getting this found powerbook 12" 1.33ghz unit working but not seeing some ram

[part12studios]

Hi everyone, so from the Mac Museum I was able to find ONE working unit but even that one was missing parts.. namely the PSU and a battery (big gaping hole under it)..   but the unit was said to boot according to a sticky note.

So I got a PSU for cheap (like under $20 or so with shipping) and it arrived today from ebay, it ain't pretty and it's definitely showing its age but not too scary...

I also got my hands on a local seller of a 12" powerbook but it's a 1.0ghz model.. HOWEVER the battery it came with (the main reason i got it) turns out to hold a decent charge..  AND it had 512mb DDR chip it it.

However, I moved that chip from the 1.0ghz "spare" to the 1.33ghz unit and it appears to not see the 512mb extra.. only the built in 256mb memory.. but it booted ok so it wasn't like the memory is likely to be bad in that case.

Is there some trick I need to do to get the mac to see the ram?  I assumed the mac was advanced enough to auto detect like later macs do. 

also these have a Ultra ATA/100 hard drive, is there an SSD solution for powerbooks?  I know they make IDE to SATA but would there be something small enough for powerbooks to have an ssd adapter?  I know the adapter I used in my G4 tower was no biggie because i had lots of space..  but yea i'd love to retire that old / slow / power sucking spinner with a quiet SSD


oh and if i want to reinstall OSX tiger on it.. it's a generic install right?  shouldn't have any drivers issues or anything?  would worry that the system disks might be specific to the particular models..  i seem to recall my 17" macbook pro or maybe it was an iMac that came with system disks that were intended for THAT computer, not universal.   

Thanks!
Caleb

[part12studios]

Ok so yes turns out the memory from the 1.0ghz unit was PC2100, not PC2700..  sigh.. oh well..  should be able to find that ram cheap enough somewhere...   

[SDG]

mSATA to IDE is the way to go with these. Opening these up to change the hard drive is not for the faint-hearted, though.

[part12studios]

Thanks for the warning!  I figured it wouldn't be a simple operation.  would this be suitable? 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/New-44-pin-2-5-IDE-HDD-SSD-Laptop-Hard-Drive-to-Male-SATA-Adapter-connector/272726409200?hash=item3f7fc2bff0:g:G5oAAOSwnh5cGgvi 

looks fairly compact but having not opened one of these powerbooks before I want to be sure it's not incredibly tight and impossible for anything other than an actual drive to go in there.

[GorfTheChosen]

Thanks for the warning!  I figured it wouldn't be a simple operation.  would this be suitable? 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/New-44-pin-2-5-IDE-HDD-SSD-Laptop-Hard-Drive-to-Male-SATA-Adapter-connector/272726409200?hash=item3f7fc2bff0:g:G5oAAOSwnh5cGgvi 

looks fairly compact but having not opened one of these powerbooks before I want to be sure it's not incredibly tight and impossible for anything other than an actual drive to go in there.

An iFixit guide can be your friend  :

https://www.ifixit.com/Device/PowerBook

[part12studios]

yea that was a nice video on youtube also of a 12" being opened up so that was awesome as well (he points to the same guide!)

Not toooooo bad, but yea not fun either.  I'd just love to get rid of the spinner in it.. noisy and sucks more battery power.. not to mention old, thus prone to break at some point anyway..

[part12studios]

ATA drives (not SATA) are still basically the same pin configuration of IDE drives right?   just making sure I can explore buying the right kind of compact adapter. 

[part12studios]

i guess my point is that a product like this is what i see out there:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/7-15-Pin-SATA-SSD-HDD-Female-to-2-5-44Pin-IDE-Male-Adapter-for-Laptop-LW/253896916102?hash=item3b1d6f7c86:g:eAUAAOSwaelbqy85

this looks promising but i'm concerned that maybe ATA66 is not backwards compatible to IDE.. because i can't seem to find an "ATA" to "SATA" adapter.. but i do remember that ATA 3.5" HDs appeared to have the same pin configuration (if memory serves) as IDE.   It was when SATA came along that the interface radically changed to what we know and love today..    but I may be mistaken.. i was more of a laptop computer user when SATA was introduced.. 

[GorfTheChosen]

i guess my point is that a product like this is what i see out there:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/7-15-Pin-SATA-SSD-HDD-Female-to-2-5-44Pin-IDE-Male-Adapter-for-Laptop-LW/253896916102?hash=item3b1d6f7c86:g:eAUAAOSwaelbqy85

this looks promising but i'm concerned that maybe ATA66 is not backwards compatible to IDE.. because i can't seem to find an "ATA" to "SATA" adapter.. but i do remember that ATA 3.5" HDs appeared to have the same pin configuration (if memory serves) as IDE.   It was when SATA came along that the interface radically changed to what we know and love today..    but I may be mistaken.. i was more of a laptop computer user when SATA was introduced..

Essentially the two terms are used interchangeably:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_ATA

[part12studios]

Ah ok so would you say it's safe to say that an IDE to SATA convert would be compatible with Ultra ATA/100 controller in the powerbook? 

[GorfTheChosen]

Ah ok so would you say it's safe to say that an IDE to SATA convert would be compatible with Ultra ATA/100 controller in the powerbook?

I'd think it's probably a reasonable bet.

Further, one could say that the Ultra ATA/100 controller is probably compatible with the IDE to SATA converter - at least from a speed standpoint.

IOW, the Ultra ATA/100 controller should see the speeds the IDE to SATA converter is capable of running at and adjust accordingly.

But I'm certainly no expert.

[part12studios]

Well for less than $6 it's worth a shot.

Mostly just needed some sanity check before i totally thrown that money out the window..  still not sure if it will physically fit with the drive, but to make it SSD is worth a shot.   Don't need high capacity just want to cut down on battery drain and make it more quiet as well as just newer / more reliable for the future. 

I have two 12" macbooks i'm trying to restore..   just bought a "for parts" 3rd off ebay to hopefully find another decent battery that isn't $200!   even if it doesn't hold a great charge, one of them was missing a battery outright and having that gaping hole on the underside is irksome..  even if it doesn't hold a charge i'd just want something there for fillers sake.

[part12studios]

ooooo snap man.. they have these..  this is amazing.. because it's straight up a case for those M Sata drives!   this is perfect because it's going to definitely fit and great performance..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAeexVqA7tA   didn't realized such a drive existed. 

[part12studios]

omg that's the greatest thing ever..  may consider doing something like this for some other older computers..  even my amiga would rock having one of these in there..  for basically $35 shipping and everything i will have a 64gb SSD inside the Powerbook..  I'm VERY curious to see if it boots much faster.. and how it will help the battery life.  Faster, more quiet and better battery life.  got a 1gb card for it for $7.. 

[part12studios]

So I got my hands on another 12" macbook with parts included..  but noticed something odd..  it's a 1.5ghz (faster than my other two) and it's apparently lacking WIFI.. is this maybe because it was opted out when the person bought it or maybe it's defective and therefore not showing up (IE, were all powerbooks wifi enabled as a standard?).

I'm going to have to open up possibly all of them to replace the batteries..  need to research it but hoping it's just a user replaceable 2032 battery and not some soldered on jobby..

faack..  of course not..  soldering..  not to bad i guess.. 

tutorial
https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/PowerBook+G4+PRAM+Battery+Replacement/3662

part that looks compatible
https://www.ebay.com/itm/REPLACEMENT-BATTERY-FOR-SNES-NINTENDO-SAVE-GAME-CR2032-WELDED-PRONGS-TABS-E36/380630512975?hash=item589f58b54f:g:ZIMAAMXQNbxResEK