PowerBook G3 Problems - Macintosh Garden

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2014, November 19 - 4:11am

jebug29

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Joined: 2011 Sep 7

PowerBook G3 Problems

So, I'm fairly sure my Powerbook G3 Wallstreet's PRAM battery is dead (since it doesn't keep time and it has some issues with wake and sleep), and I recently bought a new battery for it (the bay battery - not a PRAM battery) and it seems to work well and hold a charge. Unfortunately, the laptop still doesn't want to start without first being jolted alive by the charger, which is pretty annoying to me.

My question is - would the PRAM battery being dead cause this? It did this before I got the new battery, and I'm just wondering if I should look into replacing the battery. Thing is, I spent 62 bucks on a battery, and the next thing I really want to get is an SSD for the thing, and I'd rather not ALSO have to buy a PRAM battery.

Thanks! -Jesse

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2014, November 19 - 5:22am

sfp1954

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Joined: 2013 Dec 29

If you're familiar with taking these apart I would unplug the PRAM battery.
If it's dead that's one thing - if it has a shorted cell that could cause problems.
Also make sure the copper foil by the DC inlet has either been moved or removed.
If it touches the outside of the DC-IN barrel that will cause problems.

If problems still persist I would try swapping out the PMU board.

Have you tried using the manual PMU reset on occasion?
It does the same thing as removing and restoring power.
The key combination is on the back panel but it can be tough to see.

You hold down the lower left three keys (shift + fn + ctrl) and then also press the start button.
Let the fan run for a few seconds and then release everything.
Now press the start button to boot.

Occasionally on these the little leaf switch which is controlled by a magnet in one of the display hinges goes bad or gets flakey. This switch tells the system if the display is open or closed. So if your sleep/wake issues only happen when you open and close the display...

What are you using for a hard drive? Only small Toshibas (2-6GB) and any size Travelstars will work in a Wallstreet. I tried using a 20GB Toshiba (from an iBook) in one the other day and the Wallstreet went right to sleep and wouldn't wake up as soon as OS 9 finished booting.

I've probably owned and resold over 100 of these in the last decade - so if you need any spare parts...

2014, November 19 - 5:13am

rob_1

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Joined: 2009 Sep 16

As far as I know, a dead PRAM battery can cause all sorts of things to happen. and symptoms like yours seem to fit the bill. I have a starmax 3000 that has a dead PRAM battery, and there will be times where it won't power on at all. despite being plugged in. my guess is Replace the PRAM battery first and see what that does. Your booting issues should disappear

2014, November 19 - 5:17am

rob_1

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Joined: 2009 Sep 16

wow, I responded at exactly the same time... might be the first time I have seen that happen. oh well.. though the last statement doesn't bode well for an SSD upgrade

2014, November 19 - 5:31am

sfp1954

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Joined: 2013 Dec 29

CF cards (with a PCMCIA adapter) work quite well as an SSD as long as you're not running Virtual Memory (and I never use VM with OS 7-9). I haven't used anything bigger than a 4GB to this point in time though - so I'm not sure if there is a size limit. You just use Drive Setup to initialize it and it will boot and run just about as fast as a real drive.

2014, November 19 - 6:23am

jebug29

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Joined: 2011 Sep 7

It's a 60gb HDD (I think it's a Toshiba drive. I don't really remember; I took it out of a dead PBG4 Titanium about a year ago and replaced the dead like 6gb HDD that was in there).

I might consider the CF drive then as well if the cost is pretty decent. The 60gb HDD I was looking at was around 60 bucks so not too shabby for an SSD in my opinion.

I'll do the reset and unplug the battery tomorrow when I have time.
Thanks for the replies guys!

2014, November 20 - 2:12pm

jebug29

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Joined: 2011 Sep 7

It was an IBM Travelstar drive.

I took apart the laptop and stripped it of the dead pram battery, and now my question is this: would I be able to construct a new pram battery by using the old one, and if so, how would I do so? Since the old battery put out 6v, would I be able to just connect two CR2032 batteries at 3v a piece and reconnect it, or would I need some other sort of cell? I'm really not willing to pay the $25 for a new one online, and if I can get by with a $3 pack of batteries, I'd rather do that.

2014, November 20 - 8:02pm

sfp1954

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Joined: 2013 Dec 29

I'm not sure it's worth the bother. The PRAM really only has limited function.
It will keep the clock going for another day or so if your main battery runs down and it allows you to swap main batteries in sleep mode without losing the state of the machine.
So if you always boot from the internal drive, only have one battery and leave the machine plugged in when not in use I'm not sure the PRAM is of much value.

2014, November 24 - 5:10pm

Troyd

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Joined: 2014 Nov 14

Not that I want to hijack this thread but I wonder if PRAM batteries also can cause other problems. I acquired a PDQ recently that had not been used in a decade or so and had been barely used throughout its life.
I plugged it in and it started up immediately and the empty battery started charging. After a few hours the battery was charged. The four lights show on the side and OSX shows that the battery has a capacity of 3500wh or so. However, the Powerbook will not power from the battery. If I pull out the charger, the Powerbook shuts off immediately. I have tried all the resets, put the battery in both bays etc. Nothing seems to make a difference. The last thing I would try is to disconnect the PRAM but I would rather avoid that if it is unlikely to make a difference. From what I remember, the Wallstreets can boot with a dead PRAM connected unlike the bronze keyboards that followed.
FWIW, I am using a 40GB Seagate in my Wallstreet. It seems to have no problems with larger PATA drives. You just have to remember to keep OSX within the first 8GB or so.

2014, December 4 - 2:57am

#10

atarikee

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Joined: 2010 May 31

Troyd- try Battery Reset 2.0.

https://support.apple.com/kb/DL1269?viewlocale=en_US

2014, December 10 - 11:04pm

(Reply to #10) #11

Troyd

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Joined: 2014 Nov 14

Thanks, atarikee. I knew about this but forgot to try with the Wallstreet. It did not do the trick, more muddied the waters somewhat.

On executing the reset program, it took all of half a second to 'deplete' the battery and start recharging. Not a good start. The charge lightning bolt never showed up in the menu but after a minute or so of stasis, the battery indicator went from empty to full and all four leds shone on the battery level indicator. That would indicate a pretty shot battery.

However, boot into Tiger and ASP and Coconut battery both indicate a capacity of 3500Wh. Something is not right. I know that battery initially took hours to charge up and the leds on the battery lit up one by one during the charge so it would seem that something with the charging circuit on the battery itself is b0rked.

2014, December 4 - 4:34am

#12

themacmeister

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Joined: 2009 Oct 26

wow atarikee, that was the most useful reply on this thread so far!

2014, December 4 - 2:05pm

#13

atarikee

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Joined: 2010 May 31

I had similar issues with my Wallstreet battery that Troyd had, and that program fixed it. It still holds two hours of charge under heavy use