TiBook Not Recognizing HDD

[bunnspecial]

I picked up a TiBook G4 locally earlier today.

It has a 40gb HDD(I think original) that as best as I can tell is fine. I pulled it out, and was able to read/write/access it just fine via a USB HDD controller. In fact, I even cloned a good Tiger install onto it.

I can find no evidence, however, that the computer is recognizing the HDD. I currently have the computer running via a USB HDD drive with a good Leopard install(it's slooooow over USB 1.1) and the only ATA bus that the system recognizes in system profile is the one on which the optical drive is installed.

The mounting hardware is missing for the hard drive, and I've ordered a mounting bracket kit that includes a new ribbon cable. I can't help but think that there might be more wrong than just a bad cable, though.

Any thoughts about where I should look for problems-or more specifically to rule out a bad logic board?

 

[eyoungren]

Check the cable for any tears and the connector for separation from the cable. Take a good look at the connector on the logic board and see if there appears to be any damage.

Sometimes all it takes is a bit of separation of the connector from the ribbon. I had that happen once on my Albook. JUST bought a new optical drive and I managed to pull a little too hard on the ribbon cable and voila, connector tore off half way. Had to wait an extra week until I got a new ribbon cable before I could use the new drive.

 

[Altemose]

I picked up a TiBook G4 locally earlier today.

It has a 40gb HDD(I think original) that as best as I can tell is fine. I pulled it out, and was able to read/write/access it just fine via a USB HDD controller. In fact, I even cloned a good Tiger install onto it.

I can find no evidence, however, that the computer is recognizing the HDD. I currently have the computer running via a USB HDD drive with a good Leopard install(it's slooooow over USB 1.1) and the only ATA bus that the system recognizes in system profile is the one on which the optical drive is installed.

The mounting hardware is missing for the hard drive, and I've ordered a mounting bracket kit that includes a new ribbon cable. I can't help but think that there might be more wrong than just a bad cable, though.

Any thoughts about where I should look for problems-or more specifically to rule out a bad logic board?

Does this drive have a jumper on it? It sounds like the cable as eyoungren stated before!

 

[bunnspecial]

There are two jumper "positions" but no jumpers installed, which per the documentation I can find on the drive is correct for the drive to be set as a master.

So, I think it's at least set up correctly.

As I mentioned, I needed a bracket anyway and found one on Ebay that included a replacement cable. That should let me at least rule a bad cable out once it arrives. I can see no obvious damage to the cable, but of course that also doesn't mean anything(if the drive bracket has been missing for a while, that could have put enough stress on the cable to cause problems).

That aside, everything else seems to be in good condition. The battery only shows 163 cycles, and actually reports a longer life than the one in my much newer MBP. As I said, though, the computer is agonizingly slow running Leopard over a USB 1.1 connection.

 

[Altemose]

There are two jumper "positions" but no jumpers installed, which per the documentation I can find on the drive is correct for the drive to be set as a master.

So, I think it's at least set up correctly.

As I mentioned, I needed a bracket anyway and found one on Ebay that included a replacement cable. That should let me at least rule a bad cable out once it arrives. I can see no obvious damage to the cable, but of course that also doesn't mean anything(if the drive bracket has been missing for a while, that could have put enough stress on the cable to cause problems).

That aside, everything else seems to be in good condition. The battery only shows 163 cycles, and actually reports a longer life than the one in my much newer MBP. As I said, though, the computer is agonizingly slow running Leopard over a USB 1.1 connection.

I am betting it is the cable as Erik said though! It doesn't take much to damage the thin cables.

 

[eyoungren]

I don't know if you're interested or not, but I got this PC card in Dec. 2011. It's got two USB 2.0 ports and it works in my A1013 without any issues or driver installs.

So, my USB1.1 only 17" PowerBook actually has 4 USB ports. 2/1.1 and 2/2.0

It should work in a TiBook. it's recessed, so the form factor aligns with the outside of the case (nothing sticking out.

 

[bunnspecial]

I don't know if you're interested or not, but I got this PC card in Dec. 2011. It's got two USB 2.0 ports and it works in my A1013 without any issues or driver installs.

So, my USB1.1 only 17" PowerBook actually has 4 USB ports. 2/1.1 and 2/2.0

It should work in a TiBook. it's recessed, so the form factor aligns with the outside of the case (nothing sticking out.
Image

I wish that these had two PCMIA slots! USB 2 is tempting and would be useable, but I'd already sort of earmarked the PCMIA for an 802.11g card. I went ahead and put an Airport card in when I had it apart last night, but(as I knew would be the case) the original Airport card has sort of outlived its usefulness.

 

[bunnspecial]

I went scrounging today and dug up a 60gb 5400 rpm disk, so hopefully I'll be back in business once the bracket and cable arrive.

I also came away with a pair of iMac G3s-a tray-loading Bondi Blue and and a slot loading Indigo. I also got the restore disks, manuals, and an OS 9 retail disk!

So, overall, that was a productive day!

 

[2984839]

There are two jumper "positions" but no jumpers installed, which per the documentation I can find on the drive is correct for the drive to be set as a master.

So, I think it's at least set up correctly.

As I mentioned, I needed a bracket anyway and found one on Ebay that included a replacement cable. That should let me at least rule a bad cable out once it arrives. I can see no obvious damage to the cable, but of course that also doesn't mean anything(if the drive bracket has been missing for a while, that could have put enough stress on the cable to cause problems).

That aside, everything else seems to be in good condition. The battery only shows 163 cycles, and actually reports a longer life than the one in my much newer MBP. As I said, though, the computer is agonizingly slow running Leopard over a USB 1.1 connection.

I think it would be a good idea to try a jumper anyway. When I put an SSD in my PowerBook, the original drive had a jumper, but I couldn't fit it on the SSD. Open FIrmware wouldn't detect the drive without it. I had to change some parameters in Open Firmware to get it to work. Now, my PB is much newer than that TiBook so maybe Apple changed things later, but it might be worth a shot.

 

[bunnspecial]

The new HDD ribbon cable arrived today, and all is now well!

I have a Tiger install running now(I need to break down and buy a Leopard install disk...) so hopefully it will be up and going soon.

I need to order some more ram, too, before I upgrade to Leopard. It has 512 now, and from what I've seen I'd be asking for trouble with that little and Leopard.

 

[Altemose]

The new HDD ribbon cable arrived today, and all is now well!

I have a Tiger install running now(I need to break down and buy a Leopard install disk...) so hopefully it will be up and going soon.

I need to order some more ram, too, before I upgrade to Leopard. It has 512 now, and from what I've seen I'd be asking for trouble with that little and Leopard.

Maxing the RAM is going to be the easiest, cheapest, and best way to squeeze better performance out of that old machine.

 

[eyoungren]

The new HDD ribbon cable arrived today, and all is now well!

I have a Tiger install running now(I need to break down and buy a Leopard install disk...) so hopefully it will be up and going soon.

I need to order some more ram, too, before I upgrade to Leopard. It has 512 now, and from what I've seen I'd be asking for trouble with that little and Leopard.

So, all it was was a bad ribbon cable. Great, glad it's fixed and working and that that is all that you needed to do.

 

[bunnspecial]

Maxing the RAM is going to be the easiest, cheapest, and best way to squeeze better performance out of that old machine.

It's usually the first thing I do on any older computer I get my hands on.

In fact, just a couple of days ago I bought a big bunch of 512mb PC133 sticks on Ebay since I've depleted my stash of them and have a few systems running at less than max as a result.

I'm going to have to order some laptop PC133 for this TiBook(incidentally, I'm typing this post from the computer) as I don't have any spare laptop ram lying around.

So, all it was was a bad ribbon cable. Great, glad it's fixed and working and that that is all that you needed to do.

At least it is working, although I've now found that the battery is essentially dead. It will charge up fully, and with 5-10 minutes of use will drop to next to nothing. I guess that's to be expected on a 10 year old laptop.

 

[Altemose]

It's usually the first thing I do on any older computer I get my hands on.

In fact, just a couple of days ago I bought a big bunch of 512mb PC133 sticks on Ebay since I've depleted my stash of them and have a few systems running at less than max as a result.

I'm going to have to order some laptop PC133 for this TiBook(incidentally, I'm typing this post from the computer) as I don't have any spare laptop ram lying around.



At least it is working, although I've now found that the battery is essentially dead. It will charge up fully, and with 5-10 minutes of use will drop to next to nothing. I guess that's to be expected on a 10 year old laptop.

Ironically I run out of old parts the fastest in my parts closet.

 

[bunnspecial]

Ironically I run out of old parts the fastest in my parts closet.

I've been on a bit of a buying binge on Ebay lately. I'm running out of high capacity IDE HDDs(I have piles of 80gb, but sometimes want larger) and also needed SCSI drives for a couple of '90s Powermacs.

I have a drawer full of SDRAM of all speeds, but of course the 512s go first and 256s go not far behind. I need to separate by speed, although when I buy I only buy PC133 since I know it will work in anything. I also have a 256mb stick around somewhere that's marked as PC133 but that identifies as PC100 when installed-I need to either mark it or maybe just trash it.

I have tons of DDR-2 that I'm saving for if I ever pick up any last generation G5s, but have next to no spare DDR. I'm going to need to come up with some for when my MDD gets here.

 

[Altemose]

I've been on a bit of a buying binge on Ebay lately. I'm running out of high capacity IDE HDDs(I have piles of 80gb, but sometimes want larger) and also needed SCSI drives for a couple of '90s Powermacs.

I have a drawer full of SDRAM of all speeds, but of course the 512s go first and 256s go not far behind. I need to separate by speed, although when I buy I only buy PC133 since I know it will work in anything. I also have a 256mb stick around somewhere that's marked as PC133 but that identifies as PC100 when installed-I need to either mark it or maybe just trash it.

I have tons of DDR-2 that I'm saving for if I ever pick up any last generation G5s, but have next to no spare DDR. I'm going to need to come up with some for when my MDD gets here.

That is the problem when you maintain a parts stash. Certain parts go quicker than others...

 

[bunnspecial]

Does anyone have any experience with running OS9 on these TiBooks?

I installed OS9.2.2 on mine(on the main partition, not a separate as I usually do). It will start and run fine, and I get a nice full screen during booting. Once it's fully booted, though, the screen condenses down to 640x480, and I only get a small desktop in the middle of the screen. Under the display options control panel, 640x480 is the only resolution I can select.

I have the same thing happen when I use a bootable OS 9 install CD.

 

[eyoungren]

Does anyone have any experience with running OS9 on these TiBooks?

I installed OS9.2.2 on mine(on the main partition, not a separate as I usually do). It will start and run fine, and I get a nice full screen during booting. Once it's fully booted, though, the screen condenses down to 640x480, and I only get a small desktop in the middle of the screen. Under the display options control panel, 640x480 is the only resolution I can select.

I have the same thing happen when I use a bootable OS 9 install CD.

Uh, yeah…some experience with OS9 on the TiBook. My old TiBook 400, I had 9.2.2 on it for the first couple of years. I didn't really switch to OS X until 10.2 and that was mainly because I didn't understand it and we had OS 9 at work, which I had learned already. 10.1.5 was the first useable version too, but I couldn't really use it because I had a PC at home as well and the network integration was still bad with PCs.

Anyway, I think there is an option in the Displays Control Panel that you need to check to tell OS9 to show all display modes. I remember something like that, but I couldn't tell you where exactly to look, if it's even there with your install.

Oh yeah! Make sure you have the Display Control Panel color set to Millions. I believe you won't get an additional display settings because OS9 only shows you what settings you can use at what color settings.

 

[bunnspecial]

Uh, yeah…some experience with OS9 on the TiBook. My old TiBook 400, I had 9.2.2 on it for the first couple of years. I didn't really switch to OS X until 10.2 and that was mainly because I didn't understand it and we had OS 9 at work, which I had learned already. 10.1.5 was the first useable version too, but I couldn't really use it because I had a PC at home as well and the network integration was still bad with PCs.

Anyway, I think there is an option in the Displays Control Panel that you need to check to tell OS9 to show all display modes. I remember something like that, but I couldn't tell you where exactly to look, if it's even there with your install.

Oh yeah! Make sure you have the Display Control Panel color set to Millions. I believe you won't get an additional display settings because OS9 only shows you what settings you can use at what color settings.

Interestingly enough, OS9 treats things like I have two separate displays, one at full resolution and the other at 640x480.

I'm not sure why, but I looked at the "arrangement" box and it showed the two sitting on top of each other. I moved one just a little bit, and all of a sudden it went to full screen.

I'm not sure how things got like that in the first place, or why the displays are registering that way, but it works!

I'm a bit dumb anyway when it comes to pre-OSX stuff since I never really used it "back in the day" other than a few frustrating experiences in the school computer lab. I've only been a Mac user for about three years and actually probably know Lion the best(even though I don't currently have a computer using it) but fortunately Tiger and Leopard are close enough that I didn't have much trouble picking them up or finding my way around when I started playing with PPC stuff.