I should also note that I have little experience with physical electronics. I work well with technical stuff, but I only have a basic understanding of electronic terms. If you could explain and terms for me, that would be great. I can do some work with electronic components, but I don't trust myself with big overhaul or too much soldering. If you have any solutions that require little or no of said things, that would be great.

⟐ Commented August 14, 2019 at 18:34 MST

I should also note that I have little experience with physical electronics. I work well with technical stuff, but I only have a basic understanding of electronic terms. If you could explain and terms for me, that would be great.

⟐ Answer accepted July 02, 2016 at 10:14 MST

⟐ Answer edited July 09, 2023 at 15:28 MST

I have an old PowerBook 145b, when I boot it into System 7 it works fine until after a few seconds the keyboard and mouse stop working. So I can't click anywhere or type anything, but the trackball itself works fine as I can move the cursor around. The amount of type until it stops working varies: It will take ~5 seconds if I leave it sitting idle but if I use the mouse, continuously clicking as fast as I can I can get it to work for 30-45 seconds before it stops clicking and typing. I'm not sure if this is a hardware or software issue. Any ideas what's wrong?

⟐ Answer accepted March 04, 2021 at 18:39 MST

When I insert the disc, it acts as if it is going to run but then kicks it out. Screen comes on but has no image.

⟐ Answer edited October 07, 2018 at 8:59 MST

For quite a long time, I have been repairing an old PowerBook 140. The comuter had mnay issues with parts that I have mostly remedied with eBay purchases. However, I am still having trouble getting it to function completely. Whenever I boot up the computer, it gives my a grey screen and nothing else. When I use the reset buttons on the back of the computer, one of two things will happen - the computer beeps, makes a whirring noise (I believe it's the hard drive spinning up), stops, and repeats the entire process again. When this does not happen, the computer makes a poping noise and the screen flashes. This happens quickly, eventually slowing down over time. Also, on other occasions, the computer will be completely unresponsive, but I think this is caused by a poor battery and charger.

I believe the former two booting errors are caused by the hard drive. I may be wrong, but when I booted the computer with a different drive it worked well. I would, however like to use the original hard drive, as it has personal files on it. I attempted to retrieve the hard drive's information with a USB to Hard drive adapter, but was unable to do so with either the orginal or operational hard drive.

So overall I have quite the predicament on my hands.I have tried to be as descriptive with my problem is possible. If anyone knows any potential fixes for this issue or even any idea of what the issue is, I would be very grateful for your assistance.

Thank you!

⟐ Answer edited June 28, 2018 at 7:46 MST

My goal was to get it back in good working order with as many of the original parts as possible so I could view/retrieve the files on the computer. I did a number of repairs by buying some PowerBook 100 series computers on eBay that had compatible parts.

Overtime I replaced all the components I thought could have issues, however I ended up with an issue wherein the computer would turn on, the screen would flash, and it would shut off. Through some testing, I found that the computer worked perfectly using a hard drive from one of the eBay powerbooks, but would not work with the original hard drive.

Is there any work-around for this such that I can at least retrieve the information on the old hard drive, or, better yet, bet the whole unit operational? I had though about trying to transfer data from the old hard drive to the working one.

If this is possible, how can I do it? Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

⟐ Commented September 16, 2017 at 10:13 MST

Thank you