Restoring an old PowerBook G4 12" dents & scratches

work with the seller at first, then paypal and ebay dispute.

12" Powerbooks do not have a PRAM or clock battery. They use the main laptop battery to maintain the time.

I've gotten a few 12" Powerbooks shipped very similarly to that one. Just stuffed into a bubble padded manila envelope and shipped away. Surprisingly, they never came with that much damage or hardly any at all. That one looks like it was dropped a few times.

Also know, that the power adapter is not an original one.

Is it worth to buy Macs from another country at all, unless they are rare collector items? I have looked Macs from USA now and then, but just out of interest. Postages and many times prices in general make it wiser to buy onlky from homeland... Plus the keyboard layout is wrong for me which is of course its own thing.

Some people just cannot pack well enough, I would never rely on bubble wrap alone, especially if shipping to another country!

When the clock resets like that it means the main laptop battery is dead.

If the clock still resets like that, then the PMU/SMC isn't working correctly or the battery isn't. Most, if not all, of the Powerbook/iBook chargers ever made have come from China or another Asian country.

If you remove the main battery, even briefly to reseat the battery, for example, the time and date will usually reset to defaults. That's your 1969 date.
Reset the power manager, by pressing Control-Option-Shift-Power.
That will again reset time and date to defaults, so reset that at next boot.

Yeah, most of electronics are made in China, the main difference between original Apple branded charger and Replacement charger is usually the quality control and quality of used parts. Lenovo is a good example of China brand with bit higher quality control than some cheaper China brands.... Now that we are partially talking about China made products.

I can totally understand your anger and frustration, but take just a moment and think.

eBay almost always comes down on the side of the buyer. eBay has BuyerProtection. There's a 99.99% chance that you're covered by eBay buyer protection.

Work something out with the seller. If the seller refuses to pay the charges to ship it back, turn the matter over to eBay. They will examine the auction and your side of it. You'll be instructed to send the item back and when eBay finds in your favor you will be credited the price and the shipping charges (both from and back).

Don't worry, you aren't out any money in the long term.

mseth said:

Contacted eBay and they said I can file a claim but they don't cover return shipping. So either way I am out $55.

On the positive side, the seller agreed to refund $50 but has not issued it yet, making this a cost of around $100 until I can sort something out with eBay on their international shipping and duties charges.

It could've been caused during shipping but I am really not sure either way, the seller is the only one that can file an insurance claim.

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OK. Maybe it's a little different in Canada. The one time my wife needed to file a claim she got everything she spent back. Of course, the USPS also got involved (postal inspector) so that may have had something to do with it.

mseth said:

Contacted eBay and they said I can file a claim but they don't cover return shipping. So either way I am out $55.

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He should just refund all (possibly save for shipping) of your money and let you keep it. Given the shipping charges it doesn't make sense to be shipping it around the globe.

mseth said:

Contacted eBay and they said I can file a claim but they don't cover return shipping. So either way I am out $55.

On the positive side, the seller agreed to refund $50 but has not issued it yet, making this a cost of around $100 until I can sort something out with eBay on their international shipping and duties charges.

It could've been caused during shipping but I am really not sure either way, the seller is the only one that can file an insurance claim.



I'm going to use this charger with the iBook and the iBook original apple charger with this temporarily.

Not too sure how the quality of this replacement charger is. If it explodes then who do I sue? If an Apple charger explodes I can sue Apple (just saying).



Wouldn't be too picky if the charger looked like an Apple charger but this looks like a regular PC (ugly) brick and I don't know what's inside. For all I know it could just be a regular netbook like charger with it's end cable replaced with an Apple style socket made in a factory with temps exceeding 40*C, strange smells of chemicals and dim lighting. No offense, just pondering from all the documentaries I've watched.

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Those are a royal pain to remove the cord as the adapter has to be taken apart. If it was repaired at home and had the wire swapped on, there would most likely be an obvious sign of damage to the adapter part itself. That being said, there are many qualities of adapters available on the web today. There are standard rectangular ugly "PC looking" adapters, adapters that look like Apple but are the same internals as the "PC looking" models, and OEM Apple adapters. As long as it charges the device safely is what matters to me. Try isopropyl alcohol on an old T-Shirt to remove the dirt and grime from the plastic adapter!

I do think that your statement about suing the company is a bit extreme. Do you honestly think an adapter that hasn't been made in at least eight years and has seen its fair share of various drops, power fluctuations, and other treatment is worth suing for? It would probably just take the other side to say "your power may have fluctuated, causing the capacitors to blow and thus causing the adapter to die prematurely" to have the whole small claims suit dismissed. Just wanted to point that out...

mseth said:

I wish the seller took your advice. I still haven't received the 50 bucks back. Looking at their feedback, people call them a "crook" that sent them damaged items as new condition. Some said they got money back and kept the item but, some never got a penny back.

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If this is shipping damage you can handle it one of four ways. File a claim with eBay and lose the $55 potentially, file a claim with the shipper and get the money and dispute the return shipping so you lose nothing, let the seller refund you and potentially lose $55, or file a total dispute on the credit card and PayPal to have all the dough given back.

mseth said:

I am using the official power adapter from Apple that I got with the iBook G4 at the moment with the PB G4. What I was saying was that generic china replacement adapters could just be a regular PC netbook adapter same spec with its wire cut off and replaced (on the inside of the brick) with one with an apple prong.

Never mind that. So far the best option is to wait for the seller to issue the $50 promised refund and then try to get the shipping/duties/taxes/fees back from eBay/PayPal/PitneyBowes tricycle.

Lesson learned: Stay far away from eBay GSP.

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Good idea!

The charger will be an off-the-shelf power supply with the Apple connector, but what else were you expecting? All it needs to do is put out a certain voltage at a certain current.

For the record, those 3rd party replacement chargers are actually very good. I've used many over the years. They don't run as worryingly hot as the genuine Apple ones, and they use thicker insulation on the cable so it's less likely to snap or get damaged.

It's a shame you got screwed over with this, it doesn't look like it sustained the damage in shipping though - it looks more like it's been dropped. I've recieved laptops through the post packaged in the same way and they've always arrived fine.

Regarding chargers, one problem when you buy a "China -charger" is that some of them either are not what the label says or identify itself wrong. For example I have charger which has 65W printed on it but identifies itself as 45W on my PowerBook, I have also tested that it will not power on 15" PowerBook without working battery, which means that either it is identification issue or the charger simply has 45W electronics inside.

It works fine with 12" PB which requires only 45W.

mseth said:

I am using the official power adapter from Apple that I got with the iBook G4 at the moment with the PB G4. What I was saying was that generic china replacement adapters could just be a regular PC netbook adapter same spec with its wire cut off and replaced (on the inside of the brick) with one with an apple prong.

Never mind that. So far the best option is to wait for the seller to issue the $50 promised refund and then try to get the shipping/duties/taxes/fees back from eBay/PayPal/PitneyBowes tricycle.

Lesson learned: Stay far away from eBay GSP.

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Lesson learned: Pay only with a credit card.

mseth said:

Received a $55 USD refund from the seller.

Next step: Get back the shipping/duties/import fees that went to Pitney Bowes aka eBay.

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Congratulations. Does the seller expect you to return it?