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powerbook g3 wont show anything untill the ssd or hdd is unplug

takuminightcore

New member
hey there guys I got a PowerBook g3 recently and I had to do some stuff to it like that hard drive went bad and I had to replace it so I went ahead and installed a 128GB msata SSD with an ableconn msata to ide adapter I tried to turn it on and my computer show and it occurred a blank screen and the screen turns on and stuff like that but it doesn't even show the folder icon so I turn it off and removed the SSD and tried to turn it on and it shows the icon and it works I don't know why it's causing this and i tried researching it but nothing can anybody tell me what going on like is my SSD too much or is it the ribbon cable I would like some help

thanks
 

takuminightcore

New member
Might be something finicky or incompatible. Why not try an IDE to CF adapter?
I don’t think that’s the culprit I’ve seen plenty of Youtubers like action retro be able to put Msata On PowerBooks Before I wonder if it has something to do with the adapter I have maybe it’s just acting up I’ll see if I can get a replacementBut thank you for the comment
 

AichEss

Well-known member
The jumper on the adapter needs to be set for "master". Usually that means you just leave it off.
 

takuminightcore

New member
already trid that is there a limt capacity on ata because I'm using a 128gb ssd could it bee that the size is just too big to handle so the kernel crashes
 

AichEss

Well-known member
Maybe to start over with which PowerBook G3 you have. Certainly a Pismo will accept 128 GB SSDs; probably a Lombard will also but it will be a lot pickier about the mSata-to-IDE adapter. A Wallstreet - I don't know, maybe someone else can help..

I really, really suspect your adapter. I've used generic Asian-sourced (via eBay) adapters for years. Every once in a while one doesn't work while the rest in the lot are just fine.
 

Spidey01

Well-known member
Not sure if it will help you, but here's what happened with my Wallstreet series.

A few days ago I pulled the IDE drive to be backed up via dd in another machine. Got in an SD to IDE adapter, formatted it in Windows to do some I/O tests on the card and then installed everything in the PowerBook as its new drive to be initialized. No dice. Unit would blink the LED and power off, and forcing on would just leave it blank with the fan spinning and the LED locked on. Couldn't even boot off a floppy! Scratching my head, tonight I decided to restore the backup to the SD card so that it would at least have valid data. Still nothing. Same effects when booting without any drive, or the original drive.

And then pulled the RAM module out, booted off the HDD, and lo and behold it chimed and went about its business with just the onboard RAM. Replaced the drive with the SD adapter, and still good. Reinstalled the RAM module and booted just fine. I probably bumped the module while prying the drive up from its slot.
 
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