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TravelMate 4000e 486 WinDX4/75MHz issue

Retro_Nerd

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Joined
Mar 13, 2022
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15
I recently bought one of these on eBay, complete with carrying case, extra battery, floppies, manuals, mouse, and the laptop looks brand new. I was able to get one battery to last about 5 minutes after reconditioning, the other one never charges. After reading a bit, it seems that the laptop won't work at all without the battery. Am I reading that right? No lights come on at all when it's plugged in without the battery. I have no idea how to fix the batteries or how to obtain one that will work. Any help is appreciated. Thanks.
 
It's not unusual for a laptop to not work without its' battery (though I don't know the specifics about the Travelmate). If you're certain the charging circuit is sound, it may be best to try and rebuild the battery pack (preferably from the completely dead one). There should be lots of YT videos on the subject...
 
It's not unusual for a laptop to not work without its' battery (though I don't know the specifics about the Travelmate). If you're certain the charging circuit is sound, it may be best to try and rebuild the battery pack (preferably from the completely dead one). There should be lots of YT videos on the subject...
Thanks for your reply. I’ll research how to rebuild it.
 
Tip for opening the old batteries... If you have an old soldering iron, or one the modern cheap ones, cut a slot in the tip with a dremel for a xacto knife blade. Wire wrap it tight or use a clamp, whatever you have to secure the blade. Makes opening the batteries soooo much easier. 3 mins vs a good hr+.
 
Tip for opening the old batteries... If you have an old soldering iron, or one the modern cheap ones, cut a slot in the tip with a dremel for a xacto knife blade. Wire wrap it tight or use a clamp, whatever you have to secure the blade. Makes opening the batteries soooo much easier. 3 mins vs a good hr+.
Thanks. I've never dealt with battery repair before, so this will be a learning experience for me.
 
I ordered some batteries yesterday to rebuild the pack. Took one of the two packs apart and the corrosion was crazy. No way to rehab that one. I'm assuming the other one that worked for a few minutes is probably nearly as bad. Can't wait to get started.
 
The laptop will run without a battery. I left it plugged in without a battery for about ten minutes and then it turned on. After about five minutes, a noise came from somewhere and the laptop began working in turbo, then died after about three minutes. I'll take a look at the power supply board. No smoke, no smells of burning, nothing was hot or even warm. Not sure what happened.
 
If its anything like my Toshiba 486, the backlight most likely died if it was a high pitched noise.
 
Sounded like someone dropping a book flat on the floor. It was loud. The AC adapter is dead.
 
Ok. I'm not very good with power adapters, amps, watts, volts, etc. I've found a few power supplies that have the same 3 pin as the TravelMate adapter, but the numbers aren't the same. I'm posting a pic of the adapter and specs and would like for someone to tell me what numbers not to go higher on that would ruin the laptop, such as the TravelMate says not to excede 4.5 A, but if an adapter says 5A would that ruin the laptop. Not sure I explained this well enough, but I don't want to buy an adapter that will fry the laptop.
 

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