# PowerBook G3 boot Problem



## scanner (May 31, 2002)

I'm very familiar with PC's of all sorts, I can fix the hardware,or build from scratch and of course install the OS etc, etc.
Now a friend of mine donated this Mac PowerBook G3 to me, He gave me the Powerbook the supperDrive with the floppy's and the power adapter, he told me that the G3 won't boot at all, he said that the battery and or the AC power adapter is bad.
When I got home and tested if the G3 would boot or charge, in both cases it failed. (no charge indicator light showed up)
Now on close inspection I've found that the female plug to the power adapter is jiggling quite a bit.
I seem to me that this is the only source of the problem, if this is the problem can it be fixed by a repair shop or is this nice G3 is a goner.
What should be my course of action now.
This question probably needs a Mac powerbook expert.


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## slarti (Jan 18, 2005)

Do you know what model it is? Lombard, pismo, etc?

I am on a G3 Wallstreet right now, I have replaced the powerboard, PMU, and PRAM battery. The AC adaptor you are talking about should be a board as well.

Might be an $80 part.

Go to PBFIXIT they have guides on all the pwerbooks with photos etc on how to put in parts in these things. They sell parts too but can be a little high.

Check out ebay or Wegenermedia for parts as well.


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## slarti (Jan 18, 2005)

Just want to iterate how worthit fixing it is, this one of mine is used and beat up, gives me problems...but the thing is a tank, I can't tell you how many times my 2 year old has knocked it off the end table.


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## scanner (May 31, 2002)

Slarti Thx for the links and info.
As for the model , since I can't boot it, I've no way of knowing the model name,
but in the back of the P3 is a mention of the specs: 14.1 TFT/300MHz-1MB/64MB//8GB HD/4MBVIDEO/CD/MODEM.
I called the party that gave me the book but he couldn't tell me the model # and no papers can be found on it,
the only other name is on the top of the screen, it say POWER PC and this is all I can tell so far.


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## slarti (Jan 18, 2005)

That is probably a Lombard, one way to tell is if it has native USB. If not it is a Wallstreet. They won't do high end graphics, high end games, etc and to get a DVD player in there requires the player and a decoder card which will take up a PCMCIA slot(toether they cost $150 if you are lucky).

I got a 40GB HDD, 320MB RAM and a $30 USB card for it and it runs well. I use it for web development and to take with me on those trips the wife makes me go on to see family. 

Runs PS CS and Bryce 5 well.


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## scanner (May 31, 2002)

Slarti it's a Wallstreet for sure the Fixit site have everything including the DC/Sound card that is needed to fix this G3,
but first I have to boot it, so that I can retrieve the pertinent data for my friend,
now I must find a party that have a working battery and that should boot it,, if it does I'll go ahead and replace to DC/sound card,
it's a $ 99.00 expense and I think this G3 is worth it !


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## slarti (Jan 18, 2005)

You can buy parts from ebay, hard to get one with a working battery. I bought one from ebay that died quickly. You can get long life batteries from OWC.


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## scanner (May 31, 2002)

Thx Slarti I'll try first at a local Mac repair shop here in Los angeles Ca and just see if it'll boot, if it does then I'll go to the next step and buy the AC/video card


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