I HATE waiting! (Aluminum G4)

#1 Fri, 2 Dec 2011 - 16:42 68kMLA

I hate waiting for something I know will be here today. I won a 867MHz 12" Aluminum PowerBook on eBay the other day for a whopping $66. The problem? The superdrive doesn't work and the seller said it runs extremely slow. I think it's either because it was running Tiger with 128MB RAM, or the hard drive could be going. Either way, it was certainly worth the $66.

#2 Fri, 2 Dec 2011 - 16:49 68kMLA

Nice, conquest, I'd be very impatient too! :approve:

#3 Sat, 3 Dec 2011 - 03:01 68kMLA

Got it!

And.... it's already fixed! It was a bad hard drive. First startup had artifacts on the screen, second one it KP'ed at the apple logo. Put a new HD in it and it solved the problem!

#4 Sat, 3 Dec 2011 - 05:48 68kMLA

Pics -

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Yes... Nina Hagen. My ex-girlfriend got me listening to her... and now I can't stop. I can sing every word in German, but I can't understand a dang bit of it without translated lyrics.

#5 Sat, 3 Dec 2011 - 08:42 68kMLA

Those really were the Pismo of their time. Nearly a perfect portable. My Mom's went to my cousin. I'm hoping one of these days it finds it's way back to me.

Nice score, BGoins12. I love it when they come with original boxes.

#6 Sat, 3 Dec 2011 - 11:59 68kMLA

Oh yeah... I love it. I'm just glad I made the impulse decision to bid on it. The only thing I don't look forward to is the superdrive replacement... total nightmare. So, it will probably never be replaced. :lol:

#7 Sat, 3 Dec 2011 - 22:26 68kMLA

It shouldn't be as bad as it looks. Use good screwdrivers and print out the take-apart guide from ifixit.com. You can tape down your screws, etc onto the pictures in the guide. That way, you won't lose any or get the wrong screw in the wrong hole when you out it back together.

#8 Mon, 5 Dec 2011 - 11:50 68kMLA

I might fix it. An optical drive really isn't even necessary for me on a portable. I sorta think it was dumb on Apple's part to require logic board removal to replace the drive.

#9 Thu, 8 Dec 2011 - 19:06 68kMLA

Dang I love this thing. I swear I'm on it more than my Dell. I maxed out the RAM (1152MB), so it's not bad at all.

#10 Thu, 8 Dec 2011 - 21:53 68kMLA

Wait, it accepts >640??? I thought 640 was the hard cap! (And here I've been running mine under-max since 2003!)

Well, as soon as I find myself a Titanium G4, I'll sell my 12" AlBook anyway. Tried to get a 667 MHz DVI TiBook from Craigslist for $100 last week, but never got a reply. And now that I look again, I see one listed in the same part of town, with similar-but-not-the-same photos, for $150.......

#11 Thu, 8 Dec 2011 - 22:07 68kMLA

Wait, it accepts >640??? I thought 640 was the hard cap! (And here I've been running mine under-max since 2003!)

These 'books use DDR RAM which you can get 1GB sticks for - the older SDRAM models that'd be 512MB modules max. My wife uses a PB 867, which I picked up for $30 or something a good few years ago. Someone basically used a screwdriver to basically rip up the top lid to gain access to the HD. Thankfully, it bended back nicely. Then the onboard 128MB RAM module completely failed - so it doesn't chime - but boots fine off the 1GB stick in there, and never missed a beat, go figure.

JB