Thread

PowerBook G3 Pismo

68kMLA Troubleshooting 15 posts Dec 20, 2008 to Dec 24, 2008

#1 Sat, 20 Dec 2008 - 03:23 68kMLA

Hey guys,

Somebody here on Craigslist listed a PowerBook G3. They said it was from the year 2000 and that it no longer worked since the battery was dead. For $15 I decided to drive 30 minutes to pick it up.

It turns out their AC adapter was busted, thankfully the PowerBook was fine!

What I got was a PowerBook G3 Pismo, 500MHz, 384MB RAM, DVD-ROM, AirPort, with FireWire/USB. It works great, it even had Mac OS X 10.4 installed. I had to use my own AC cord but, wow I'm very happy I took the drive!

#2 Sat, 20 Dec 2008 - 04:25 68kMLA

Good find! Nice to have DVD too!!

#3 Sat, 20 Dec 2008 - 04:30 68kMLA

Congratulations -- the Pismo is a great 'book!

As to the adapter, I don't know how much troubleshooting you've done, but I have fixed a nontrivial number of those UFOs. The common problem is a simple break in the cable (usually near the connector). It's a mild pain to fix, but definitely doable by the weekender.

#4 Sat, 20 Dec 2008 - 14:29 68kMLA

I hope you get pink display!!!!!!

#5 Sat, 20 Dec 2008 - 14:35 68kMLA

I hope you get pink display!!!!!!

So full of Christmas cheer, I see.... :?:

Congrats on the Pismo, LimeiBook86.

#6 Sat, 20 Dec 2008 - 14:45 68kMLA

nice, I loved both my pismos, and both died in the end. Fine machines, just a bit poky at times.

#7 Sat, 20 Dec 2008 - 20:20 68kMLA

Good find. It's always good to find something listed as "broken" and being able to find a quick and easy fix for it.

#8 Sat, 20 Dec 2008 - 20:22 68kMLA

So full of Christmas cheer, I see.... :?:

I was joking. I guess sarcasm isn't your flavor.

#9 Sat, 20 Dec 2008 - 20:24 68kMLA

Apparently, it's neither yours. :lol:

#10 Sat, 20 Dec 2008 - 20:28 68kMLA

Yeah I didn't catch that....

#11 Mon, 22 Dec 2008 - 01:15 68kMLA

As to the adapter / The common problem is a simple break in the cable (usually near the connector). It's a mild pain to fix, but definitely doable by the weekender.

Actually their Yo-Yo adapter worked fine, it was just the cable going from the adapter to the wall that's the problem. Luckily I have a third-party "mickey mouse" style cable from monoprice.com for under $2 a while ago (search for '3 prong AC power cable') and it worked fine!

I have three working Yo-Yo adapters, two have a lot of electrical tape on them... but they work! [

] ]'>

Now the battery is dead so I'm just looking for a Weight Saving device (haha) since I can't afford a new battery atm. Thankfully the screen isn't pink!

I have a trip to Italy next month, and rather then risk bringing my MacBook I'll bring the Pismo. I have a Dynex USB 2.0 card to offload the photos from my camera, along with an external HD. So just incase anything happens to the laptop it's not as huge of a loss if something were to happen to the MacBook. [

] ]'>

#12 Mon, 22 Dec 2008 - 05:56 68kMLA

Crack open the battery and take out the cells. Vola, weight saving device...

#13 Tue, 23 Dec 2008 - 01:33 68kMLA

I have always had a soft spot in my heart for the Pismo Laptops. Really cool series, and I wish I hadn't sold it (Only1jellybeanz over on AppleFritter has it, she just made a post saying it was dead

)

I did the keyboard hack on it, and the project is on my site

#14 Wed, 24 Dec 2008 - 01:34 68kMLA

Crack open the battery and take out the cells. Vola, weight saving device...

Thanks for the idea! I just carefully removed the guts of the battery now, yay.

#15 Wed, 24 Dec 2008 - 06:01 68kMLA

Hee-hee, that's what I did with my Pismo. If you clean out the gunky tape (it just peels off if you're careful and patient), it makes a great storage compartment. I've gotten many interesting stares as I pop out my "battery", open it up, and pull out my thumbdrive or earbuds. It's really quite handy!