PowerBook 180c from the UK

The PowerBook 180c was Apple’s first PowerBook with an active matrix screen capable of displaying 256 colors. Introduced in June of 1993  it cost $1K more than it’s monochrome counterpart, the PowerBook 180. As lowendmac notes, the gorgeous display had took a heavy toll on the Ni-Cad battery, reducing it’s usage to about an hour before requiring recharging.

When I worked at Motorola I was loaned a 180c by Apple for a month or so, and loved it. I quickly realized that I needed to always carry a power adapter and find the chair close to power outlets in the meeting rooms. Recently I acquired a “working” 180c from an ebay auction, and after it’s transatlantic trip from the UK I set about testing it.

My first discovery was that it didn’t arrive with a power adapter (should have read that auction description a little closer). My second discovery was that the battery hadn’t been removed from the computer in at least a decade. When I was finally able to pry it carefully out I found a blue crystalline substance in the battery bay and on the outside of the battery terminals where the electrolyte has leaked out and hardened. When I opened the port cover on the back of the computer I discovered the same substance had leaked through the port openings.

Leaking PowerBook battery electrolyte damage

After removing the battery I attempted to start up the PowerBook using a PowerBook 170 adapter I had on hand, and was pleased to hear a startup chime. My thrill was short-lived however, since the computer refused to proceed any farther, just repeatedly sounding a startup chime. A quick search of the internet revealed that this is a common symptom when you try to use a power adapter not intended for the 180c. The 180c needs a 24 watt adapter (model  M5652 or M4462). Fortunately I was able to locate an inexpensive original 24 watt adapter from retrotechnology.com.

Once I had the proper adapter I started up the PowerBook and it proceeded to a happy Mac screen and loaded the finder with just one issue – the top quarter of the screen isn’t illuminated. Bending the display forwards flickers it on, so I am hopeful the issue can by adjusting or replacing the internal display cable that is prone to being pinched.

It looks like the 180c will be more of a project than I anticipated. A full take-apart is needed to remove the crystallized remnants of  electrolyte in the battery bay, inside the bottom case,  on the logic board, and the rear ports. Ni-cad battery electrolyte is potassium hydroxide, and recommended cleaning solutions I’ve seen include baking soda, vinegar, and coke. Further research indicates that the blue color of the substance I found indicates that it’s copper sulphate and the recommended cleaning solution is hydrogen peroxide.

3 Color Classics - front

My wife is thrilled when I turn the dining room table into a computer repair workshop. As you can see from the photos above the patients for this day included two Macintosh Color Classics that refused to start up. The Color Classic web server was temporarily taken offline to serve as my “known working” device to test parts from the other two.

One of the two nonworking CC’s was purchased for a song from ebay with a known faulty logic board but everything else was promised to be fine. This proved to be true – installing an LC575 logic board into it produced a healthy startup chime and a clear bright screen when booted from the internal hard drive . Since the system file on the HDD hasn’t been hacked it produced a bus error when trying to load the Finder, but that appears to be a software issue rather than a hardware one.

3 Color Classics - reverse

The second CC is one that previously worked fine and even has a rare Sonnet Presto Plus accelerator card installed. After sliding out the logic board and removing the accelerator card I could see very evident traces of leaking capacitors. I’ve located a working replacement logic board but it’s just a matter of time before it also succumbs to the ravages of time and suffers the same fate, so I guess I will need to brush up on my soldering skills.

Sonnet Presto Plus accelerator and Color Classic logic board

The Color Classic web server is back online and I am still working on getting a spare backup ready to go to pinch hit in case of hardware failure. It is, after all, 17 years old. Back in 1993, when the Color Classic was released, Apple’s annual sales amounted to just under $8B, virtually all of it from sales of 3.3M Macs. In 2009 Apple’s annual sales were $36.5B, from 10.4M Macs, 54M iPods, and 20M iPhones.

I’ve had a pair of Macintosh Classic II computers awaiting diagnosis and repair for over a year now. Both suffer from the same issue – a checkerboard pattern on the screen that appears on startup and remains. After perusing the helpful forums over at the 68k Macintosh Liberation Army I determined the issue is almost certainly leaking capacitors.

Not long ago I was able to purchase a replacement Classic II logic board for a few dollars on ebay as an unused Apple Service part. I was thrilled that I might get at least one of the Classic II Macs back to health without having to remove and replace a bunch of capacitors with a soldering iron.

Above is a photo of the new and the old logic boards. It’s pretty easy to tell which is which. Sadly, though, the new logic board is not without problems. Although the Classic II now starts up properly there is no sound. I’ve reseated RAM and ROM modules without any change. Another tour through the 68KMLA forums reveals this is a common symptom of, you guessed it – leaking capacitors.

I wasn’t that lucky, unfortunately. When I power it on it sounds like the internal HD is stuck in a constant effort to read the drive and not finding any success. I will post a sound file so you can hear it. After reading the troubleshooting information at Chris Adams’ SE Support pages it fits the description of  drive “stiction” – a term I remember knowing many years ago.

The good news, however, is that the floppy drive works fine and I was able to boot the machine from an old 800k Norton Utilities Emergency Disk and from an older Apple Disk Tools floppy. Neither HDSC Setup, Disk First Aid, or Norton Disk Doctor were able to see or mount the internal HD, although the drive activity indicator on the front of the SE flashes.

So it looks like step 1 will be to replace the internal SCSI hard drive. Step 2 is going to be upgrading the RAM. I have not yet confirmed, but suspect that the RAM is only 1 MB since when I tried to boot from a System 7.5 Disk Tools floppy I got a dialog box that simply said “System 7.5 needs more memory” with no other option but to shut down.

I consulted the Adding RAM section of Chris’ SE Support site and after skimming the instructions discovered that it’s not just a matter of replacing four 256MB SIMMs with four 1 MB modules in the RAM slots. You also have to clip a resistor so that computer knows about the change in memory configuration.  That should make things more interesting!

Mac SE SuperDrive

My very first Macintosh was a Mac SE, purchased in December of 1988 from the University of Texas Student Computer Store. Even with my student discount I had to take out a loan from the University Federal Credit Union to pay for it. My SE came with two internal 800K floppy drives, no internal hard disk and one MB of RAM (later upgraded to 4 MB). My accessories included a Jasmine 20 MB external hard disk, an ImageWriter II printer, and a Practical Peripherals 2400 baud modem.

Recently I purchased a Mac SE to add to the ClassicMacs collection. This one is slightly newer, since it has a SuperDrive (a floppy drive that will read/write high density floppy disks and an internal hard disk).

When I reviewed the price list for the SE models available when I bought mine I quickly remembered why I bought the one with two 800k drives – the one with an internal 20 MB hard disk was priced $800 higher!

As I recall the external Jasmine 20 MB drive was $400, so I saved $400 by going that route. My Mac came with an early version of System 6 and would have to wait until May, 1991 before System 7 was released.

I’ll keep you updated on the addition of the Mac SE to the classicmacs.org collection. I think it will be a System 6 machine to remind me of how I started out.

Helpful Mac SE Pages

• Vectronics Collection – the Mac SE
• Vectronics Collection – the Mac SE FDHD (floppy drive, high density, later called “SuperDrive”)
• Vectronics Collection – the Mac SE/30
• lowendmac.com – Mac SE
• Chris Adams’ Mac SE Support Pages

Before I continue listing what’s in my current collection of Apple portables I want to detail what I’m still looking for. As I mentioned in my introduction to this series, I am not seeking one of every portable computer Apple has ever made, just one that personifies each developmental step along the way. The landmark editions, if you will.

So here’s a list of what I’m seeking along with a short description and why I deem them important:

PowerBook G3 "Kanga"

Macintosh PowerBook G3 aka “Kanga” – Apple’s first PowerBook to use the G3 processor. Physically it looks almost identical to the PowerBook 3400, but the new CPU made it the fastest notebook computer in the world when it was released in November of 1997. It was only on the market for 6 months before it was replaced by the PowerBook G3 Series (aka Wallstreet) that arrived in a completely new enclosure. Kanga has the unenviable distinction of being the only G3 computer that is not supported under Mac OS X.

PowerBook G3 "Pismo"

PowerBook (Firewire) aka “Pismo” -  the last of the sleek black G3 powered portables before the Titanium G4 debuted, the Pismo was introduced in February of 2000. The upgrades compared to its predecessor, the “Lombard” G3, were significant: two firewire ports and built in AirPort wireless network option, AGP instead of PCI graphics card, speedier system bus, and much more. Pismo is easily the most sought after model of Apple’s G3 PowerBooks.

PowerBook G4 (12 inch)

PowerBook G4 (12-inch) – introduced at MacWorld in January 2003, the 12″ PowerBook was Apple’s pro-level sub-notebook. Unlike most of its competitors at the time, the G4 12″ includes a built-in optical drive. The PB G4 12″ was also one of Apple’s first aluminum-clad portables (a 17″ PowerBook was released at the same time), departing from the prior G4 PowerBooks that were clad in Titanium.

Coming next – Apple Portables Collection – What I’m Looking For (G4 models)

I am fortunate to have a few of these in my collection, all fully operational. Read on for the details.

What’s in the collection so far – part 2, the G3 processor models

PowerBook G3 "Wallstreet"

This black portable from Apple was the first to give up the boxy appearance of the 3400 enclosure and had a curious combination of a white Apple logo on the outside and a small multicolored Apple logo under the display. With built in ADB, SCSI, and serial ports, they shipped with a standard floppy drive. The Wallstreet was the first portable computer Apple made available “build to order” with the customer allowed to select among three different screen sizes and three different processors. My Wallstreet is a 233 MHz model with a 14.1″ screen. It has 160MB of RAM, a 9 GB HD, and has Mac OS 9.2.2 installed.  At 7.8 pounds this is probably the heftiest portable Mac Apple has ever shipped besides the original Mac Portable.

PowerBook G3 "Lombard"

Announced in May, 1999 the PowerBook G3 (Bronze keyboard) aka “Lombard” added USB ports and came in a sexy, slimmed down enclosure that made it nearly two pounds lighter than its predecessor. With no ADB or serial ports they do not  support Apple floppy drive modules. Unlike earlier G3 models, the Lombard allows you to replace the optical drive module with a second battery, doubling runtime to an amazing ten hours.

I actually have two Lombards in my collection, both 333 MHz models. You can read about my most recently acquired one here. It has 256 MB of RAM, a 30 GB HD, and has Mac OS 8.6, 9.2.2, or 10.3.9 installed to select from.  I carried a Lombard for two years and it was a reliable, sturdy, and dependable machine.

Coming next – G4 processor Apple portables in the classicmacs.org collection

Before I continue listing what’s in my current collection of Apple portables I want to detail what I’m still looking for. As I mentioned in my introduction to this series, I am not seeking one of every portable computer Apple has ever made, just one that personifies each developmental step along the way. The landmark editions, if you will.

So here’s a list of what I’m seeking along with a short description and why I deem them important:

PowerBook 100

PowerBook 100 – Even though it was actually designed and manufactured for Apple by Sony and featured the same processor as the Mac Portable, the PowerBook 100 was Apple’s first truly portable personal computer. In comparison to the 140 and 170 models of the same era the 100 didn’t sell well, and thus isn’t as common to find.

PowerBook 180c

PowerBook 180c - introduced in October of 1993 this was Apple’s first portable with an active matrix color display. The 165c (introduced Feb. 1993) was Apple’s first color PowerBook. The screen on the 180c may be small but it looks 1 million times better than the passive matrix screen of the 165c. Battery life is abysmal. I used one of these for several months and discovered firsthand that the battery was useful to get me from one meeting room to another and not much else.

PowerBook 2400c

PowerBook 2400c – When Apple discontinued the Duo series in February 1997 sub-notebook fans clamored for a replacement.  Originally designed for the Japanese market, the 2400c was manufactured for Apple by IBM Japan, and later came to the US. It offered the features of the 3400c (sans floppy or optical drive) in a sleek, black enclosure that weighed 2.5 pounds less.  2400′s aren’t easy to find, though. The 180 MHz 2400c was available for less than a year, and the 240 MHz version (codenamed “Mighty Cat”) was only sold for 9 months in Japan.

Coming next – Apple Portables Collection – What I’m Looking For (PowerPC)

I took a few moments to launch Mini vMac and play with Mac OS 6.08 on my MacBook Pro that runs Snow Leopard. Since Snow Leopard will not let you write to or create HFS disk images I was limited to what was available on the 6.08 Disk Tools disk, namely the venerable Disk First Aid and Apple HD SC Setup.

I was very proud of myself for remembering that there is a secret key combination to expose the logging window of DFA so you can see what it is doing. Back in the early days DFA just worked it’s magic and expected you to wait patiently for the watch cursor to disappear and the application to report it’s cryptic results.

If you press Command-S while DFA is open a window underneath appears that displays the status of the DFA processes. Since this always begins  and ends with a date/time stamp and the message “Scavenging begun” or “Scavenging ended” I presume Command-S was chosen to display the Scavenging process.

Disk First Aid 1.4.3 with secret window revealed

Later versions of Disk First Aid by default display the disk examination and repair process, but back in the System 6 days you had to know the magical keycode to watch its inner workings as it churned away performing its diagnostics and repair.

What’s in the collection so far – part 1

Mac Portable

It stands to reason that any collection of Apple portable computers must include the one that started it all – the Mac Portable. I am fortunate to have one of these in my collection courtesy of a friend whose coworker was more interested in seeing it go to a good home than shopping it on ebay. It even came with the original carrying case. I’ve not had a chance to tackle a restoration, but it’s on my list of things to do.

PowerBook 170

During my first stint working for Apple I worked on the Software Support team, taking technical support calls about System 7. I was jealous of my counterparts on the PowerBook Support team who each were assigned a PowerBook to use at work and at home. The 170 was the first PowerBook with an active matrix screen and the one I have includes the optional built-in modem.

PowerBook 540c

I will always have a special place in my heart for the PowerBook 540c, the stylish retro-modern portable computer codenamed “Blackbird” that stood in such stark contrast to the boxy competitors of its time. The Blackbird was truly revolutionary, the first portable in the industry to include ethernet, a trackpad, stereo speakers, and more. It held two batteries so even with it’s expansive 9.5″ active matrix color display you could use it for hours and hours. The 500 series even had an optional PCMCIA card module (which I have, somewhere) although with built-in modem and ethernet few people found a use for it. Blackbird was the first portable that could truly serve as replacement for a desktop computer.

Not only do I consider Blackbird the sexiest Apple portable made to date, it was also a true workhorse. I had the good fortune to work for an employer who provided me with one and over the course of 2 years it was a reliable and powerful companion that never let me down.

Coming next – more Apple portables from the 90′s in the classicmacs.org collection