I've purchased an eMate 300 and its only sign of life is the green light flashing once every 2 seconds. I removed the battery pack (no sign of leakage or damage). I'm using a third-party adapter and the multimeter says it's outputting 7.5v as expected.

I then took the eMate apart and the LCD ribbon cable is not damaged. The hinges are fine (I need to install the washers).

I've attempted a hard reset multiple times. Nothing ever shows up on the screen and there aren't any sounds.

Would the backlight button work without the OS booting?

Thank you for any ideas.

>> charkes said:

I've purchased an eMate 300 and its only sign of life is the green light flashing once every 2 seconds. I removed the battery pack (no sign of leakage or damage). I'm using a third-party adapter and the multimeter says it's outputting 7.5v as expected. I then took the eMate apart and the LCD ribbon cable is not damaged. The hinges are fine (I need to install the washers). I've attempted a hard reset multiple times. Nothing ever shows up on the screen and there aren't any sounds. Would the backlight button work without the OS booting? Thank you for any ideas. Click to expand...

Not familiar with Newtons but I can try and help, do you have photos of the logic board?

>> charkes said:

I've purchased an eMate 300 and its only sign of life is the green light flashing once every 2 seconds. Click to expand...

The charging status light should not be blinking. I'm not sure what that might indicate, perhaps a short or failure in the charging circuit or the temperature sensor built into the battery. Normally, the light would either be orange (indicating that the battery is being charged or cannot be charged) or green (indicating that the battery is charged and functioning correctly).

When you first plug in the adapter, does the light go green right away and then start blinking?

>> charkes said:

I removed the battery pack (no sign of leakage or damage). I'm using a third-party adapter and the multimeter says it's outputting 7.5v as expected. Click to expand...

The "Newton 9W Power Adapter" (model H0165) which shipped with both the MessagePad 2x00 and eMate devices is specifically rated at 7.5V DC, 1.2A.What is the current rating of your third-party adapter?

Since you have the eMate apart, I would try disconnecting the battery and see what the charging status light does.

>> charkes said:

I've attempted a hard reset multiple times. Nothing ever shows up on the screen and there aren't any sounds. Click to expand...

The logic board is not getting any power. Even if the screen was having display issues (busted ribbon cable or otherwise), the eMate should make a sounds when first started up from an uncharged battery or when keys are pressed.

>> charkes said:

Would the backlight button work without the OS booting? Click to expand...

No, it shouldn't.

>> jajan547 said:

Not familiar with Newtons but I can try and help, do you have photos of the logic board? Click to expand...

Here's the side of the board that's exposed when the bottom is taken off. I'll need to desolder the speaker and backlight wires again to get the board out.

>> splorp said:

The charging status light should not be blinking. I'm not sure what that might indicate, perhaps a short or failure in the charging circuit or the temperature sensor built into the battery. Normally, the light would either be orange (indicating that the battery is being charged or cannot be charged) or green (indicating that the battery is charged and functioning correctly). When you first plug in the adapter, does the light go green right away and then start blinking? The "Newton 9W Power Adapter" (model H0165) which shipped with both the MessagePad 2x00 and eMate devices is specifically rated at 7.5V DC, 1.2A.What is the current rating of your third-party adapter? Since you have the eMate apart, I would try disconnecting the battery and see what the charging status light does. The logic board is not getting any power. Even if the screen was having display issues (busted ribbon cable or otherwise), the eMate should make a sounds when first started up from an uncharged battery or when keys are pressed. No, it shouldn't. Click to expand...

When I plug in the adapter the light immediately turns green and then turns off. The adapter is 7.5V DC 2A.

I took the battery out first to stop any damage, but I hooked it back up once to test. The light blinks the same way with a battery pack connected.

C120 and C194 and the other obstructed by the cable check those caps on almost all Hard drives manufactured by Apple that has had those I've had those fail.

>> Stephen said:

There's no ROM board present. Click to expand...

LOL I missed that ^^^^ he's right.

>> jajan547 said:

LOL I missed that ^^^^ he's right. Click to expand...

Nah, that's the expansion slot that's empty. It's typically empty (expansions are sort of rare).

The ROM is present but "camouflages" in with the rest of the board ... if you're not looking closely enough like me!

>> Stephen said:

Nah, that's the expansion slot that's empty. It's typically empty (expansions are sort of rare). The ROM is present but "camouflages" in with the rest of the board ... if you're not looking closely enough like me! Click to expand...

Not familiar with these at all so have no clue lol.

>> jajan547 said:

C120 and C194 and the other obstructed by the cable check those caps on almost all Hard drives manufactured by Apple that has had those I've had those fail. Click to expand...

OK. I'll check those out. I've attached an unobstructed view plus two shots of the other side of the board.

>> charkes said:

OK. I'll check those out. I've attached an unobstructed view plus two shots of the other side of the board. Click to expand...

C93 should be replaced most likely leaked

The eMate is from 1997 - I find it unlikely that that capacitor would have leaked. Replacing it is a good place to start, but I doubt it will end up fixing whatever issue you have.

Is the junk near C93 an indicator of a leaky cap? I understand that there's flux on the big connectors for the transformer next to it.

That's flux

The junk looks to just be flux to me - the pads on the capacitor look perfect and aren't corroded. If the crap on that board was all electrolyte, I'd expect some corrosion on the cap pads. If you want to replace it, go ahead. It will only extend the life of the eMate, but I don't think it's the cause of your current issue.
Edit: @jajan547 beat me to the reply, but I'll put this out anyway.

Thank you all for the help. What should I do now in an attempt to find what's causing the problem? Is there a document or video that can get me started on tracking down problems on a logic board? Start checking voltages with the multimeter while it's plugged in?

The eMate doesn't seem to be as well documented as other Apple products.

Checking for voltages on the board would be a good place to start, it just might be difficult to find where to check, since I don't think there are any board schematics for it. Maybe some points are labeled with voltages?

I'm not knowledgeable on the eMate's common issues unfortunately, so I don't think I can help much other than standard troubleshooting.

>> charkes said:

What should I do now in an attempt to find what's causing the problem? Click to expand...

I would suggest contacting Frank Grundel of PDA-Soft. He has written a number of Newton-related disassembly and repair tutorials and has probably taken apart, upgraded, and repaired more eMates than nearly anyone else on the planet.

https://www.pda-soft.de/en/email/email.html

He's also very active on the NewtonTalk mailing list.

>> splorp said:

I would suggest contacting Frank Grundel of PDA-Soft . He has written a number of Newton-related disassembly and repair tutorials and has probably taken apart, upgraded, and repaired more eMates than nearly anyone else on the planet. https://www.pda-soft.de/en/email/email.html He's also very active on the NewtonTalk mailing list. Click to expand...

I did email Frank and also found Walt Berger, who used to do eMate battery rebuilds. Walt recommended using a genuine 9W Newton/eMate adapter. I'm biting the bullet and getting one.

I'll check out the NewtonTalk mailing list, too.

>> charkes said:

Walt recommended using a genuine 9W Newton/eMate adapter. I'm biting the bullet and getting one. Click to expand...

Have you bought one yet? They can be a bit spendy online. If you haven't nabbed one yet, DM me and I'll send one your way for cheap.