Macintosh PowerBook 100

The Apple Macintosh PowerBook 100 is a portablized version of the Apple Macintosh Portable, designed by Sony, as Apple was busy designing the all original PowerBook 140 and 170 models. This listing is currently incomplete, as I'm in the process of recapping mine, but as I get more data I'll fill in more.

Causes

 * Bad capacitors in the LCD panel
 * Damaged contrast potentiometer

Solutions

 * Replace capacitors C1 through C8 (3.3uF 35V) on the LCD
 * Clean or replace VR402 on the board under the LCD

Causes

 * Rubber degradation on screen border bumpers, causing the top panel to hit the trackball when the lid is shut
 * Hard impact to the display

Prevention

 * Remove the trackball when storing the laptop for a long period of time
 * Leave the lid open and the laptop on display when not using the laptop
 * In concept you could replace the rubber bumpers and avoid these solutions, but there's no template yet for a mold

Solutions

 * Replacing the LCD panel is the only true fix, otherwise you have to work around the damage when using the laptop

Causes

 * Bad original SCSI hard drive

Solutions

 * Replace original SCSI drive with new-old stock or modern solid-state replacement (i.e. BlueSCSI, RaSCSI, SCSI2SD)

Disassembly Notes
The laptop uses 3 phillips head screws on the bottom of the laptop to hold the display assembly in. Once they are removed, the whole laptop (excluding the display panel itself) becomes tool-less for the purposes of replacing capacitors. Every part is either socketed or clipped in with metal tabs. Once the keyboard is slid out of the machine, the palm rest slides up by grabbing the part nearest the back of the laptop, gently pulling up, and sliding it back. The display itself uses phillips head screws hiding under some covers on the bottom of the screen hinge assembly.

Sharp LM64P791 T-Con Board
This board lacks an official part number, as it is technically part of the LCD itself.

Sharp LM64P791 T-Con Board
If parts are not available or different selection is preferred, you can use the values in the Original Parts section to perform a parametric search.

Kits

 * Console5 Capacitor Kit: https://console5.com/store/apple-macintosh-powerbook-100-smd-tantalum-and-radial-cap-kit.html

Related Links

 * Developers Notes
 * Apple Service Source: PowerBook 100 (service manual)