Well ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrDnTXqoqjM 😁 more inspiration!

I saw that video some time earlier and I think that a lot of information there is wrong. 486 laptops with soundblaster/adlib sound do exist, even ones with gameport do exist - for example the TI travelmate 4000M that I have. And it also has a gameport. I also have Siemens-nixdorf PCD 4ND, which has SB compatible audio with original Yamaha OPL3 sound chip. And both laptops have TFT active screens.

Speaking of replacing battery, you don't need to buy a new one, just replace the cells. Batteries of 1990-1996 laptops are totally "dumb", that means they just consist of NiMh cells, a temperature meter and a fuse.

You just need to disassemble the old battery case, check the voltage - it will be 12V or 14.4V.
If it is 12V, you just need to buy two pieces of that: http://www.ebay.com/itm/High-Quality-AA-6V-18 … OQAAOSweW5VGRbY or something similar and solder it in series.

If it is 14.4V you need to use two packages with 6 cells: http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-pcs-7-2V-1300mAh-Ni … GIAAMXQLw1R06-R

If you can't do that by yourself, someone with basic electronic skills can do that.

If the shape of battery is not typical and such packs wouldn't fit, you can use regular AA-size NiMH rechargable batteries, like those used for powering toys or remote controls: http://www.ebay.com/itm/BTY-Ni-MH-AA-3000mAh- … e8AAOSwu1VW7~QE

Of course before you order something from China you can look for such stuff in local electronic stores. If you care about how long the battery will work, look for higher quality cells. The realistic capacity of AA cell is 1300-2200 mAh, anything above that is probably scam and will be less powerful.

I attach a photo of a battery pack I made for my PCD-4ND laptop. It works for 3 years now and holds above one hour of charge.

And here is a topic where I wrote something about fixing old battery packs: Appraisals/advice needed on selling my retro laptop

//update:

JidaiGeki wrote:

Well ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrDnTXqoqjM 😁 more inspiration!

that guy is fixing lithum-ion battery pack, well, those cells should never be soldered like that but it will probably work for some time anyway. I mean that excessive heat during soldering can damage the cells, if you want to solder a cable to a battery you should be either very careful or buy a battery which has special soldering tabs. Or use a spot welder.
And more modern laptops have a special controller which needs to be reset with special equipment or the battery basically will not work.

Yeah, you can do the disassembly route and it works well if you do it right 😀 I did it on an old Toshiba 486 and the battery now lasts 30 minutes, and I can put whatever NIMH batteries I want in there instead of the crappy low-capacity ones in there now.

If you're lucky, though, you can find super-cheap generic replacement batteries on Amazon or some other such place. I found a battery for my Toshiba 460CDT Pentium machine for $15.00, still using it now and it works great!

adalbert wrote:

<snip>

Thanks for the detailed post. I need to do that on my P75 Toshiba sometime.

Great answers, thank you! I'm not experienced in soldering (at all), but I'll probably have a go anyway. Gotta learn sometime.

adalbert wrote:

if you want to solder a cable to a battery you should be either very careful

Thanks for the warning. Seems I've got some work to do.

Edit: no questions no more