New (to me) Powerbook G3 Pismo, basic questions

[kkritsilas]

I just got a Powerbook G3 (Pismo) from a local electronics recycling place. It overall looks pretty good, but it is not complete. I can't tell if it powers up or not, as I didn't get the charger/power adapter with it (I got one off of eBay, its on its way, but hasn't arrived yet). It is missing some parts. Specifically, they are the screws on the bottom of the machine (there are 6 of those), the hard disk tray and cable,and 3 of the 4 Rubber feet on the bottom. The top deck isn't held on very securely because all of the bottom screws are missing, I am assuming. Questions are:

1. Does anybody know what screws are used on the bottom of the unit? (M2,M2.5,M3, or inch approximations, and length)
2. I'm going to assume that there is normally a PATA/IDE hard drive in this unit. Are there size limitations? (I am going to use both OSX 10.4 and System 9.2.2.
3. The label on the unit says it is a 400Mhz/1MB Cache/64MB/6GB unit. When I pulled out the keyboard, there was a 256MB SODIMM in the memory slot on the CPU board. I assume this was added after the machine was bought. Is there normally another SODIMM on the bottom side memory slot from the factory?
4. There is a WiFi card in the unit's WiFi slot. How do I tell which WiFi card it is? I am trying to get something that works with WPA, at least with OSX, and if possible with System 9.2.2.
5. Does the white Apple logo glow like it does on the Intel Macbook Airs when the machine is powered on, at least the one in the top cover? Just a nice to know.

I did get a battery and DVD-ROM drive with the unit, both Apple original. I am going to assume that the battery has moved onto a better place, and I won't be able to tell if the DVD-ROM works until I can get the power adapter in.

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

I can help with a few of these:
1. Don’t know
2. 120GB or thereabouts is the limit for these. They’ll accept 120GB msata SSDs in a cheap adapter just fine.
3. No idea what slot Apple used, but if the RAM doesn’t match the label, then yes it’s been upgraded. No issue there.
4. The only WiFi card these used was the Apple AirPort card and it does support WPA/TKIP on Tiger with the latest updates, but not WPA2 and no WPA on OS 9.
5. Apple logo doesn’t glow. It’s probably possible to mod it though.
On another note, I’ve got to find a place like this near me. Oh what I’d do for a free or cheap pismo!

 

[kkritsilas]

The Pismo was $16.50 Canadian. Its not a museum piece, but in better than expected overall. I think I should put some pictures on here just for reference purposes.

Thanks for helping with some of the answers. I will continue to work on this unit until I figure out that it'll never work, or until I get it going.

Being an old unit, it has a 4:3 screen. Its sort of startling to see how tall it looks, now that most screens for computers are 16:9, and even the older 16:10 screens.

 

[ArmorAlley]

I just got a Powerbook G3 (Pismo) from a local electronics recycling place. It overall looks pretty good, but it is not complete. I can't tell if it powers up or not, as I didn't get the charger/power adapter with it (I got one off of eBay, its on its way, but hasn't arrived yet). It is missing some parts. Specifically, they are the screws on the bottom of the machine (there are 6 of those), the hard disk tray and cable,and 3 of the 4 Rubber feet on the bottom. The top deck isn't held on very securely because all of the bottom screws are missing, I am assuming. Questions are:

1. Does anybody know what screws are used on the bottom of the unit? (M2,M2.5,M3, or inch approximations, and length)
2. I'm going to assume that there is normally a PATA/IDE hard drive in this unit. Are there size limitations? (I am going to use both OSX 10.4 and System 9.2.2.
3. The label on the unit says it is a 400Mhz/1MB Cache/64MB/6GB unit. When I pulled out the keyboard, there was a 256MB SODIMM in the memory slot on the CPU board. I assume this was added after the machine was bought. Is there normally another SODIMM on the bottom side memory slot from the factory?
4. There is a WiFi card in the unit's WiFi slot. How do I tell which WiFi card it is? I am trying to get something that works with WPA, at least with OSX, and if possible with System 9.2.2.
5. Does the white Apple logo glow like it does on the Intel Macbook Airs when the machine is powered on, at least the one in the top cover? Just a nice to know.

I did get a battery and DVD-ROM drive with the unit, both Apple original. I am going to assume that the battery has moved onto a better place, and I won't be able to tell if the DVD-ROM works until I can get the power adapter in.

Congratulations!

You have one of the finest machines Apple ever made: you can run Mac OS 9 up to Mac OS X 10.4 on it. I'm not sure how responsive 10.4 would be on it though. I'd go with 10.2 or 10.3. You get to run almost all software for the classic mac as well as much of the PPC-era Mac OS X software.

@3lectr1cPPC 's suggestion for an mSATA in an IDE adaptor is a good one. I've just put one into my Mac Mini G4 and I/O operations are faster.
Just be sure that it is partitioned and that each partition is less than 128GB. The first partition has to be less than 8GB.

You will have to read up on the memory: https://everymac.com/systems/apple/powerbook_g3/specs/powerbook_g3_400_fw.html

The PCMCIA slot is useful. It also supports CardBus cards. The VTBook card from VillageTronic offers 32MB VRAM and gives you the option of a second monitor. An iMate is useful if you want an ADB-slot. An eSATA PCMCIA card might be useful if you have an eSATA drive. Likewise with FW800.

Once you have it booted up, software like TattleTech will tell about the hardware.

 

[Corgi]

1. Does anybody know what screws are used on the bottom of the unit? (M2,M2.5,M3, or inch approximations, and length)

Torx T-8. There are seven, and two of them are "long". I can't find my T-8 driver right now so I can't find the exact lengths; I'll check after work tomorrow. (click thumbnail for larger size)

4. There is a WiFi card in the unit's WiFi slot. How do I tell which WiFi card it is? I am trying to get something that works with WPA, at least with OSX, and if possible with System 9.2.2.

It will do WPA, but not WPA2. The CardBus slot will accept many different cards that should give you WPA2 on Tiger, and there are USB options as well. I can find exact part numbers if you're interested.

5. Does the white Apple logo glow like it does on the Intel Macbook Airs when the machine is powered on, at least the one in the top cover? Just a nice to know.

It sure does, on mine anyway:

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

Really! I didn’t think they did, I’ll look into this.

 

[Performa450]

I thought the first partition could be any size up to 128 on these, mine is running OS X with a 64 GB mSATA in it. They can take a gig of RAM too, but I think that’s only useful for bragging rights over 512 MB, which yours may have.
Also, these have a habit of playing dead if the PRAM battery is completely flat, holding the reset button on the back or disconnecting the PRAM battery can bring a “dead” system to life.

 

[jeremywork]

2. I originally tried an OWC Mercury Pro Legacy- it works great in the TiBook, but the heatsoak from the Pismo's CPU (at least the 500MHz variant) eventually caused the disk to stop responding to IO requests. It's been very stable with an IDE-CF bridge and a Sandisk CF card, current uptime is over 98 days now...

3. My recollection is that Apple usually installed the first/largest SODIMM on the underside of the CPU boards so that the more upgrade-worthy slot is the one accessible to the user. I'd guess there was a single 64MB on the underside and nothing on the top when it shipped, but maybe I'm wrong.

4. With regard to the AirPort card, the internal slot it fits in is not quite a standard CardBus slot, so any aftermarket devices would need to consider that. I've seen aftermarket cards, but only built to provide identical features to customers who didn't want to pay Apple's markup. The external facing slot is standard CardBus and grants more traditional options.



5. I'm pretty sure the Wall Street series machines were the first to incorporate the translucent logo on the lid, but only in the Lombard and the Pismo was it exposed to the backlight.

 

[Cory5412]

w/re wifi: To confirm what Corgi said - under OS X some CardBus cards like the Linksys WPC54G work in OS X and work with WPA2 under releases of OS X that support it (e.g. 10.4.)

You'd use the cardbus slot for that, not the AirPort slot.

Lucent WaveLAN cards also work with OS 9 using the Airport drivers, in the CardBus/PCMCIA slot, if you don't want to deal with adding an airport card. (I had my pismo in 2006 and it came with a wavelan so that's how I ran)

Wre disk partitions: I believe that this hardware is limited to "like 137 or so gigs" - the last-gen TIBooks can do 160+ gig disks. Software under OS X may be able to unlock more, dunno what that's like.

OS 9 itself needs to be in a 200 gig or less partition even if you use hardware that supports bigger, such as a SATA card on a PowerMac, SCSI, or an IDE version that supports bigger volumes. OS X is AFAIK unaffected, and data-only disks aren't affected.

 

[kkritsilas]

I have gone onto the Low End Mac website, and I am using their guide to figure out which PCMCIA card to get. I don't think that the Airport card that is in there right now will allow me to go wireless with the current wireless setup that I have, so I will be using the PCMCIA/Cardbus solution for that. Sort of too bad, as I would have preferred to put a combo USB2.0/Firewire 800 PCMCIA card in there insteady, but such is life. For reference and clarity, two more pictures from the machine in question:



Like, in addition to the missing hard drive bracket and cable, that I am also missing the sheet metal shield that fits over the CPU, as well as all of the screws for the hard drive bracket, and the sheet metal shield. It would be really nice if people who are getting rid of old equipment would put the screws and brackets back when they remove the hard drives. Its not like they have any use for the brackets themselves any more.

 

[MacUp72]

it's a pity that the IDE connecting cable is missing you surely will need that for the ssd upgrade, but there should be some on eBay





RAM is normal PC100 SDRAM ( 144-pin PC100 SDRAM SO-DIMM ), upgradable up to 1GB ( recommended), on ebay.



WLAN, I twice used a normal Siemens Gigaset PC Card 54 in the PCMCIA slot, it was natively recognized as airport extreme in the system profiler and working normally with WPA2 encryption.
looks like this:



Infos on the Pismo:

PowerBook G3 400 (Firewire/Pismo) Specs (Firewire/Pismo, M7630LL/A*, PowerBook3,1, M7572, 1840-1): EveryMac.com

Technical specifications for the PowerBook G3 400 (Firewire/Pismo). Dates sold, processor type, memory info, hard drive details, price and more.

everymac.com

repairs:

PowerBook G3 Pismo Repair

Model M7572 / 400 or 500 MHz G3 processor

de.ifixit.com

 

[kkritsilas]

Some more what may be considered newbie questions about the Pismo:

1. Can I use PC133 RAM instead of PC100? There seems to be more of the PC133 variety than of the PC100.

2. There is a media bay on the right side of the machine. On my machine, I have a DVD-ROM. I know you can put a battery in there. What else was available for it? Floppy, CD-RW, Zip, anything else? Its sort of neat how there is a double door on the media bay, both doors open when a wide module is installed (like the DVD-ROM), but the smaller door would stay shut for a battery. Somebody at Apple really thought their way through this one.

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

Floppy, CD-RW, Zip

All of the above
I believe some company even made a blu-ray drive for it!
As for RAM, I'm not positive. I believe so, but I wouldn't try it until someone who knows these better replies.

 

[Corgi]

I believe some company even made a blu-ray drive for it!

FastMac. Those things are unobtainum any more, though I would love to get my paws on one. I actually use Blu-Ray as a replacement for tape as one of the three modes of long-term archival backups (a set of BD-Rs, a rotational disk, and an SSD comprise my off-site solution, taken at semi-regular intervals).

As for RAM, I'm not positive. I believe so, but I wouldn't try it until someone who knows these better replies.

Most PC133 RAM is backwards-compatible to PC100. Less so in the laptop space but it still does happen. I'm unaware of anything bad that could happen from trying it beyond "it won't boot", but I'm not entirely sure.

 

[MacUp72]

PC133, yes I have bought two CSX 512 MB PC133 in my Pismo, work fine.

 

[Performa450]

All of the above
I believe some company even made a blu-ray drive for it!
As for RAM, I'm not positive. I believe so, but I wouldn't try it until someone who knows these better replies.

Yep, it should take any laptop PATA/IDE drive as the connector in the caddy is standard, which is good, as the original combo drives didn't last long for me. A non standard drive door may not fit or look great. In another thought, I think I have an old Sony PATA Bluray drive. hmmm....
There was also an LS120 drive.

On RAM, yes, I have 1 GB of PC133 in my current Pismo.

 

[kkritsilas]

One more question on the Pismo, then I will (try) to refrain.

What is supposed to happen when you plug in a power adapter? Is there any power indicator on the power adapter or the laptop, even before hitting the power button on the laptop? Like the output end of the power adapter lighting up, or the LED on the Pismo coming on? Reason I ask is because I got a Yoyo power adapter today (ordered from eBay). The power adapter doesn't have any indication on it at all (no lights anywhere), the Pismo's power LED did not come on, and pressing the power button on the Pismo didn't do anything either. I used a multimeter on the oitput jack, and get nothing. I tried moving the AC plug from one outlet to another outlet (different circuit), no difference. I then used my multimeter to check the AC cord of the Yoyo adapter, and got 121.4V. So its not the AC cord that is at fault. I don't know if its the Yoyo adapter or the Pismo. Does the Yoyo adapter need a load to start putting output voltage out?

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

I don't believe they do anything when off. Almost guarantee if you unplug the PRAM battery it will start right up. Pismos are notorious for not booting with a dead PRAM battery, but they will boot with no PRAM battery.

No need to refrain from questions, we're here to answer them!

 

[kkritsilas]

The PRAM battery is disconnected already' it was the first thing I did when I got the machine. Flipped up the keyboard, saw the little two pin connector, and pulled it (it was rather stiff) out of the connector on the board. I also tried pressing the reset button on the back panel. No indications of any type of life when I pressed the power button.

Does anybody know of any repair videos for the Yoyo adapter?

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

Did you order the adapter as working? I've heard that can be unreliable, although I've had my 2 since 2018 with no issues. Have you tested the output from the DC end of the adapter?