Powerbook G4 1.5 EVT Rebuild

[eyoungren]

I’ve removed the hard disk, which is sadly utterly dead, and will try a suitable drive sometime soon.

If you are suspecting that there may be something proprietary on the drive (versus just ordinary user data) and assuming that the drive was not intentionally damaged, there's a trick to try. Preparation is key however.

With failing drives, sometimes you can put them in the freezer overnight and then recover data. The cold shrinks things just enough that inside parts are able to function for a short while.

It's that short while you have to be prepped for. If this is something you want to try you need to be ready with something that can rescue or image the disk in the short amount of time it might still be alive.

Once it fails again, that's pretty much it. Repeating the freezer trick usually has no benefit.

 

[bobnugget]

Quick update on this as it's been a busy couple of months and I've only had time to spend on it this week.

No progress on the EVT system, but the machine I bought to help test it turns out to be a normal, best spec 1.67 GHz (non-DLSD) model, with an identical, dead, 100GB Hard drive. Seems a shame to use it to harvest case screws and a memory door so I might try and source those elsewhere if the prototype 'book looks like it'll run.

I've made a bootable 10.4.11 drive with a spare disk, which the DLSD hasn't booted from yet. I'll see what it does when it has charged for a day though, as that seemed to do the trick last time.

 

[Hughmac]

Quick update on this as it's been a busy couple of months and I've only had time to spend on it this week.

No progress on the EVT system, but the machine I bought to help test it turns out to be a normal, best spec 1.67 GHz (non-DLSD) model, with an identical, dead, 100GB Hard drive. Seems a shame to use it to harvest case screws and a memory door so I might try and source those elsewhere if the prototype 'book looks like it'll run.

I've made a bootable 10.4.11 drive with a spare disk, which the DLSD hasn't booted from yet. I'll see what it does when it has charged for a day though, as that seemed to do the trick last time.

PM me your address and I can send you a defunct donor PowerBook a1106
I'll check on the state of it in the loft later and report back, as I think I've had the hard drive cable out.

Cheers

Hugh

 

[bobnugget]

PM me your address and I can send you a defunct donor PowerBook a1106
I'll check on the state of it in the loft later and report back, as I think I've had the hard drive cable out.

Cheers

Hugh

Thanks, that would be much appreciated!

Current update: it's booted! I'm posting this from it.

 

[Amethyst1]

Current update: it's booted! I'm posting this from it.

That is awesome. Can you post a screenshot of the Graphics/Display section in System Profiler?

 

[bobnugget]

That is awesome. Can you post a screenshot of the Graphics/Display section in System Profiler?

Here it is:

 

[Hughmac]

Thanks, that would be much appreciated!

Current update: it's booted! I'm posting this from it.
View attachment 893265

OK, up in my loft I have an a1106, 1.5GHz with graphics gone, no HDD but I've found the cable in my parts box, all screws present except that some pratt got one stuck in the video port
The other one, a 1.67GHz, is in a worse condition with no DVD drive, some screws missing and badly faded keyboard keys (duff graphics again of course).
Take your pick but I would recommend the 1.5 as the best one. Also this one has 2GB RAM if you want me to leave it in for you.

Cheers

Hugh

 

[Hughmac]

@bobnugget I'm not sure you are getting your PMs, but I just sent you one with my contact details if you need them

Cheers

Hugh

 

[AphoticD]

Seems a shame to use it to harvest case screws and a memory door so I might try and source those elsewhere

This is the slippery slope I’ve found myself in many times with these old Macs... I buy up another “good for parts only” Mac to fix one I already have only to find the parts machine is too good to part out... All it needed was a new HDD, RAM or sometimes just a reinstall. And as such the family grows bigger...

 

[bobnugget]

Actually had some time to spend on this today! I had a fair amount of fun getting an identical drive, eventually sourced one from China mid pandemic. The 'book is now assembled with the drive in place. I'm installing Tiger / Leopard to different partitions on it.

The machine seems to work, although occasionally hangs, and doesn't restart until I bridge the reset jumper on the logic board... not sure about fully assembling the case until that is sorted out!

 

[bobnugget]

Seems to be up and stable now - I think the jumper-based resets were a combo of me trying to install 10.4.0 (whoops, needs 10.4.2), the IPv6 10.4-10.6 insta-kill issue and a very flat PRAM battery.

PowerBook G4 (Double-Layer SD, 15-inch) EVT Prototype - Geekbench

Benchmark results for a PowerBook G4 (Double-Layer SD, 15-inch) with a PowerPC G4 (7447A) processor.

browser.geekbench.com

 

[bobnugget]

Nah, the confusion was all rabidz7 and his mythmaking. Every DLSD is definitively a 7447a/b. If in doubt, I have one of the very last 17" DLSDs ever made (built the third week of March 2006), and it’s a 7447b.

I'm very tempted to have a look at the CPU on mine... I think I've now seen the same doc as @LightBulbFun - this points to a 7448 prototype option, as well as 1.5 and 1.67 7447s. Interestingly it tells you what to switch around to fit a 7448 to a DLSD board (I'm not doing this.).

Also - I agree that every shipped DLSD is a 7447. I dropped everymac a mail to ask them to correct the site

Edit: looks like i can do it in OF, so will have a look at that; although having read the saggy noodle/rabid thread I would assume mine is a 7447 like all the rest as it reports 512 KB cache.

 

[LightBulbFun]

I'm very tempted to have a look at the CPU on mine... I think I've now seen the same doc as @LightBulbFun - this points to a 7448 prototype option, as well as 1.5 and 1.67 7447s. Interestingly it tells you what to switch around to fit a 7448 to a DLSD board (I'm not doing this.).

Also - I agree that every shipped DLSD is a 7447. I dropped everymac a mail to ask them to correct the site

Edit: looks like i can do it in OF, so will have a look at that; although having read the saggy noodle/rabid thread I would assume mine is a 7447 like all the rest as it reports 512 KB cache.

your prototype DLSD has a 7447B CPU, but I am pleased to see its working well now

(I am still quite curious to see someone actually try solder a real 7448 to a DLSD my main question there is does the BootROM have native support for the 7448 or not, otherwise it will just halt on unknown CPU)

 

[B S Magnet]

your prototype DLSD has a 7447B CPU, but I am pleased to see its working well now

(I am still quite curious to see someone actually try solder a real 7448 to a DLSD my main question there is does the BootROM have native support for the 7448 or not, otherwise it will just halt on unknown CPU)

I feel like the most likely person here to either know the answer to that, or be able to find out sometime within the near future, would be @JoyBed .

 

[MagicBoy]

I feel like the most likely person here to either know the answer to that, or be able to find out sometime within the near future, would be @JoyBed .

or Rabidz7. 🤣

 

[B S Magnet]

or Rabidz7. 🤣

Or SkyCapt.

 

[JoyBed]

or Rabidz7. 🤣

Or SkyCapt.

Heeeeyy... Thats rude... Comparing me to them...

I feel like the most likely person here to either know the answer to that, or be able to find out sometime within the near future, would be @JoyBed .

The answer is it will halt on unknown CPU and i cant find any patcher that works on that damn DLSD... If i manage to remove that halt on unknown CPU than my DLSD will get a 7448 transplant. Maybe i should start looking into patchers and bootrom and figure out how they work and what and how they modify the bootrom and then maybe making my own patch.

 

[B S Magnet]

Heeeeyy... Thats rude... Comparing me to them...

Hey, that wasn’t me. I only compared SkyCapt to rabidz7. At least I didn’t drag asaggynoodle into it.

I was serious when I mentioned your work with trying to get the Apollo 8/MPC7448 to work as well as trying to map out where the 2GB RAM cap on the DLSDs is holding things back.

The answer is it will halt on unknown CPU and i cant find any patcher that works on that damn DLSD... If i manage to remove that halt on unknown CPU than my DLSD will get a 7448 transplant. Maybe i should start looking into patchers and bootrom and figure out how they work and what and how they modify the bootrom and then maybe making my own patch.

I was going to ask about the bootrom patch the DayStar upgrade used back in 2006, but then realized they were still using an Apollo 7/MPC7447 chip for that service.

The Sonnet ZIF upgrades for the Power Mac G4/G4 Cube may be another place to look into, but I imagine you’ve already been down that path, as those probably relied on earlier logic board architectures.

EDITING TO ADD:

I stand corrected: DayStar did in fact offer a 7448 upgrade specifically for the DLSD PowerBooks, and Newer Technology offered a 7448 card upgrade for older desktop G4s. So this means finding the patch DayStar used to make their aftermarket upgrade possible might be the next logical path to look into.

It is likely a really long shot at this point, but maybe try some sleuthing to track down a former engineer at DayStar on LinkedIn or similar, who might be able to talk about or at least direct you toward someone who worked on the old DLSD upgrade service to find out what kind of patching was involved. To my knowledge, DayStar has been defunct for several years and old non-disclosures by former involved staff I imagine are probably null and void now.

 

[LightBulbFun]

The answer is it will halt on unknown CPU and i cant find any patcher that works on that damn DLSD... If i manage to remove that halt on unknown CPU than my DLSD will get a 7448 transplant. Maybe i should start looking into patchers and bootrom and figure out how they work and what and how they modify the bootrom and then maybe making my own patch.

just curious how you know that? as your post sounds like you have not yet actually tried installing a 7448 into a DLSD to see what happens (did someone else try?)

AFAIK theres no way to check what CPUs a Mac's OF Supports without actually trying the CPUs in question

(well im sure if you dumped the BootROM you could throw it into some sort of dissembler and figure out where the CPU check is and what CPUs are and are not supported for a given BootROM)