HELP! Smoking PISMO!

[FryBrain]

Hi,
My PowerBook G3 400mhz (pismo) froze and began to smoke from the upper right side. I quickly shut it down and removed the battery (the a/c cord wasn't plugged in at the time). Now it will not start up. When I press the start button I can here the hard drive spin, but nothing else happens.

Anyone have any ideas what burned-up? I took it appart but see no visible signs of the problem.

Any advise would be appreciated.
Thanks!
frybrain@aol.com

 

[g5orbust]

Wow, smoke is never good. Means something got fried. I hate to say it but your pismo sounds pretty much dead. Best you could do is probably salvage the hard drive and get a firewire enclosure to access your data.

 

[Retro]

Sounds like a problem with your battery overheating.

Check out this news story for more information. Note that this story relates to the G4 powerbooks and not the G3 but still may interest you and provide a little more information.

Retro.

 

[FryBrain]

"Sounds like a problem with your battery overheating."

Retro, I don't believe it was a battery problem ...after every thing cooled down, I plugged in the A/C cord (with no battery installed)and tried to start it, but nothing.

What are my chances of retrieving my data off the hard drive??? I can hear it spin when I try to start ...think it's OK?

FryBrain@aol.com

 

[g5orbust]

"Sounds like a problem with your battery overheating."

Retro, I don't believe it was a battery problem ...after every thing cooled down, I plugged in the A/C cord (with no battery installed)and tried to start it, but nothing.

What are my chances of retrieving my data off the hard drive??? I can hear it spin when I try to start ...think it's OK?

FryBrain@aol.com

The hard drive sounds OK. Sounds to me like the PSU went ka-put and may have taken the mobo with it.

 

[ATIRAGEPRO]

"Harlem Heatsink...."

Oh man! This is really bad. I'd hate to say it, but you might have to buy another laptop! Best you can do now is keep your hard drive, like g5 said;"salvage the hard drive and get a firewire enclosure to access your data."

 

[mac_mogul]

Yes, Pismo tends to self destruct every now and again

That PowerBook series battery DID tend to overheat, taking out vital components with it. So you are in fact, out of luck. Salvage what you can, and get a nice new iBook.