Recaping a Macintosh Portable

[Richard Smith]

The internal battery is required to get the machine to boot properly. It is a 6 volt sealed lead-acid battery made up of three Cylon 2 volt 4AH cells. It's many years since I rebuilt one.

Richard Smith

Mewgull Associates Limited
Leonard Lane
Bristol BS1 1EA

Office: +44 (0) 117 951 8321
Mobile: +44 (0) 7768 517284

Sent from my iPad

> On 8 Dec 2014, at 15:49, Ben Sinclair <bensinc at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> I have a Portable as well, and that's correct about the battery. It won't
> boot at all, even with external power, if the battery is dead.
> 
> Try doing some searching about alternative power supplies. I believe the
> problem is that the standard power supply can't source enough power to get
> things started on its own. I've read about people having success using a
> power supply from a PowerBook 100, or building their own power supplies.
> 
>> On Mon, Dec 8, 2014 at 9:40 AM, Sean Caron <scaron at umich.edu> wrote:
>> 
>> Don't they also act funny if the internal battery is dead? You might have
>> to provide a substitute for that voltage. My memory is pretty fuzzy... it's
>> been a while since I've read anything or given any mindshare to a Mac
>> Portable. But I definitely remember they had some strange quirks in their
>> behavior.
>> 
>> Best,
>> 
>> Sean
>> 
>> 
>>> On Mon, Dec 8, 2014 at 2:13 AM, drlegendre . <drlegendre at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> 
>>> If this is one of the original Mac Portables (white, wedge-shaped, B&W
>> LCD
>>> screen), have you disconnected the HD from the motherboard?
>>> 
>>> The HDs on these machines just love to die, and when they do, they can
>>> screw-up the whole machine. If you haven't already eliminated that
>>> possibility, I'd do it before you run around replacing anything else. If
>>> you can find the correct drive, you can make a cable to adapt it to the
>>> portable - but you won't have the low-power feature of the original
>> drive.
>>> 
>>> It's been 15 years, but I went through one of those machines, back when.
>>> 
>>> On Sun, Dec 7, 2014 at 6:26 PM, Matt Patoray <mspproductions at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> Hello all,
>>>> 
>>>> I have a Mac portable that refuses to even attempt to boot.
>>>> 
>>>> I get random junk on the screen that is different on every power up, no
>>>> drive activity and no sound.
>>>> 
>>>> I am thinking the onboard surface mount electrolytics are due for
>>>> replacement.
>>>> 
>>>> I was able to read the values off of most of the caps but I was not
>> able
>>>> to read the follow caps. C4, C5, C15 and C24.
>>>> 
>>>> Does anyone know what value those caps are?
>>>> 
>>>> Thanks,
>>>> 
>>>> Matt
>>>> 
>>>> Sent from my iPhone
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Ben Sinclair
> ben at bensinclair.com
>