dead PowerBook G3 Pismo

Fox · Oct 17th, 2010, 05:59 PM

I have one of those classic Pismos (400ghz G3 firewire), and the other day I went to start it and found -- no response at all to pressing the start button. When I say no response, I mean no indication that anything at all happened; no sound, nothing on the screen. Plugging it in made no difference. I'm wondering what are the likely possibilities for what's wrong. Not that I use it anymore, but I've had lots of Macs over the years and I've never had one go bad before.

pm-r · Oct 17th, 2010, 06:51 PM

Probably due to a dead, zero voltage PRAM battery.

To test, unclip and fold down or remove the keyboard and the right hand slot device (DVD/CD usually if installed) and there is a battery in there, your PRAM backup battery. Simply unplug the battery from the logic board, plug in the power adapter and press the power button.

The PRAM battery *may* take a charge if the AC power is left connected and the PRAM battery is connected.

You can also just unplug the little round battery. Plug in the AC connector, boot, plug the battery back in, replace the keyboard.

imactheknife · Oct 17th, 2010, 09:01 PM

Hey there, I had a few of these,,,try taking out the pram completely and then unplug the unit from power. Using a paper clip press the little black button in on the back (near USB ports) and while holding that button in plug the wall adaptor back in and keep holding for 10 seconds. Then let go of the button and press the main power and see if that helps.

Fox · Oct 17th, 2010, 11:08 PM

Thank you both for replying. It was the pram battery. Never had that happen before, which is amazing considering how old some of my old Macs are. The old PowerBook is back to life, and I'm charging it up right now. The pram battery appears to be working again; at least the Pismo started up again and kept the proper time when I just tried it. It hadn't been used in a long time; maybe that just drained the pram battery. At any rate, it is easy to replace if need be.

Now I'm back to having to decide what to do with this PB. It was a great machine in its day, but now it seems pretty slow for most things. At least I can still claim that every Mac I ever bought (and I still have some oldies like a iiSI, a G3 tower and a Cube), all work!

pm-r · Oct 17th, 2010, 11:53 PM

It may be old, but how fast can you type???

I had to rescue an elderly ladies Mac Classic some 10± years ago who was almost finished her third novel that was also to be published.

When I suggested we update her Mac to System 7.x, I was almost run out of her house and I believe that System 8 had been out for some time.

As far as I know, she may still be writing her novels in System 6, but I have a feeling that she might have died before her Mac Classic did!!!

Fox · Oct 18th, 2010, 07:12 AM

And the keyboard is one of the best things about the old Pismo. I've never found another laptop easier to type on than that one.