3 More Additions

[iMac600]

First i'll say thank you to Byrd for sending these across. Couldn't be happier with the outcome, the way they were packed... everything.

PowerBook G3/266 - I was particularly after this one. It's a very

nice machine, could do with more RAM (which i'll do later) and perhaps a

new hard disk drive. Unfortunately it won't power up due to a problem

with the AC board, so i'll either try and fix this one or source up another

board. Who is the resident PowerBook G3 expert here, because I have a

question or two.

IBM ThinkPad A20m - Dead. I intend to pull the parts off it and put

them into my ThinkPad 600 if they'll fit, otherwise i'll use them for another

project.

PowerBook 520c - Now i've wanted to boot this one up but none of

my AC adapters work, so I can't really power it on. Otherwise it's in great

physical shape and works just fine when it was last tested recently.

 

[MacG4]

on the wallstreet you will need to find a replacement sound board. i have replaced more of these than i would care to remember. its quite a process but not overall to hard to do.

 

[iMac600]

That's the problem, there's no AC/Sound boards on eBay Australia and there's no chance in hell i'm ordering it from an overseas store. It's fix this one, find one in Australia or part the machine out.

Apparently the capacitor on the board is broken, so maybe i'll try and recap it.

 

[Franklinstein]

I've been working on the WallStreets more times than I care to remember, so I know a fair amount about them.

The most common problem with those things is the power jack. They usually didn't use enough solder when they made 'em, so the joints break really easily. If I were you, I'd touch 'em all up and see if that makes a difference. As for the capacitors, I think there are only a few ceramics on that board, maybe one or two small electrolytics. I haven't seen one go bad on there yet, though.

What screen size did you get? The 14.1" displays have a tendency to become washed-out after a while (two out of seven did that to me, no fix for it), the 13.3" displays often have problems with vertical lines (usually correctable by reseating the display's cables, all of my 13" were like that), and the STN 12"ers just look bad.

I've got the Apple Service Source manual for it on a CD somewhere. If you don't have it, I could get it to you somehow...

 

[iMac600]

Apparently one of the capacitor legs had snapped but was resoldered. It's possible the leg snapped for a reason and it needs a new cap, otherwise i'll take it over to the electronics workshop and have it tested to find the faulty component.

I hope... :/

 

[Bunsen]

What's your objection to purchasing from overseas?

 

[Torbar]

What's your objection to purchasing from overseas?

My guess is extremely expensive shipping

 

[MacG4]

What's your objection to purchasing from overseas?

My guess is extremely expensive shipping

that would be it!

 

[LCGuy]

PAF?

 

[iMac600]

PAF AND Shipping.

Anyway, good news, I opened the G3 and it has no damage at all, the AC board was just unseated. Fit it in right and it booted right up no problems.



Sadly it's only a 233mhz, which means it has no L2 cache and what not, but hey, it's a PowerBook G3 and it only cost me $25! I'm stoked!

 

[coius]

glad to hear you got it running

 

[Franklinstein]

Sadly it's only a 233mhz, which means it has no L2 cache and what not

Just 'cuz it's a 233 doesn't mean it has no L2; only the initial versions lacked a L2. Later models (WallStreet II/PDQ) included a 512k L2 in the 233 and 266MHz versions, and a 1MB on the 300. A quick check with System Profiler (or a glance at the processor board) would reveal whether or not you have a cache.

 

[Byrd]

As we all know: whohoo! Great work iMac 600, can anyone tell us does the original Wallstreet 292Mhz CPU work fine in a 233Mhz Wallstreet? From what iMac 600 has been saying it's an original WS, not the WSII/PDQ.

Coz if so I've got something for you

JB

 

[iMac600]

Hehe, i'm still not 100% certain what revision it is. I don't recall seeing any mention of a cache in System Profiler, but nor did I see the firmware revision so it could be either yet.

Installing OS X 10.2 now for kicks... should be nice when it's up and running completely. For now though I face another problem. The installer starts and displays the grey Apple logo, but after it switches to the GUI part of the installer, the LCD cuts out completely, as if it's in "dimmed display" mode.

When I disconnected the power the backlights came on for a brief second displaying the OS X install wizard, but since the power was cut it didn't go any further. So at least it's working, just not 100%.

 

[Franklinstein]

does the original Wallstreet 292Mhz CPU work fine in a 233Mhz Wallstreet?

As long as iMac600's computer is indeed the original WallStreet, there should be no problems. It may not work in the second revision, tho. Also, keep in mind that the 292MHz model runs at 83MHz, and thus requires PC100 RAM (not that PC66 is common anymore, but just so ya know). Plus, the original 12" model lacks SVideo-out and has only 2MB of VRAM, so it probably wouldn't be worth it to upgrade it any. If you've got the 13 or 14" displays, though, or the later 12" TFT types, you would have SVideo out and 4MB of VRAM.

the LCD cuts out completely, as if it's in "dimmed display" mode.

This is another issue with these machines. Whether yours has the RAGE LT (WallStreet) or RAGE LT PRO (WallStreet II), OS X often has problems with the display. Usually just the backlight cuts out and you can get it back by fiddling with the display brightness control or sleeping/waking once or twice. Other times, graphical corruption is also present, and there's really no fixing that without restarting, zapping PRAM 100 times, and/or using some kind of voodoo magic.

However, IIRC, XPostFacto (though technically not required for 10.2) comes with patched kexts for those video chips that should provide a remedy to the situation. You'd have to visit OWC's website for details, though.

 

[iMac600]

Indeed it does, I had 10.2 on there but this machine is now humming along nicely with Mac OS X Panther, no graphical issues.

It has the 4mb VRAM, no L2 Cache and a 14" display I think. It's Active Matrix, I know that for sure because it just redraws so fast. RAM is all PC100.

In the long run, it could use a new PRAM battery, a RAM boost, a HDD boost and maybe a CPU kick-up with cache. Otherwise, i'm very happy with it.

 

[beachycove]

Just 'cuz it's a 233 doesn't mean it has no L2; only the initial versions lacked a L2. Later models (WallStreet II/PDQ) included a 512k L2 in the 233 and 266MHz versions, and a 1MB on the 300. A quick check with System Profiler (or a glance at the processor board) would reveal whether or not you have a cache.

I have three of these, a cachless 233, a 233 with 512 cache, and a 266. Actually the 266 has 1 MB cache, and is a much better processor than the 233/ 512 cache for that simple reason (what's 33 MHz?). The 300s are relatively rare and were (as I recall) troublesome due to overheating problems. My 266 hasn't skipped a beat. I'd look for one of those for the Wallstreet.

Mind you, pretty soon the aftermarket G3 and G4 upgrade boards for the Wallstreet will be about as cheap as a stock 266 processor card.

 

[bluekatt]

and if you do all thats its not even the same bloody powerbook any more

i love this powerbook but i nearly gutted it

 

[MacG4]

Heres the thing about switching processers between the different models

- the 233mhz, 266mhz and the 300mhz processers can be be used and interchanged with each other

-the 250mhz and 292mhz processers can only be interchanged with each other becuase of the system bus speed.