Reviving my PowerBook 540

January 24, 2014

long ago, received powerbook 540 , @gamer9430 able find out if worked , did!

turning on, found 1 major issue , lower part of screen glitching , requiring pressure work. along that, audio wasn't working. while had put away wasn't sure of problem , decided take again. looking closer found interconnect cable display ripped little bit hinges seem, assumed cause of problems screen requiring pressure made me skeptical. bought new interconnect cable , when arrived(i @ fault lateness), proceeded repair it.

1 broken stuck-in screw later on hinge, found interconnect cable fixed audio screen still glitching , requiring pressure. luckily after ordering interconnect cable, found possibly broken powerbook 520c , grabbed parts(for $30). on way , arrive tomorrow.

after long painful morning of waiting(and dealing iphone x launch, went great), received powerbook 520c , unboxed trusty karambit. grabbed 500 series charger , plugged smashed in plug had. chimed , colored screen lit up(and of course noisey 120mb hard drive well). condition of 520c, besides broken plug , latch, great. seeing 540 fragile wasn't motivated teardown 520c. instead decided transplant 540s hardware 520c since both use same motherboard(thank 90s apple) , use daughter cards cpu , ram. happily runs 66/33mhz 68k processor instead of 520c's 68k 50/25mhz , 8mbs of ram(from newertech) combined motherboard's 4mb of ram. swapped 520c's screen bezel 540's bezel has latch. have yet transfer 540's 320mb scsi hdd 120mb has software on don't wanna erase yet.

here pictures below:

poor powerbook 540 transplanting parts from, , old daughter card/ram 520c. put 540's keyboard , floppy drive in.

there 540's floppy drive, 120mb hdd , trusty karambit mentioned earlier

here shot of 520c bezel-less transferring it, passive color matrix screen(forgive me if got name wrong) ghosting surprised me when moved mouse first time 540 active matrix b&w screen.

here shot of finish product, working perfectly. last thing on to-do list new battery(thanks reading 68kmla forum might have sorted out). apologize dirty if see any, have yet scrub down.

because people processor shots(*cough* @lightbulbfun *cough*), took shot of 50/25mhz 68k daughter card(forgot 66/33mhz one)

enjoy!