Super Upgraded PB540c for $20!

[Byrd]

Hi,

had a really nice score on eBay - I bought a PB540c for $20 (surprisingly no other bids at all), listed as untested but with heaps of pics, including one showing slight corrosion of the battery terminals.

The main reason I purchased this Blackbird was for parts; to stockpile up on SCSI hard disks, and the screen. I've a PB540 with Apple PPC 100Mhz 603e upgrade, and the screen is really dodgy and in need of replacement.

However, I was really surprised what I found once I turned it on 8-o :

- 167Mhz 603e Newertech upgrade

- 40MB RAM

- 540MB hard disk (yet to take apart PB to check if it's a IDE drive with 2.5" SCSI adapter, fingers crossed)

- Farallon ethernet dongle

- 28.8K internal model

- Amazing condition, includes original manuals, original system disks (7.5), carry bag.

This is the PB5x0 I've always wanted - my previous two had really thin plastics, perhaps from overuse, and always felt cheap. This one is clean, and feels much studier.

The corrosion on the battery contacts isn't too bad, should clean off fine. If not, I should have enough parts to switch the copper contacts around from another 5x0.

I think I'll have to find a PCMCIA card cage one day, after this top haul

JB

 

[Byrd]

Tested it some more:

- OS 8.1 is unbearably slow to boot up; seems to be some crappy install of mixed 7.6 and 8.1 files. Scrolling was painful for starters. I disabled a few extensions and it seems much zippier, but a reinstall of OS 8.1 is definately in order.

- The Newertech NUpowr PPC card is an oddity; 167Mhz but detects 128K cache (which can be enabled/disabled using a control panel utility). Kind of weird, because they only made 183Mhz models with 128K cache.

- Battery acid was cleaned without too much fuss - it all crumbled off.

- The 540MB hard disk is an Apple SCSI model - not the 2.5" SCSI --> IDE adapter I was gunning for

Owning such a nice example of a PB500, it's only now that I realise the case plastics are different colours of grey; darker on the top lid, but largely a much lighter shade elsewhere. Quite an attractive machine really.

JB

 

[MacG4]

nice score for $20

 

[Bunsen]

- 540MB hard disk (yet to take apart PB to check if it's a IDE drive with 2.5" SCSI adapter, fingers crossed)

From memory, those only started appearing at 700MB and higher.

BTW ihateyou - I was watching that 540 for my insane MiniITX+VGA LCD idea, and thought "Naaahhh, I already have one...."

 

[funkytoad]

thats great!

 

[Byrd]

I was watching that 540 for my insane MiniITX+VGA LCD idea, and thought "Naaahhh, I already have one...."

I'm confused, how would the PB540 have been useful for a MiniITX machine?

Oh yeah

http://pcdb.overclockers.com.au/view.php?name=bYrd&page=pics

... this is my EPIA-based system which I built about five years ago; it's now running an M10000 board @ 1.2Ghz, 1GB RAM/120GB HD (soon to be 320GB and PCI video card). Bloody great system - regardless of VIA's ITX boards to be behind the times, it the most reliable PC I've ever built.

More PB540 news: installing 8.1 as I type this.

JB

 

[iamdigitalman]

very nice. I got my 540c with max ram (36mb), and a 320mb HD. If I feel so inclined, Ima gonna swap in the 1gigger sitting in my 180, which is an IDE HD on a IDE to SCSi adapter.

oh, mines the stock 68LC040, but a friend of mine offered me a few 68040 (full 040s) from 550cs, but I have not heard from him in a couple months...

mine also does not hold a charge in either battery. I am starting to suspect corrosion, and when I have time to pry it apart, i'll clean off the contacts.

-digital

 

[Bunsen]

I'm confused, how would the PB540 have been useful for a MiniITX machine?

Well, I might be wrong, but the bottom case looks like it -could- be fat enough to fit a MiniITX board. You'd have to lose the batteries, and use a new LCD, and maybe do some ugly brutalizing of the top row of ports on the backplane.

The newer boards have LVDS LCD drivers, so you don't need a VGA controller for the LCD panel.

Maybe the new NanoITX boards would be a better bet.

SO: anyone got a dead 5x0 carcass they feel like shipping to me? [] ]'>