u/emery_talks2

just got this vintage apple powerbook duo 230 from a vintage computer festival. battery doesn’t hold charge, but works “perfectly,” when plugged in. but when i turned it on a day after getting it (after turning it on multiple times before this with no issue), it displayed a red screen. i then realized the bottom back (behind the battery) was getting very hot and when i unplugged it, it was smoking. my friends been researching and says there’s a chance it’s the adapter or a capacitor failure. any ideas on what could be wrong?

also, unrelatedly, the battery had electrical tape on it. any idea why?