Duo 280 death chime

[Ruffin Bailey]

I recently bagged a very used Duo 280 that reported booted as recently as this week.  It reportedly has the dark corners issue I've seen talked about on the list as well.

At any rate, my issue is that the danged thing doesn't boot for me.  The main battery is, of course, dead.  When I first plugged in the AC adpater, I got most of the happy chime, and then nothing.  I can get a small crack out of the speaker when I hit the power button now, and occasionally get the screen to flash briefly (just go dark with some random horizontal stripes).  After a particuarly long "jiggle-fest", I got the evil chime o' death (http://www.mackido.com/EasterEggs/Sounds/CrashQuadra.mov).  

I've removed the extra RAM chip and even tried plugging in the mini-dock, having seen a report that plugging in a dock helped boot some other Duos (though I suppose they mean a full dock with the AC adpater), and still nothing.  Also tried the whole power reset switch a few times.  Right now I have the old PRAM battery pulled; not sure what that'd do.

I've done a bit of googling and list archive searching, and it appears that there's a chance all I need to do is get a new PRAM battery.  That sound like a possible solution?  Sounds like it might not boot at all with a dead one, and the one that's in there looks like it's done some time.  Worth a shot?  Or does the death chime sound like more trouble?

I'm trying to resurrect a PB 1400 right now, so I'm not looking to pour too much money into the Duo, but it's such a great size that if I'm a PRAM battery away, I'd grab that and a new main battery and use it as my mobile Mac and keep the 1400 plugged in the wall.  Really a neat little Mac.

Thanks,

Ruffin Bailey