I grabbed a 12 inch PowerBook g4 (2003?) last night on eBay for $70 bucks. Supposed to be in great shape. It should be here next week. Now to do research on how to get an ssd installed and figure out how to order another battery.
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eBay bargains - what's your latest conquest?
- Thread starter Hughmac
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1042686
Cancelled
https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/PowerBook+G4+Aluminum+12-Inch+1-1.5+GHz+Hard+Drive+Replacement/548
Very straight forward. As far as SSD, a m.2 or msata + 2.5”pata enclosure works great.
Very straight forward. As far as SSD, a m.2 or msata + 2.5”pata enclosure works great.
You'll need an adapter. For mSATA you need a mSATA to IDE, and the inexpensive ones on eBay work well. This is the one I bought, and which others seem to have used as well (no relation in any way to the seller):
https://www.ebay.com/itm/mSATA-to-2-5-PATA-IDE-SSD-Enclosure-Adapter-Case-9-5mm-Solid-State-Drive/151519954907?ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649
It works just fine.
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I finally got around to the DLSD PowerBook, and yes, it has the bottom RAM slot problem...
...however, I ripped the 2GB stick of PC6400 800MHz RAM from my Dell Mini 10 hackintosh, and it works ! 😀
Currently restoring from backup using Disk Utility on the Leopard disk, as for some reason it won't boot to a firewire drive but will recognize it from the Leo DVD.
Cheers 🙂
Hugh
[doublepost=1560170091][/doublepost]PS the reason the DLSD wouldn't boot from a firewire drive must have been because the 512mb it came with was bad, 'cos with the 2GB stick in it boots fine.
Now restoring from the backup as doing it from the Leo DVD failed with I/O errors.
thanks! I'm looking at these batteries. https://www.laptopbatteryexpress.com/Apple-PowerBook-G4-laptop-battery-12-inch-p/app-18.htm (no relation to the seller). Anyone in this thread know if they're okay?
I think you mean PC2-6400. And a screenshot would be nice to see. I cannot get the PC2-4200 2GB stick to work in mine.
Thanks for the correction - a screenshot would be nice but I'm still trying to get some sort of system on it.
I think the hard drive may be kaput or maybe the cable is loose - it won't boot to Tiger or Leopard discs, won't mount in TDM. This with either the 512mb or 2GB RAM 😉
I'm in my iPartition disc now trying to re-partition again, but if this doesn't work I'll have to find time to open the PB up and have a look.
If I can't get any further I will start a new thread.
Cheers 🙂
Hugh
I finally got the PB booting to a generic backup of Leopard that I keep for emergency installations and to check hardware is working.
I've given up on the hard drive as it's obviously sick and won't accept any restores, so I've spent another £20 on a 128GB SSD.
@sawpits, screenshots attached to prove the 2GB stick is working - although it is recognised as PC2-3200 instead of PC2-6400 and clocks at 288 it shouldn't make a lot of difference overall.
By the way, the 256mb PC2-5300 I also tried showed up the same.
Lastly, I think I know why the RAM slot is bad - I can see a couple of the pins have been pushed right down and won't connect, so some time I'll try and pry them up, then try a stick and see if I can get it working.
Cheers 🙂
Hugh
I've given up on the hard drive as it's obviously sick and won't accept any restores, so I've spent another £20 on a 128GB SSD.
@sawpits, screenshots attached to prove the 2GB stick is working - although it is recognised as PC2-3200 instead of PC2-6400 and clocks at 288 it shouldn't make a lot of difference overall.
By the way, the 256mb PC2-5300 I also tried showed up the same.
Lastly, I think I know why the RAM slot is bad - I can see a couple of the pins have been pushed right down and won't connect, so some time I'll try and pry them up, then try a stick and see if I can get it working.
Cheers 🙂
Hugh
I note that mine too shows PC2-4200 as PC2-3200. Crucial said that there was a problem in System Profiler causing this. And see: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2403908
What brand is that 2GB stick?
What brand is that 2GB stick?
Picked up another Cube tonight...standard base model 450MHZ, but came with a great condition 15" Studio Display! AND SPEAKERS!
I have a 2G stick of Samsung PC2-4200 and it won't work. Try to boot up and I get the beeps.
Mine has double the amount of chips = low density?
It is also listed for use in an iMac 2008 which also means low density to me - https://www.datamemorysystems.com/parts/apple/MB413G/B/ for example.
Look for Samsung M470T5663EH3-CF7 when searching for one for yourself.
By the way, some PC2-5300 that I ordered last week has turned up (2 x 1GB - totally not needed now), and being high density (only 4 chips per side) it gives beeps when put in the DLSD.
I reckon I've just been lucky in that I had that stick available and gave it a try, but we may be onto something here that can help others.
I wonder what would happen if I tried a 4GB module or someone with two good slots tried 2 x 2GB of this RAM?
Nothing good I reckon, but I might buy one if it's cheap enough.
Cheers 🙂
Hugh
PS looks like you can't get these in 4GB modules 🙁
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Interesting about the low-density versus high-density. My Samsung PC2-4200 2GB stick has only 4 chips per side unlike your PC2-6400 stick which has 8 chips per side.
There are PC2-6400 in 4GB sticks at 8 chips per side, but these examples are very expensive when you click on the box to choose them. See: https://www.ebay.com/itm/8GB-2-x-4GB-2GB-DDR2-800MHz-PC2-6400S-200PIN-Laptop-RAM-SODIMM-For-Micron-Lot/113666414998?_trkparms=aid=555018&algo=PL.SIM&ao=1&asc=58655&meid=3525c35d585847da91592724b7db1796&pid=100008&rk=6&rkt=12&sd=321872623383&itm=113666414998&_trksid=p2047675.c100008.m2219
I have no connection with the seller.
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1042686
Cancelled
Wow super cool 😀 . A cube is something I'd love to scoop for my collection still. Wish I could find one in the wild. I could scoop one off ebay or CL but something about the thrill of the hunt I guess. Nice score though! One less in landfill.
Bought a new 2GB PC2-4200 stick from A-Tech, confirmed by them as low density. Installed it and success! Booted up and working fine. And it shows as PC2-4200. I also note that it has four modules or chips per side.
So A-Tech's memory is a good bet for all those memory challenged owing to a bad RAM slot and who want to max out their RAM. I have no connection of any kind with A-Tech.
And just to confirm, a single 4GB stick of low density RAM does not work - one beep and no boot 🙁
Cheers 🙂
Hugh
Cheers 🙂
Hugh
Wondering if someone has 2 good RAM slots what would happen with one 2GB stick and try 512MG or 1 GB in the other slot. I do believe that PowerBook's of the later variety are limited to 2GB overall. Which was a mistake by the RAM challenged Steve Jobs.
I note that even though numerous models of MacBooks and MacBook Pros with consumer installable RAM had an 'official' RAM listing that turned out to be under the actual usable RAM one could install. Like the 2010 MacBook which Apple claimed was limited to 8 GB's of RAM but can handle 16 GB's. It is like the engineers were saying: Shhh! Don't let Steve know.
I note that even though numerous models of MacBooks and MacBook Pros with consumer installable RAM had an 'official' RAM listing that turned out to be under the actual usable RAM one could install. Like the 2010 MacBook which Apple claimed was limited to 8 GB's of RAM but can handle 16 GB's. It is like the engineers were saying: Shhh! Don't let Steve know.
doggoli
macrumors member
Well I'm back in the club ladies and gentleman!
I gambled a bit and bought an Early 2004 PowerBook for 10$, it supposedly had a broken HDD, and that was it. I was a bit suspicious, but for only 10$ I couldn't help myself... Turns out after swapping the HDD with a spare one, that it works just fine, not only that, but the battery is pretty much BRAND NEW, it had 2 cycles when i booted it up for the first time! It lasts around 3 hours with moderate use, which is nuts to me! Its not in the best condition, but it looks and works great. I'm glad to be back in the club!
I gambled a bit and bought an Early 2004 PowerBook for 10$, it supposedly had a broken HDD, and that was it. I was a bit suspicious, but for only 10$ I couldn't help myself... Turns out after swapping the HDD with a spare one, that it works just fine, not only that, but the battery is pretty much BRAND NEW, it had 2 cycles when i booted it up for the first time! It lasts around 3 hours with moderate use, which is nuts to me! Its not in the best condition, but it looks and works great. I'm glad to be back in the club!
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swamprock
macrumors 65816
For that price, invest another $40-$45 or less and grab a mSATA SSD drive and adapter. I was never attached to my A1095 and it languished here, until I did this transplant. Now I actually like the machine (but not as much as my 12" 🙂 ).
Seshpenguin
macrumors newbie
I got a G4 with a basically brand new battery too (~10 cycles I think). I guess a lot of PowerBooks were used in a desktop setting (Maybe in some kind of a/v setup or something).
doggoli
macrumors member
I may do this in the future, but for now I would like to first upgrade the ram from 512 to 1GB, something which would make Leopard run waay faster 😀
Wouldn't surprise me to be honest, they were powerful machines for the time!