What's Wrong With my 165c PB?

[Kathryn]

Hello, I am in need of advice, and tech support again. I just got, in the mail, my PowerBook 165c from eBay. It sounded like a great find, but turned out to be a dud. I got to use it for about 1.5 hours, and then it shut down, restarted, and is now stuck in a restart loop. All she does is try to start, makes part of the startup sound, then goes black, and does it again, and again, and again, until I pull the plug. Also, I noticed that the lower, left of the screen was dim (before the restart loop started). Oh, important note, I am not pushing the power button during this startup loop, she does it all on her own. Any idea you can offer are greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Kathy

[MacMan]

This is the first time I've heard of something like this. I once had a 165c which did some odd things but never repeatedly restarted. I would say a good place to start is zapping the PRAM and if that doesn't work then try a Power Manager reset. Also, have a look in the little holes at the back where the restart and programmer's switches are located, (they are next to the power button). It is possible that something is snagging on the restart button...

As for the dimness in the corner of the screen - this seems to be quite normal with the 165c from what I've heard. Mine used to have that issue too, especially after prolonged use once the display warmed up. The 165c was Apple's first colour notebook and used quite an early passive matrix display so some ghosting and dim patches are to be expected.

[Kathryn]

Hi ManMan,
I pushed the reset button, and the one next to it, and it does the same thing. It just keep making the beginning of the starup sound and does it again. I didn't reset the PRAM cuz I didn't think it was far enough into the startup to do that, but I'll go try it.

Thanks for the response, she just has to live. I love the old PowerBooks! I took it with me last night one the night shift hoping to get to go through it and install software, but after a few installations, it started having a fit.

I'll be back with an update,

Thanks again.

[Kathryn]

Hi MacMan,

Please read the reply to Derek, it applies to you too.

Thanks!

[Derek]

Yes, definitely try resetting the PMU.

One other thought: I had a synthesizer that did this when it was attached to a weak/aging power supply. Try a different power brick and/or reducing the load on the PSU by disconnecting the hard disk. Perhaps there's stiction that's causing the drive to draw more current than usual during when the machine is powered up.

It's a shot in the dark, but who knows...

[Kathryn]

Hello Derek,

I swapped out the battery with a newer one from a PowerBook 145B before I took it to work with me. The one that came with the 165 was toast. When I got home this a.m. I swapped them back, and the same happened. Do you mean swapping out the brick, plug-in transformer thing? I didn't think of that. Ok, I shall go try to reset the PRAM, and change out the power brick (supply?).

Keeping my fingers crossed....

[Kathryn]

MacMac and Derek!

She lives! I am watching her boot up as I type this.

I pushed the power button and ....... nothing..... nothing at all. I feared she was toasted and ghosted. So, I did what was suggested.

I swapped out the power supply with the one from the 145B, and hit the reset button. On the second push of the reset, the start up sound, and she began to load. Wow! I am amazed, I thought she was a goner!

Thank you MacMan and Derek! I would not not have thought to try that. I had pushed the reset button, and the power supply light was on. I thought all was well there.

Thank you both, you guys ROCK!

Kap

Oh, and I just did a PRAM reset again, just for good measure!

[MacMan]

Excellent, glad to hear that it is alive again! I wouldn't have suspected the power supply as they rarely go wrong, but there we go.

I miss my 165c, it was a good machine when it was alive but unfortunately started getting problems with the display which was being caused by a pinched cable. The cable was beyond repair and I put the machine out to pasture, but I'm hoping I can some day find the necessary parts to resurrect it, or maybe just get another 165c. It still works with an external monitor so I'm thinking I might use the base of the machine for a project of some kind if I get the time.

[Kathryn]

I am sorry to hear of your loss. Those are really nice machines. I have wanted one for years. I had a friend who had one, back in the day, and I loved using it. I really miss having a track ball, and the keyboard is really nice and easy to type on. I find it faster that using my G4.

I would think that parts machines come available from time to time. Maybe you can get one cheap that has a dead motherboard and resuscitate yours. I guess the early iBooks had the same problem with the pinching of the cables. I have one that I need to order new cables for, at some point.

Thanks again for helping me with mine. I hadn't thought it would be the power cable, brick, supply or what ever it's called. I kinda like brick, it does kinda look like one.

[macdownunder]

Hi Derek,

I have definitely noticed that some Powerbook models draw more power and require a stronger power supply. Unfortunately, I didn't document it much at the time - my solution was to find one good strong power supply and use it for all testing from then on.

From memory the stronger (later) power supplies had the power prongs on an elevated section - not flush with the brick as on earlier versions.

[Kathryn]

Huh? I might need a diagram on that one.

I definitely saw that the battery was draining while plugged in, so the power supply that was sent with, is not strong enough to power, and charge at the same time. I do have one that came with my 145B, it has a big transformer box (?) with the prongs at the end. Is that the one your are referring to?

[Kathryn]

More on this issue. She is running again, so I wanted to use the good battery from the 145B so I swapped them out again. Started her up, and she shut down. Reset the PRAM, but for some reason, the 165c will not run with the battery from the 145B.

Gotta go get ready for work now, I'll check back later for any ideas, tip, suggestions.

Thanks

[Derek]

macdownunder - very interesting!

I also remember reading a note on Usenet many moons ago about always plugging the power adapter into the wall first, and *then* into the PowerBook. Something to do with avoiding (resettable) PMU corruption, and only for the early 100-series PowerBooks.

Kathryn - fantastic! As for the battery issue, I don't know. AFAIK there's nothing special about the 165C battery, so it could just be age, capacity, or whatever. IIRC I've seen other PowerBooks do this with batteries that have deteriorated to a certain state, but not live ones.