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randomdamage

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 15, 2010
31
40
Hi,
I have a PowerBook G3 Wallstreet II (PDQ). I've been playing with alternatives to using an internal IDE hard disk. I picked up an inexpensive JM20330 based adapter and tried it with a Lite-On LMT-64M6M mSATA SSD. However, if the CDROM drive module was installed it was REALLY SLOW. Far slower than the internal hard disk. An OS X install took an eternity. If I started up WITHOUT the CDROM drive module installed, it worked just fine and was very fast, at the expense of not having access to the CDROM.

Next, I tried an Ablecon IIDE-MSAT adapter, which uses the Marvell 88SA8052 chipset and the same Lite-On SSD. With this adapter installed, the CDROM module was completely unrecognized by the PowerBook. It is like that ATA interface didn't even exist in System Profiler. The PowerBook ran just fine with or without the CDROM module installed, though the CDROM was completely unrecognized. I briefly tried an Intel mSATA SSD with the Ablecon adapter, but it showed the same symptoms of a completely unrecognized CDROM module.

So... I'm trying to find a combo that works and allows me to use the CDROM module (I do need to read and boot from physical CDs now and then). I have tried CompactFlash cards in PCMCIA readers as well as in an IDE adapter. Even with a fast 800x UDMA card, these options were noticeably slower than the hard drive.

Anyone have any specific combos of adapters and SSDs they've used with this particular PowerBook with good success (and retained full functionality of the internal CDROM module)?

Thanks!
 
I have zero experience with the Wallstreet series (and more's the pity), but this sounds like a problem with jumper settings. Seems your HDD and CDROM share a common IDE bus, if the presence of one is affecting the operation of the other; and if that's true, one will have to be set to "master" and the other to "slave", or possibly "cable select". Getting this setting right will allow both to operate properly on the same bus.

Here's an image I found of the Ablecon adapter you mentioned; note the green circle I've placed near the bottom left of the image:

71A-k5YpjFL._AC_SL1500_.jpg


What I've circled there is the area where jumper settings are made, and note the little black thing that's on one set of pins - that's a jumper. I can't tell which jumper setting is the one you need, but the product documentation should be helpful in determining that. In any event, you've got three choices, so try all three (jumper on the left, jumper on the right, or no jumper) and see if that makes any difference for you.

If not, I've got nothing. But there are some Wallstreet aficionados here who may provide more help than me. Good luck!
 
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Thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately, the CDROM and hard drive actually ARE on separate ATA interfaces and are both normally configured as "unit 0" (a.k.a master, I believe). Very puzzling why the CDROM would be affected by the SSD/mSATA adapter on the other interface.

Also, on the Ablecon adapter the circled pins actually plug into the hard disk connector so are not easily jumpered independent of how they are set by the interface.
 
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Unfortunately, the CDROM and hard drive actually ARE on separate ATA interfaces and are both normally configured as "unit 0" (a.k.a master, I believe). Very puzzling why the CDROM would be affected by the SSD/mSATA adapter on the other interface.

Well, it makes more sense that it would be that way, I just have no experience with Wallstreets. Every other PowerBook I've seen has them on separate buses as well. Given that fact, I'm at a loss as to your particular problem.

Also, on the Ablecon adapter the circled pins actually plug into the hard disk connector so are not easily jumpered independent of how they are set by the interface.

That's weird, it's just plain old 44-pin IDE... those pins on the end shouldn't plug into the connector. To make sure I wasn't misremembering, I took a look at some of my own 2.5" IDE drives, and some of my PowerBook connectors, and in no case did those pins insert into the connector. Your adapter is simply taking the place of a 2.5" 44-pin IDE laptop drive, so the connection between it and your Wallstreet's IDE connector should work the same.
 
Well, in this case the PowerBook connector is indeed mating to the master/slave jumper pin block on the hard drive / mSATA adapter board.
 

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Well, in this case the PowerBook connector is indeed mating to the master/slave jumper pin block on the hard drive / mSATA adapter board.

Huh. Thanks for sharing the photos, that's surprising to see, at least for me. I guess on the Wallstreet (maybe the other G3 PowerBooks too?) the jumper settings are configured by default in the HDD connector.

By way of comparison, here's what I was talking about:

IMG_20210510_214922766.jpg

IMG_20210510_215827899.jpg

The first one is from my PowerBook 1400, the second from a Titanium PowerBook G4. Your Wallstreet falls in between those two chronologically, so I would have expected it to conform to what I thought was a standard. Clearly, either it's not a standard, or for whatever reason Apple just decided to do their own thing in the PowerBook G3 line. You learn something new every day I guess 🤷‍♂️

Anyway, I hope you get some help with your problem here. That's a strange situation for sure.
 
I looks like the internal jumpering is causing the problems. You might try with a 44 pin CF adapter, which per specs is set to master or has a jumper somewhere on the board away from the pins and try that. Either that or you can try trimming the jumper pins from your JM20330 adapter so they don't go into the PDQ socket and short the connections on the board to master/slave as appropriate.

A quick search shows that the PDQs have issues with mSATA drives so yours is not an isolated experience.
 
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