powerbook 100 feet
The elevation feet on a Powerbook 100 were flimsy in early models. The replacement feet were given out freely. The only problem was that you had to take the computer apart to get them installed.  If you do get new feet though the newer ones will be much sturdier so you should only have to do the repair once.

PowerBook SCSI Cables

This isn't a fix or repair but it is a problem So I've included it.

Two similar cables
Because of the tight space limitations on the back of Powerbooks up to some 180's the SCSI (hard drive port) is non standard.  Most hard drive ports have elongated connectors. The Powerbook port is a small square. There are two varieties and they are for two specific purposes. Check the use of each cable listed below.

Cable A
Powerbook end: square 30 pin with one pin missing
Drive end: 50 pin male
Color: light gray
Use: to connect a SCSI device (like a hard drive) to your Powerbook.

Cable B
Powerbook end: square 30 pin with all pins present
Drive end: 50 pin female
Color: dark gray
Use: to connect the Powerbook via another SCSI cable and terminator so you can use 
          the Powerbook as a peripheral hard drive.
Solution
Check the appendix for an APS number for a neat simple cable solution that ends the confusion.

PowerBook Battery Charging problems
The powerbook battery lasts about a year to two years depending on how you use it. A better estimate is that they are scheduled to last about 500 charges.  You won't see it die after the 500 charges though. It will begin to fade away. Noticable will be a shorter usage time between charges. But...your battery may be acting this way and still have a lot of life left in it.

Memory effect
The batteries in most Powerbooks are NiCads. They have a memory effect as you might be familiar with in small rechargable batteries or camcorder batteries.  To help with this problem leave your powerbook on beyond the recommended time when it informs you that you have 10 seconds left before going to sleep. This will bring the battery down to a fair minimum.

A better way is to perform a deep discharge on the battery. This can be done in two ways. One is to purchase a discharge device from you friendly computer dealer. Another less expensive way is to obtain a shareware product that bypasses your screen warnings and discharges the very last vestiges of current from a battery. These programs can be obtained from any online service or from a local users group. I like one called DeepDischarge by Jeremy Kezer, but there are others that work just as well. The PowerBook 100 has acid batteries and is not affected by memory effect. In fact you shouldn't discharge them fully as they could be damaged or leak.

Power Manager
The power manager in a powerbook controls such things as backlight settings, sleep and  charging functions. The power manager has a seperate set of instructions and memory in your computer. If it gets messed up it could be the cause of flawed discharging of your battery leaving you with less battery time. The power manager can be reset to it's factory default settings. (See section, Resetting power manager)

Powerbook AC Power supply Problems
Do you have this small problem that could be a big one?  You are plugging the power adapter in the back of your powerbook one day and the small plastic spacer on the end of the plug chips off.  No problem right. No, not untill you one day put the plug in at a slight angle and you momentarily hit the postitive contact of the adapter to the negative side of the receptacle in the computer. ZAP! blown motherboard. Solutions?? You could buy another power adapter at about $60.00 or you could ask Apple for a fix..they were giving some plug fittings out for awhile, or... You could plug the cord into your computer before you plug the adapter into the wall or turn it on.  It makes sense, no power while you are connecting, no blown motherboard.

Resetting the Power Manager in Powerbooks
The power manager in powerbooks controls functions of the computer like battery discharging and backlight control. It operates on its own instruction set and area of memory. If it becomes corrupted it could cause behavior such as improper discharging of the battery and you might notice a shorter battery life.
To reset the power manager follow these steps. You can't hurt anything but you will loose anything in RAM so save and quit everything first.

Powerbook 100 series
•If you have a powerbook 160, 165, or 180 you can reset the PM by unplugging the power adapter, removing the battery and letting the computer sit for 5-10 minutes.
•If you have a powerbook 100 press the reset and interrupt buttons together and hold them for a slow 10 count after having done the above.
•If you have another 100 series powerbook like a 170  or 145 you need to use a paperclip bent like a "U" to press the buttons because they are in little holes next to the power switch.
•If you have a Powerbook Duo hold down the power switch for 60 seconds.
•If you have a 500-series powerbook the batteries are "smart" in that they have overcome the memory   
 effect. But the power manager can make these "smart" batteries "dumb".  press all at the same time:

           Command-Control-Option-Power key