PowerBook G4 1.67

[sucramdi]

I got a 15" PowerBook G4 last friday and I want to know if there's a way to make the keyboard backlight independent of the ambient light sensors, me and the PowerBook seem to disagree on when its dark enough.
Also, it currently has 1GB DDR2 ram, how much of a difference would it make if I upgrade to 2GB? I'm running 10.5.8 on the highest spec model: 1.67GHz, 128mb graphics card...
Thanks for any help

[eyoungren]

System Preferences>Keyboard & Mouse. Uncheck the box on the Keyboard tab. You can also adjust the strength of the backlight with the F9 and F10 keys. F8 will turn the backlight on or off.

An additional GB makes a difference. My 1.67 is pretty happy with Leopard and 2GB.

[tayloralmond]

Originally Posted by eyoungren

An additional GB makes a difference. My 1.67 is pretty happy with Leopard and 2GB.

Agreed. I've got the exact same PowerBook as you and mine runs very smoothly with 2GB of RAM.

[DrakkenWar]

Grab another gig. You will not regret it. Made a heap of difference here with my 15" 1.5 and leopard. Though I was really surprised how well it ran with the 1 gig it came with. Now all I have left is to squeeze in my 320gig SATA drive! Should be a nice bit'o'speed bonus and the adapter was 3 bucks shipped.

[quasinormal]

I've no idea how stable it is yet, but i've found that the last revision powerbooks will accept the much more common 667mhz ddr2 sodimms in both 1gb and 2gb if just one slot is used.

OWC has the original spec 1gb 533mhz for $20.

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other.../4200DDR2S1GB/

[Bug-Creator]

Originally Posted by quasinormal

I've no idea how stable it is yet, but i've found that the last revision powerbooks will accept the much more common 667mhz ddr2 sodimms in both 1gb and 2gb if just one slot is used.

Been running my 5.9 with a single 2GB stick since the day I got it. Previous owner actually installed 2x2GB so I moved the 2nd stick to another PB I had cobbled together from parts (and resold).

Works without problems.

[sucramdi]

Originally Posted by DrakkenWar

Grab another gig. You will not regret it. Made a heap of difference here with my 15" 1.5 and leopard. Though I was really surprised how well it ran with the 1 gig it came with. Now all I have left is to squeeze in my 320gig SATA drive! Should be a nice bit'o'speed bonus and the adapter was 3 bucks shipped.

So lately Safari becomes unresponsive and YouTube is obviously a little laggy, would the extra ram help this? And just to be sure with DDR2 there's high and low density ram is there? When I had my iMac G4 I mistakenly bought high density ram and it wouldn't recognize all of it.

And another question, the battery is completely dead. Are the ones on eBay for $20 reliable or will they die after a year?

[DrakkenWar]

Originally Posted by sucramdi

So lately Safari becomes unresponsive and YouTube is obviously a little laggy, would the extra ram help this? And just to be sure with DDR2 there's high and low density ram is there? When I had my iMac G4 I mistakenly bought high density ram and it wouldn't recognize all of it.

And another question, the battery is completely dead. Are the ones on eBay for $20 reliable or will they die after a year?

As far as ram is concerned, I have currently have 2 matched high density chips from Crucial installed. No issues to report, though it seems a matched pair is pretty import. This particular mac, came from the resaler with 2 unmatched chips and no matter how I moved them around I could not get passed one gig!

I have not had the issues with Safari that you describe. It's snappy and responsive even with multiple tabs open, and a smattering of other programs in the background (mainly adium, mail, screen share with my mini upstairs, iphoto and camino). How often do you purge Safari? i.e. clear the cache and history? If you are paging back to huge files, it is going to seriously bog you down.

For youtube issues? It's the onboard video that really nerfs these beauty machines. It's simply not cut out for the demands. However, there is a way around it. MacTubes. http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/28608/mactubes) gets rid of the flash that bogs the hell out of damn near any machine and replaces it with QuickTime for render. So nice that I have it installed on my 2011 mini for the playlists and instant download option.

Sorry for the long post, but you have me thinking! You might want to look at grabbing a copy of Onyx as well to give your old girl a good "look-over" (http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/11582/onyx). Not only is it free, but it actually works. For the love of Kane stay the hell away from MacKeeper. There are threads here that will tell you of it's nefarious ways. My Dual DA/533 was never the same after I tried that piece of *****.

On a final note, I really can't advise you on the battery. I have bought a few things from eBay, and for the most part I have had good luck. But I would think even with the "vintage" of these macs. (Damned fine machines that are still highly useful! Thanks much!) A battery for 20 bones? Seems to me that if it's a steal of a deal, it's no steal at all. I have not yet looked for a battery for mine, as it holds near a 3 hour charge unless I really push it. While money can be tight I would direct you to: (www.otherworldcomputing.com) For more bang for your buck with a replacement battery.

Hope it all helps a bit here and there. And congrads your PB! These old girls still have a ton of life in them.

[eyoungren]

I've had a good experience with FreshBattery.com. Bought an extended battery from them about three years ago for an old Titanium. My son is using it in his Titanium now and you can still get about 4 hours on it.

I have also purchased a battery for my 17" Powerbook from NewerTechnology and haven't had any problems.

Haven't bought any batterys from eBay, but both the companies I named have decent prices.

[California]

Originally Posted by Bug-Creator

Been running my 5.9 with a single 2GB stick since the day I got it. Previous owner actually installed 2x2GB so I moved the 2nd stick to another PB I had cobbled together from parts (and resold).

Works without problems.

You had four gigs of ram in a last revision powerbook? Of course only two gigs showed up, right? What a PPC pipe dream for the Powerbook that is... four gigs.

[Bug-Creator]

Yeah, thats why I added the ..... even went as far as adding one 0.5 or 1GB stick to see if it would go to 2.5 or 3GB but no avail.

Sadly this trick doesn't work with the older revisions that so often suffer from 1 dead RAM-socket.

[satointl]

This thread isn't too old so I hope bumping this to ask a question is okay...
I found my PowerBook G4; 1.5; 1.25GB of RAM just yesterday and everything is fine except for videos. I've updated all the components, and of course I know that the CPU will run slower as it heats up. My question is, will upgrading from 1.25 GB of RAM to 2GB help solve this problem? Or at least produce more efficiency and less choppiness? Thanks!

[California]

I've got the final rev. 15" DDR2 HR Powerbook 1.67ghz with a 320gb hard drive and two gigs of ram.


It stutters a little on Youtube and I haven't done much except download that final flash PPC player.

Other than that, it's completely fine for normal use.

If I played around and got off Safari, bet it would be perfect.

Not getting rid of the old machine. Still love it.

[wobegong]

I remember my 1.67 PowerBook, my first Apple.. Was great until I picked up my laptop bag at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport security while it was unzipped and on slinging it over my shoulder threw my Powerbook in a wide arc to come crashing down on the marble floor and shatter into a dozen or more pieces....

[fta123]

I finally got my 17" Powerbook G4 running after I replaced the screen:-), has anyone done anytype of hard drive updates into these powerbooks that will make this girls run a little faster? I wonder if software raid will work with these?

[eyoungren]

Originally Posted by fta123

I finally got my 17" Powerbook G4 running after I replaced the screen:-), has anyone done anytype of hard drive updates into these powerbooks that will make this girls run a little faster? I wonder if software raid will work with these?

I've put a Western Digital Scorpio Blue drive (320GB) in my 1.67Ghz. The drive speed is slower than the spec of the original drive, but overall the drive is much faster than the original.

[PowerPCMacMan]

Come to think of it after reading Freescale's or Motorola's 7447A/B chip specs the G4 can actually address up to a max of 4GB of memory.. strange though. Apple only allows us to put in up to 2GB of memory.

Really strange.

Originally Posted by California

You had four gigs of ram in a last revision powerbook? Of course only two gigs showed up, right? What a PPC pipe dream for the Powerbook that is... four gigs.

----------

Hi,

Try using MacTubes or YouView - Your G4 PowerBook 1.67 DLSD will enjoy it. Actually, for me, flash runs fine though I prefer QuickTime when watching youtube videos.. Don't forget to download from "1fatbastard" on youtube his modification of the latest flash player which is I think, 11.2 or 11.3 which will run on PowerPC macs. Do a search on youtube: Flash + PowerPC

Originally Posted by California

You had four gigs of ram in a last revision powerbook? Of course only two gigs showed up, right? What a PPC pipe dream for the Powerbook that is... four gigs.

Originally Posted by California

I've got the final rev. 15" DDR2 HR Powerbook 1.67ghz with a 320gb hard drive and two gigs of ram.


It stutters a little on Youtube and I haven't done much except download that final flash PPC player.

Other than that, it's completely fine for normal use.

If I played around and got off Safari, bet it would be perfect.

Not getting rid of the old machine. Still love it.

[fta123]

DrakkenWar
Thanks for the advice for youtube (mactube) that rocks...anyway I could use safari and mactube together as a plugin?

[carter2]

System Preferences>Keyboard & Mouse. Uncheck the box on the Keyboard tab. You can also adjust the strength of the backlight with the F9 and F10 keys. F8 will turn the backlight on or off.

[California]

Originally Posted by PowerPCMacMan

Come to think of it after reading Freescale's or Motorola's 7447A/B chip specs the G4 can actually address up to a max of 4GB of memory.. strange though. Apple only allows us to put in up to 2GB of memory.

Really strange.


----------
Hi,
Try using MacTubes or YouView - Your G4 PowerBook 1.67 DLSD will enjoy it. Actually, for me, flash runs fine though I prefer QuickTime when watching youtube videos.. Don't forget to download from "1fatbastard" on youtube his modification of the latest flash player which is I think, 11.2 or 11.3 which will run on PowerPC macs. Do a search on youtube: Flash + PowerPC

interesting. Some Apple developer/programmer from the PowerPC period needs to step up and lift the 2 gig ram limit on Powerbooks!

What a shot in the arm that would be for the old machines.