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eftychia: Me in poufy shirt, kilt, and Darth Vader mask, playing a bouzouki (vader)
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Powerless

posted by [personal profile] eftychia at 08:00pm on 2011-09-12

Argh! Sometime between 16:00 and 17:15 today, the charger / AC adaptor for my Mac (Powerbook G4, 65W charger) died. Even though the little light showed it was plugged in, the battery was running down -- at first, the indicator in the status/menu bar kept alternating between "Not charging" and an unplugged time-remaining countdown; now it doesn't even do that and the computer makes a funny noise when plugged in.

Anybody got a spare 65W power supply from a Powerbook that went bad in some other way? (Yeah, I'm hitting Amazon and Google to check prices on ones available that way.)

*sigh* Let's see how much of the stuff I was in the middle of working on I can get copied -- with where-I-was notes -- over to Mom's computer, before the battery completely runs out.

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There are 5 comments on this entry. (Reply.)
 

(no subject)

posted by [identity profile] austin-dern.livejournal.com at 12:18am on 2011-09-13

I regret I haven't, but I discovered yesterday the power adaptor on my PowerBook G4 had died and with just the symptoms you describe --- the ring of power was green and yet the battery had nothing and was not charging.

Luckily for me it's not my primary computer anymore, but it did frustrate some minor work.

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dharma_slut: They call me Mister CottonTail (Default)

(no subject)

posted by [personal profile] dharma_slut at 01:14am on 2011-09-13
This sounds more like an interior issue than a charger issue.
i cannot recommend this site highly enough:
http://www.ifixit.com/Browse/Mac for troubleshooting walkthroughs and fixes for those of us who are handy and stupid fearless confident.
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eftychia: Me in kilt and poofy shirt, facing away, playing acoustic guitar behind head (Default)

(no subject)

posted by [personal profile] eftychia at 06:55am on 2011-09-13
I'm also seeing less than 1 V (open circuit) from the charger (though I'm not sure what voltage to expect to see there with no load -- I know it's supposed to put out 24 V when it's actually doing something, so I figure 0.13 V is still wrong).
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metahacker: An instruction manual, showing step 11: screw upward into a glove compartment. (screw up)

(no subject)

posted by [personal profile] metahacker at 11:31am on 2011-09-13
IIRC the adapters are very smart and won't give you full voltage without a handshake first...so this may not be testing it.
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So sorry, using it!

posted by [identity profile] khatru.livejournal.com at 05:05pm on 2011-09-13
if I'd managed to acquire a laptop like I was trying to do a week or three ago, I would be glad to hand you over this entire thing. BUT -- do yourself a favor and get some store that admits to fixing apples to test the *battery*. Also, try pulling the *battery* and see how it functions when plugged in. I had some weird interaction thereby also, and found that the machine was more stable without the battery at all. I did just recently find a brand new one, and now my life is powered the way it should be.

Sorry I couldn't be more functionally useful.
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