PowerBook 180 General Maintenance

Apple's exploded view of the PowerBook 165c and 180c with service part numbers (Service Source, PDF p. 150)

Maintenance of the colour PowerBook 180c and 165c follows Apple's 165c/180c Service Source. The two machines share a case and most parts, but each has its own display, inverter, converter board, interconnect board and daughterboard. The greyscale PowerBook 180 is maintained like the 160 and 165; see PowerBook 160 General Maintenance for it, and the notes on its display under PowerBook 180.

Apple warns that both machines contain CMOS parts that are very sensitive to static.

Parts that differ between the 165c and 180c

Model-specific service parts (Apple exploded view and display matrix)

Part	PowerBook 165c	PowerBook 180c
Display	661-0752	661-0686
Inverter board	922-0374	922-0378
Converter board	922-0375	922-0379
Display flex cable	922-0373	922-0380
Converter-to-inverter cable	922-0566	922-0412
Interconnect board	661-0764	661-0685
Daughterboard	661-0751	661-0684
Display bezel	922-0377	922-0414
Display housing	922-0381	922-0415
EMI shield	922-0449	922-0417

Both use motherboard 661-0765, the 4 MB PSRAM card 661-0790, battery 661-0013 and adapter 822-0376. Apple warns that the displays, inverters and display cables cannot be swapped between the two models.

Opening the machine

1. Shut the computer down, disconnect the adapter, slide the battery door open and pull the battery out using the door as a handle.
2. Open the I/O door, bend it gently so that the middle bows downwards, and unhook the two pegs at its bottom corners.
3. Remove the five Torx screws from the bottom case: a T-8 for the small screw at the rear connector panel and a T-10 for the others.
4. Lift the back of the top case, disconnect the interconnect cable, then lift the case away and unhook its two tab fasteners from the front of the bottom case.

When reconnecting the interconnect cable, fold it as Apple's drawing shows. A wrongly folded cable can short. Yoda reports that the interconnect cables on the 100 series go brittle with age and are stressed each time the machine is opened, especially if folded the wrong way.

Top case boards

DC/DC converter

The converter plugs into the interconnect board in the top case. It carries the brightness pot on both models and the contrast pot on the 165c.

• Do not remove its shield. A replacement converter needs a new shield, 922-0418; do not reuse the old one.
• Pull the converter and shield straight up off the connector after removing its two screws, then disconnect the converter-to-inverter cable.
• On refitting, line the pots up with the plastic actuators in the top case. Set both to their extreme outer positions to make this easier.

Interconnect board

Apple warns that the interconnect board contains hazardous materials and asked for faulty boards to be returned to it for disposal. The keyboard and display cables are fragile. Lift the locking tabs on J5 and J3 to free the keyboard ribbons. Pull out the locking tab on J2 and ease the display cable out as far as it will go; it comes free only once the board is out of the top case. Two T-8 screws hold the board. Connect the display cable before refitting the board.

Actuators

The 165c has contrast and brightness actuators; the 180c has a brightness actuator only. Pull each actuator up, rotate it towards the display and lift it out.

Bottom case boards

Cousin card and daughterboard

The 165c and 180c have a cousin card stacked on the daughterboard. Separate the cousin card from the daughterboard, and the daughterboard from the motherboard, only with Apple's logic board take-apart tool; rocking or peeling the boards apart damages the connectors. The daughterboard is held by four T-8 screws.

The green heat sinks on the daughterboard are delicate. Replace any that are missing or damaged from Apple's kit 076-0069, placing each exactly in position: a heat sink that overhangs its chip can short the leads. Apple also warns not to cover or remove these heat sinks with a third-party RAM card or modem, as running without them makes daughterboard failure much more likely.

Motherboard

The hard drive, floppy drive and thermistor cables are fragile; lift the locking tabs before disconnecting them. Two hex-head screws hold the motherboard. If the sound jack insulator has to be replaced, peel off the old one and press the new one into exactly the same position.

Display assembly

• Bezel: remove the two plastic plugs and the two T-8 screws, then pull the bezel down and away to free it from the tabs at the top and sides.
• DC/AC inverter: disconnect the inverter-to-display cable, remove two Phillips #0 screws, lift the inverter and disconnect the converter-to-inverter cable. When refitting, route that cable round the bottom right corner of the display so it is not pinched.
• Display: cover the keyboard with a cloth, remove four T-8 screws and lift the display out of its housing and EMI shield. The 165c's display cable has a locking tab and is stuck to the display near both ends. The 180c's cable has two connectors, which Apple lifts with an IC extractor, and is stuck down near the base of the display. The 180c display module was a CPRC and international repair part.
• Clutches: with the display out, pull off the three clutch covers and remove six T-8 screws to free the left and right clutches. Put the short screws back in the top-inside clutch threads; the top-outside threads hold the bezel.
• Display cable: pry its ferrite bead from the case and take off the centre and left clutch covers and the left clutch to free it.

Power

Adapter

Use the 24 W adapter, M5652, marked "24W". A 180c on a lower-rated adapter switches on and then off as the screen lights. Apple's 180c developer note says the 24 W adapter can also be used safely with the PowerBook 100 to 180 and with the PowerBook Battery Recharger. Check an adapter with a meter: it should read 7.5-7.9 V between the inside (positive) and outside of the plug.

Main battery

The NiCad main battery gives 1.5-2 hours per charge. Apple's handling rules:

• Charge a new battery fully before use; Apple shipped them partly charged.
• Do not leave the battery in the computer for more than two weeks without connecting the adapter.
• Discharge it completely and recharge it once a month.
• Store it in its protective case, in a cool dark place, and recharge it at least every six months.
• Do not short the terminals.

A battery should read above 5.7 V on a meter. In the external recharger, a yellow LED means charging and green means ready. For rebuilding NiCad packs, see PowerBook 140 Battery Replacement and Battery Refurbishment.

PRAM battery

Apple's specification gives a 3 V, 30 mAh rechargeable lithium battery for the clock and parameter RAM. The 165c/180c Service Source has no procedure for testing or replacing it. The 160/165/180 Service Source tests the backup battery this way: set the clock, shut down, remove the main battery and adapter for 10 minutes and switch on again; if the time is lost, leave the machine on the adapter for 48 hours and replace the cell if that fails.

Memory and expansion

• Both models have 4 MB of PSRAM and take cards up to 10 MB, 14 MB in all. Cards need 85 ns or faster RAM. On the 180c, a 100 ns card adds a wait state to every memory access.
• Handle the PSRAM card by its edges. The card and connector are keyed; do not force it. Press only on the edge directly above the connector.
• After fitting, the memory shown should be 4 MB plus the card. If it is wrong, replace the card.
• The modem card connects to J8 on the motherboard and is held by two screws.

Storage and SCSI

The logic board does not terminate the SCSI bus. Fit one terminator to a single external device, or one each to the first and last devices in a chain. Both models support SCSI disk mode with the HDI-30 SCSI Disk Adapter. For drive work, see Hard Drive Maintenance and Repair and Floppy Drive Repair.

Related pages

• PowerBook 180
• PowerBook 165
• PowerBook 180 Troubleshooting
• PowerBook 180 Capacitor Replacement Guide
• PowerBook 160 General Maintenance
• Recommended Tools