>My big problem is a li-ion battery pack that won't recharge or run off
>battery. Techie says the Li-on battery is ok, but my mother board needs
>replacing because of a bad power manager. Next the pram battery dies off (I
>get the 1904 date when I unplug the ac adapter PB for a while), so it looks
>like the pram battery could be the cause. It seems to need replacing anyway
>(I have a new one handy). I'd rather try replacing the faulty pram and
>draining off the motherboard power until it's empty than consider a $395
>repair from Apple.
"Motherboard replacement" is a frequent catch-all term (in all sorts
of computer repair) that's IMO used to shill people out of large sums
of money - you couldn't charge $300+ US for a billable item titled
"sweet f-all", after all (but that's certainly what was done to my
2400 on two separate occasions). The Power Manager does reside in a
chip on the motherboard, but its function depends entirely on code
that's downloaded into it by the OS, and internal state that it
maintains. If you're having power problems, Power Manager issues are
quite likely to be a corollary (though whether they're cause, effect,
or both may be an open question).
Try this: remove the top case of the 2400 and the RAM shield, then
unplug the PRAM battery. Pull power from the 2400 for a half-hour or
so, including the main battery. Then attach the AC adaptor and see
whether things run normally. If they do, try inserting the main
battery and see if it'll charge. If the computer can't run without
any PRAM battery, putting in a new good one probably won't help
either.
Disassembling the 2400 only this far isn't too bad - just use a good
screwdriver that's not too small so you don't strip the screws, and
be wary of the keyboard and trackpad cables. You'll need to remove
the two top and two back screws on the outside, then the six screws
that hold down the keyboard, then about three that hold down the
shield. It might be a good idea to put the shield back in place
without the screws while running the computer open after unplugging
the battery. Remember to watch for static on your body - if you don't
have a proper static bracelet you can occasionally ground yourself on
the AC adaptor shield, especially after you sit down and before
starting.
I believe that a lot of 2400 problems stem from poor connections
between the three circuit boards. If the above procedure doesn't
help, you might try *lightly* pushing down on the main board toward
the centre right and top right, where it attaches to the CPU and I/O
boards respectively. If the connectors are bad it won't help in the
long run, but it may temporarily clear up an intermittent problem
that's gradually getting worse and help to diagnose it.
>this whole thing is getting me sick.
Yeah, it's pretty easy to get worked up when you depend on the
computer in some way and it requires repair - lots of people on this
list have been there. Try not to take it too seriously - the worst
that can happen is you give up on the computer completely and invest
some money in something more reliable (which may not be another 2400,
for obvious reasons).
--
Marc Sira | [EMAIL PROTECTED]
"If you can't play with words, what good are they?"
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