Pismo charging problem

[PeterB]

Hi everyone,

I posted about this awhile back but didn't get any comments. My Pis has recently developed a charging problem -- will not charge either of two batteries. (I don't have a third spare battery to check it with, but it seems unlikely that both batteries went bad at the same time-- both had been fine.) The progress indicator shows that the battery is plugged in-- gives the "outlet" symbol but doesn't change to the "lightning bolt" symbol. I tried all the usual voodoo -- PMU reset, PRAM zap, NVRAM reset, programmer's reset -- all to no avail.

So I figured it had to be a hardware problem. I bought and replaced the power/PMU board, assuming that that's what it was likely to be. In replacing the board, I did see that there was some corrosion around some of the contacts which go to one of the batteries. "Aha!" I thought... that's what it had to be.

However, after replacing the board, I still can't charge a battery. Anyone know what else, if anything, there is to try? I'm beginning to wonder if it isn't possible I have two bad batteries that happened to go bad at exactly the same time (as unlikely as that seems) or that there is some sort of software, rather than hardware, problem...

TiA

[testcase]

Did you ever check the charger? Early Pismos had chargers that failed. I don't know if it would be possible for it to power the Pismo but not charge the battery. Did you try charging a battery in the media bay?

[PeterB]

testcase, that's what I'm trying to do-- charge the batteries in the media bays. I don't have an external charger. (But I'm now thinking if I should get one, since the alternative might be that the motherboard has gone bad, and it'd be far easier and cheaper to buy an external charger, than to replace the mobo!)

[pokari]

Definately!! I just got done swapping out the motherboard. I think I could do it again with my eyes closed though. I would think it would be the charging from the laptop. Will your drive work in the media slot?

pokari

[testcase]

I didn't know if you'd tried the DVD bay. Does the power "brick" provide power and allow the Pismo to run? How old are the batteries? I have one (possibly the original) that won't take a charge. The other two are still servicable. I love the fact that I can pop a second battery in place of the DVD module (especially great when travelling). I also have modules for Super (floppy) Discs, a 10 GB HD, a 250 MB Zip drive that, although don't get used frequently, do make it handy if old files on old media need to be accessed.

[PeterB]

Hi guys,

To answer questions:

1) Yes, it runs fine off of AC adapter.

2) It recognizes the batteries, just doesn't charge them. Both batteries are used, but had been working absolutely fine and had considerable charge capacity.

3) Optical drive works fine.

[hal]

You wanna send me one and see if one of my two pismos can get it working?

[PeterB]

hal, thanks for the offer-- I've already gone ahead and ordered a charger. I might also just consider to buy a bottom half of a Pis, then swap out till I get something working, and sell the remainder back on ebay.

[pokari]

well, PeterB let me know if I can help. Hope all goes well.
Here recently a few on this forum told me to just get a different laptop, they don't understand that this Pismo is ALMOST a family member to me. I think if I just got another laptop and started using that one that it would ease the pain... but alas, I got a new iMac Intel instead!!

pokari

P.S. Come to think of it isn't there someway to zap the memory in a battery. I don't remember anything else about it but someone somewhere said something about resetting the battery. Sorry that the details are scetchy.

[WHiiP]

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58449

Battery Reset 2.0

edit: Can only be used in OS 9, so you need to boot into OS 9, then use the App.