Powerbook 1.67 DLSDHR won't charge battery

[California]

Had to give up my pretty much perfect Powerbook 1.67ghz DLSDHR maxed to a relative.

Ended up buying a parts machine to fix my relative's okay looking 1.67ghz DLSHR *which was part of the exchange deal for my machine.

I have a great machine now out of all of the parts. Happy.

But unhappy with the other machine that works when a good battery is put in it but does not charge the battery.

I replaced the DC in board and that did not fix it.

I can't stand having non working Macs around me.

It's got 2gbs of good ram, a 100gb hard drive and yet it will only power on with a charged battery.

Was the DC IN board I bought faulty?

What do you guys think?

 

[eyoungren]

My understanding is that there are three parts to the charging system. Power supply, DC-In board and logicboard. Assuming the power supply is good and that the DC-In board is good that leaves the logicboard.

It's always possible you got a bad DC-In board. I'm in a weird spot too as I bought a DC-In board a while back myself for the same type model (17" in my case). It worked for a while, then stopped working. I've swapped it with the old one twice now (and the old one started working again). Right now I need to swap it back because it's doing the same thing you report – again. I have not gotten to that yet though as I imagine this is probably the last hurrah. In any case, I need to replace the HD so I'm waiting to get one and then I'll get to it all at once.

Back to your topic…I had my Mac looked at by Apple at one point and they also mentioned a fourth possibility. The battery connector. It's the connector that sits right there on the bottom and connects to the logic board.

I suspect that might be my problem and it could also be in your case. Getting to that though will probably require removing the logicboard from the bottom case.

Don't know if any of this will help you or not.

 

[MrPilot]

my PBook G4 1.67Ghz DLSD/HR does the same

I have an extra G4 which I use only to charge batteries right now. Maybe I will dig into this with a volt meter.

 

[Lil Chillbil]

My friends powerbook is experiencing the exact same thing

 

[California]

My understanding is that there are three parts to the charging system. Power supply, DC-In board and logicboard. Assuming the power supply is good and that the DC-In board is good that leaves the logicboard.

It's always possible you got a bad DC-In board. I'm in a weird spot too as I bought a DC-In board a while back myself for the same type model (17" in my case). It worked for a while, then stopped working. I've swapped it with the old one twice now (and the old one started working again). Right now I need to swap it back because it's doing the same thing you report – again. I have not gotten to that yet though as I imagine this is probably the last hurrah. In any case, I need to replace the HD so I'm waiting to get one and then I'll get to it all at once.

Back to your topic…I had my Mac looked at by Apple at one point and they also mentioned a fourth possibility. The battery connector. It's the connector that sits right there on the bottom and connects to the logic board.

I suspect that might be my problem and it could also be in your case. Getting to that though will probably require removing the logicboard from the bottom case.

Don't know if any of this will help you or not.

Well that's a great idea, battery connector. I'll look into it.

----------

My friends powerbook is experiencing the exact same thing

Make sure both their battery and charger 65 watt only -- are good. I had to eliminate this possibility on the 167ghz DLSDHR as with the 12" Powerbooks I could get away with using the 45 watt chargers for some reason.

my PBook G4 1.67Ghz DLSD/HR does the same

I have an extra G4 which I use only to charge batteries right now. Maybe I will dig into this with a volt meter.

Let us know what you find out.

 

[eyoungren]

Make sure both their battery and charger 65 watt only -- are good. I had to eliminate this possibility on the 167ghz DLSDHR as with the 12" Powerbooks I could get away with using the 45 watt chargers for some reason.

45W is enough to keep the Mac running, but it's not enough to charge.

I have a 45W from my wife's Mac that I keep as a backup that I use from time to time (originally she claimed it stopped working so we got her a new power supply) but it's not good over the long run. The charging system is designed for 65W.

I think this is part of the problem with my other Mac because I was using it on a 45W charger for quite some time (not realizing it was 45W) and now I have the charging issues with that Mac.

Note that using a 65W power supply for a 45W system is fine as the power supply steps down.

 

[mccjim12]

45W is enough to keep the Mac running, but it's not enough to charge.

I have a 45W from my wife's Mac that I keep as a backup that I use from time to time (originally she claimed it stopped working so we got her a new power supply) but it's not good over the long run. The charging system is designed for 65W.

I think this is part of the problem with my other Mac because I was using it on a 45W charger for quite some time (not realizing it was 45W) and now I have the charging issues with that Mac.

Note that using a 65W power supply for a 45W system is fine as the power supply steps down.

I use the charger from my PBG4 on my iBook G4 and the battery meter goes up to 100% slowly but does not hold the charge (MAYBE a couple of minutes after it is unplugged). Is there a chance I have the same problem?

It's possible that the battery is shot as I purchased the iBook as is not running, but I was unaware there was a wattage difference with the chargers and if that is the problem maybe I will find another charger. Thanks!

 

[eyoungren]

I use the charger from my PBG4 on my iBook G4 and the battery meter goes up to 100% slowly but does not hold the charge (MAYBE a couple of minutes after it is unplugged). Is there a chance I have the same problem?

It's possible that the battery is shot as I purchased the iBook as is not running, but I was unaware there was a wattage difference with the chargers and if that is the problem maybe I will find another charger. Thanks!

Well, the iBook G3s and the early Titanium PowerBook G4s all use 45W. The later Titaniums and all of the AlBooks except for the 12" AlBooks use 65W. I'm not sure about the iBook G4s, but I assume since it's a G4 processor it probably requires 65W.

I would just assume a bad battery on anything you purchased third hand unless specified. I've only been lucky on two purchases that came with great batteries.

 

[California]

I use the charger from my PBG4 on my iBook G4 and the battery meter goes up to 100% slowly but does not hold the charge (MAYBE a couple of minutes after it is unplugged). Is there a chance I have the same problem?

It's possible that the battery is shot as I purchased the iBook as is not running, but I was unaware there was a wattage difference with the chargers and if that is the problem maybe I will find another charger. Thanks!

I just "inherited" a great 12" iBook G4 battery and its 45w charger if you need it, PM me.

 

[mccjim12]

I just "inherited" a great 12" iBook G4 battery and its 45w charger if you need it, PM me.

Thanks much! I'll PM you!

 

[Bug-Creator]

The battery connector. It's the connector that sits right there on the bottom and connects to the logic board.....Getting to that though will probably require removing the logicboard from the bottom case.

Atleast on the 17" thats just a small cable (one end the battery connector the other plugged into the mobo) that could easily be replaced by just opening the RAM-door.

Edit:
Just checked the battery connector is screwed in from the top, so you would also need to remove the topcase (keyboard/trackpad).

 

[eyoungren]

Atleast on the 17" thats just a small cable (one end the battery connector the other plugged into the mobo) that could easily be replaced by just opening the RAM-door.

Edit:
Just checked the battery connector is screwed in from the top, so you would also need to remove the topcase (keyboard/trackpad).

Yes. and there are parts in the way of where it connects. I do not recall the exact layout because it's been a while, but this is one of those things that seems easy enough to do, but gets complicated the more you think about it.

 

[Bug-Creator]

Hmm, seems to be that you'll just need the space occupied by the logic board to wiggle the battery connector out ....

Had mine out anyways to replace the 8 year old thermal compound (allways a good idea), so didn't realize that at 1st.

Checking the connector for visual damage/wear before starting such an operation might be an idea.

If really adventerous and having a spare part one might even go as far as testing charging with the new cable just connected to the logic-board and the battery dangling somewhere near.

 

[California]

Yes. and there are parts in the way of where it connects. I do not recall the exact layout because it's been a while, but this is one of those things that seems easy enough to do, but gets complicated the more you think about it.

i checked the battery connector, thanks. Now it charges the battery but won't start up: dark screen, no chime, only continuous fans!

It's not really about money at this point, I just want this thing to work again.

My same relative has a couple of Powerbooks he's inherited... I will pull them apart for parts... they were out in the rain!