--- the pickle <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > At 14:55 -0400 on 28/09/01, Amber Rhea wrote: > > >Why is it that sometimes, older Powerbooks' > batteries just refuse to hold a > >charge? I love my PB 145B, but the battery holds a > charge for about three > >minutes, tops. I replaced the battery with a new > one, with the same results. > > That sounds like a problem with the power management > circuitry. > > Unless you got a new-in-box battery...is that the > case? If so, the cells > have long since died. Buying NIB batteries based on > lead-acid or NiCd > cells is pointless unless they're only a year or two > old.
I know there's a trick to resetting the power manager, but since I've never actually ownwed one, I'm not 100% certain how to do it. I think you take the battery out and hold both the reset and programmer's buttons for a minute. Might involve the power button somewhere in the process too. :) There is an extention or control panel called Amnesia that keeps a Powerbook's power save stuff from working so the batteries will drain as far as possible. This is only needed for NiCd batteries. I think if you poke around in Apple's FTP you'll find something similar. If that fails, you can practice your soldering skills by carefully cracking open the battery case along the seams (if its glued instead of screwed together) and replacing the cells. Those batteries typically use standard sizes of cells, though not the typical "consumer" AAA through D sizes. Any type and size of cell, with or without solder tabs, is available from several electronics supply places. You can often get a higher than original miliamphour rating in the same size cell which would give you a longer runtime. (Libretto and Palmax submini notebook users do this a lot with their battery packs.) I did it with a dead Sony Betacam camcorder battery. :) FYI, if you ever encounter a device that uses AAAA batteries and can't find replacements, get a Duracell 9 volt battery and carefully hacksaw around the top. (There's a bit of empty space in there.) Inside you'll find six AAAA cells. :) ===== "The earth swarms with inhabitants. Why then should nature, which is fruitful to an excess here, be so very barren in the rest of the planets?" Bernard de Fontenelle, 1686 [EMAIL PROTECTED] My ICQ# 16024947 __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Listen to your Yahoo! Mail messages from any phone. http://phone.yahoo.com -- Vintage Macs is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Enter To Win A | -- Canon PowerShot Digital Cameras start at $299 | Free iBook! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> Vintage Macs list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/vintagemacs.shtml> The FAQ: <http://macfaq.binhost.com/> Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/vintage.macs%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
