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Paco500 · Dec 4, 2003, 09:27 AM

For a time I thought I was the luckiest guy in town. I started at a new company a few weeks ago, and unfortunately, they are a Windows shop (with a smattering of Solaris and AIX boxes). They have in the not too distant past aquired a few companies and as a result there a rooms full of equipmet just sitting around. Looking about this morning, I found a Pismo 400 in pristine physical condition. It looks like it may never have been used.

With great excitement, I rush it back to my office, plug it in, hit the power and... nothing. I pulled the dead battery and tired again and still nothing. I "reset the power manager" by holding down the little button on the back for a few seconds, plugged it in and nothing. I happen to have my personal Pismo 500 w/ me today, so I tried installing both a known good power adapter and battery and still nothing.

Does anyone have any thoughts on what I might do to either revive it or confirm it dead?

Worst case scenario- I have put the battery in my Pismo to try to get a charge on it so I can have a spare, but after 15 min, nothing seems to be happening. Again, anyone know of a way to either revive it or confirm the battery dead?

Thanks.

Paco500 · Dec 5, 2003, 07:50 AM

OK- any thoughts out there?

If no thoughts on fixing it- what have people's experience been with various repair facilities? Does anyone give a free estimate?

vinster · Dec 5, 2003, 08:48 AM

Originally posted by Paco500:
OK- any thoughts out there?

If no thoughts on fixing it- what have people's experience been with various repair facilities? Does anyone give a free estimate?

Not for the squeamish, but you could consider swapping parts of your working powerbook with the dead one to find out what's broken and then purchasing a replacement part off eBay.

Powerbook · Dec 5, 2003, 08:52 AM

Water accident?
Short circuit?

You should check the Logic board for "burned" parts (white "powder" around pins ics etc)...

PB.

voyageur · Dec 5, 2003, 08:59 AM

I just revived a dead Pismo to install Panther on it. Symptoms were as you describe, Paco. I did what you did (pulled out the main battery) but I also pulled out the little PRAM battery before resetting the PMU. It then powered right up.

P.S. I also check the voltage of the main battery to see whether it could still hold a charge, which you might try too.

iBorg · Dec 5, 2003, 09:25 AM

Originally posted by Paco500:
I happen to have my personal Pismo 500 w/ me today, so I tried installing both a known good power adapter and battery and still nothing.

It's much more than just a dead battery, if it doesn't powerup even when plugged into AC with an adaptor that works on your Pismo 500.

Voyageur's experience with a dead PRAM battery is interesting - while that would make your Powerbook lose its saved settings (e.g. time and date), it shouldn't prevent powerup from either battery or AC.

Sounds like a serious hardware issue, that probably requires a technician's expertise.

iBorg

romeosc · Dec 5, 2003, 09:59 AM

Unplug
Remove Battery
Lift keyboard and firmly resseat Processor (attached to heatsink!

Often when adding ram the Processor card is not reseated properly.

And also the pram battery can cause a dead Pismo since without it you have no video.....

many older PBs that is all that is needed!

Paco500 · Dec 5, 2003, 10:18 AM

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!

Ok, sorry about the goofiness, but I have a working PB!

Not sure what was the magic bullett- I reseated the processor, pulled the PRAM battery, plugged it in and BAM! Welcome to MacOS (v9.0.4).

Thanks for all the help.

romeosc · Dec 5, 2003, 06:21 PM

Originally posted by Paco500:
Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!

Ok, sorry about the goofiness, but I have a working PB!

Not sure what was the magic bullett- I reseated the processor, pulled the PRAM battery, plugged it in and BAM! Welcome to MacOS (v9.0.4).

Thanks for all the help.

I'm glad it worked.... I have had the same problem before!