[Uisce]

I just acquired this 2002 12" PowerBook with two immediate issues. One, the battery holds no charge, and two, the power cord has fused together from overheating while trying to charge the PowerBook. I plugged the power cord into the Mac and tried to charge the battery. After an hour of smoldering from the wire coming out of the power pack, the Mac hit 4% charge, and it can't hold it.

Is this common when a battery or power pack goes bad? Would a new battery be the immediate fix?

I'm mainly interested in selling the old girl, but I want it to be in working condition first.

Thanks,

[ghporter]

The battery is almost certainly dead. Given that, the power supply is also probably on its last legs. Buy replacements before considering selling this machine.