6/12/98: from a reader, Chao:

I rarely shut down my PB2400; I usually use the sleep mode. But suddenly, the sleep lamp did not blink, but rather it glowed continuously. I tried to reset the machine by the reset button located on the rear panel, because the reset operation from the keyboard did not work. Although the lamp would stay off only while the reset button was pushed, if the button was released, the lamp began glowing again (as in a previous trouble report, the lamp glowed even without the battery in place, because there was another battery to backup the memory).

I took it to the NCR quick-garage (one of the most famous repair service providers in Japan) in Fukuoka. First the staff told me that zapping the parameter RAM by pushing the reset button continuously for 20 seconds without the battery unit should solve the problem, but that did not work, so we decided to exchange the logic board. When the logic board was removed from the body, the repairman became upset when he observed the heat-sink and said, "The heat-sink has not adhered to the CPU. In this condition, the CPU could be damaged by heat. Have you noticed anything like that?" I said, "Though occasionally an application would quit suddenly due to unexpected error, I have not felt any unusual heating up." He thought that the situation that I observed suggested that the heat from the CPU was not being conducted to the radiator. So, I asked him to adjust the position of the heat-sink, and to exchange the CPU card just to make sure.

After the CPU card was exchanged, the PB2400 woke up from sleep, and the machine was assembled after it the booted up normally. When the battery unit was put into the slot, then suddenly the machine went down. The problem was solved by exchanging the battery unit. Although I thought the machine would be OK after that, I realized that the control strip did not recognize the battery unit, so we decided to exchange the power-supply unit. When the power-supply unit was removed, a screw rolled out from somewhere. Although there had been no such sound indicating its presence, my PB2400 apparently had a screw that was out of place. It is not certain, but maybe all the electrical problems had been caused by the screw sticking to the power-supply unit.

By the time we finished, my PB2400's logic board, CPU card, battery unit and the power-supply unit were exchanged. As I reported in April, the LCD display unit already has been exchanged, meaning everything except the HDD and the body have been exchanged up to now. I applied to join AppleCare immediately without a second thought although I had hesitated to join AppleCare last time. I recommend that all PB2400 users join AppleCare.