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October 1st through 7th Archives

Monday, October 7th 2002 15:09 CDT

Powerbook Tech Comes Aboard

Powerbook Tech has joined the ranks of supportive advertisers of The PowerBook Zone. They offer parts for G3 PowerBooks, from Wallstreet to Pismo at reasonable prices. They also offer a full-service repair option if you're uncomfortable repairing your PowerBook on your own. Repair service costs $50 total, no matter how much labor is required, plus any parts that are necessary for the repair.

If you need a repair or part, choose PowerBook Tech.

Lombard Cache Responses

A few readers wrote in regarding Lombard cache issues:

This is to confirm that my L2 cache on my Lombard 333MHz went bad on Friday afternoon, just hours after reading about the problem in your web site.

Please do not publish my name or e-mail address on the site. I am writing this letter as a courtesy because your site explicitly asked if others can confirm the problem. The PB is in the shop now.

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I too had the failed L2 cache. It's true that the PowerBooks are close to four years old, and are out of warranty, but from what I've seen here and on O'Grady's Power page, it seems to be a pretty widespread situation. I know Apple probably won't do anything about it, but in cases like this in the auto industry, recalls are issued and the problem is rectified without cost to the consumer.

In my case, I opted to buy the PowerLogix Blue Chip LS G4 500. It's a good chip and was easy to install. I'm running 512 MB of RAM, and the bottom of the book gets a little toasty, but I have the CoolPad thing, so I can deal with it.

I'm running OS X 10.2, and after applying the Rage Pro Fix to speed up the video to a tolerable level, it's a pretty good PowerBook.

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I have a 400 Lombard that had the L2 cache problem. It was sent to microdocusa for repairs and they determined that they would send it off to Apple. It went to Apple 4 times before it was done right. Currently after 2 weeks, it is still doing great. The cost of repairs and shipping was almost $500.

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I took my 333 MHz Lombard into the local Mac outlet in the UK as I was having a problem booting up. I can't boot from OS-9 anymore, and can only reboot on OS-X after hitting the reset button. I did a clean install when I upgraded from OS X to X.2, first installing OS 9.2.1. When installing OS 9, I got a message that there was a problem with my Cache Memory. I was told by the service guy that I need a new PRAM battery and that it will cost me £100 or so... He seemed pretty familiar with this problem - it only took him about 10 seconds to give this diagnosis!

Pismo IR Window Replacement Options

A few readers wrote with their solutions for replacing the red IR window on the back left of Pismo PowerBooks:

http://www.pbparts.com

They're quick. Took 4 days to get to ireland. usually takes 6 weeks

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I ordered one and then found my old broken one. Apparently it's best to glue them in.

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The IR door on my Pismo fell off about a year ago. I took it to an Apple repair place but they did not have parts for PowerBooks and told me to call Apple. I called Apple and they said that it involves replacing the entire plastic case. Luckily I found the plastic cover and just super glued it on. I haven't had a problem since.

Another PowerBook Sighting

Erik Estrada + Pamela Anderson + PowerBooks == fun:

Also, is it me, or am I the only one who's noticed that on the show "V.I.P."- Pamela Anderson's series, they all use Pismos at their command center? I don't normally watch that show, but I saw Erik Estrada on the show, being a "CHiPs" fan, so I stopped flipping channels. That's when I noticed everyone's favorite PowerBook. Not one, but five!

Friday, October 4th 2002 12:00 CDT

Lili Spares LA Major Damage

When we finally turned into bed Wednesday night, Lili's wind speeds were increased again, reported to be 150 MPH. At 8 AM the next morning, the winds were down to 100 MPH. For some reason--and meterologists are generally baffled as to why--the storm lost all of its severe winds. Make no mistake, Lili still caused substantial damage on the coastal areas, but no lives were lost, and inland areas fared quite well, included our home of Baton Rouge. We were quite lucky.

Griffin Releases "Final Vinyl;" Software Makes Vinyl Recording Easy

Griffin sent over a press release for a neat new product that works in conjunction with their iMic:

NASHVILLE, TN ­ October 3, 2002. Griffin Technology, Inc. today announced the first beta release of Final Vinyl, an OS X only audio application that allows users to easily record their collection of old vinyl records using just the Griffin iMic and their turntable. Previously users wishing to record their old record collection had to hook up their entire stereo system just to power their turntable. Now users can connect the record player directly to their iMic, and using Final Vinyl record and save all their old albums. They can then make them into CDs, MP3s etc. The beta version of Final Vinyl is available now for free download at www.griffintechnology.com.

Final Vinyl does more than just record old albums; it is a fully functional general audio recording application as well. It can be used to record instruments, microphones and reel-to-reel tapes plugged into the iMic. It includes a 10-band Equalizer that is capable of significantly altering and enhancing a user¹s sound input. For example, inexpensive microphones could be improved by tweaking the base response. Old worn records can be fine tuned and tonally corrected. All this and more can be done using the completely free Final Vinyl combined with the Griffin iMic.

Final Vinyl is designed to work with the Griffin iMic, one of the most popular and inexpensive USB audio devices in the world. The Griffin iMic adds high quality stereo input and output to any USB based Macintosh and includes a switch to select between microphone or line inputs. It is also plug-and-play ­ no installation is required for iMic to work on any Macintosh computer. With the combination of an iMic and the new Final Vinyl software, recording an entire album collection has never been easier or more affordable.

Reader Seeks PB 3400 Help

Reader Donald begs:

I have a PB 3400 with a loose mains connection on the motherboard; so loose that it's about to give up the ghost. The local repair shop said that the only fix is to change the entire motherboard, which is not worth the price. I have seen that VST used to make an expansion bay power adaptor but cannot locate one, even though I've had a search out on Ebay for the last 4 months. I was hoping that someone might help me locate one!?

Faulty L2 Cache a Lombard Trend?

Reader Marc worries that his Lombard is part of a larger trend and we want to find out:

I have a Lombard 400Mhz G3 PB that just died on me as a result of faulty cache memory on the microprocessor board.

After just an hour on the web trying to get info, I've seen countless occurrences of people reporting this same problem, always with a Lombard and always originating with the L2 cache on the processor card. For some, the PB woks fine, as mine did for a short while, just without the L2 cache. For other like me, the cache problem just eventually lead to a dead microprocessor card! People on e-bay are even auctionning "dead" processor cards (two at the present moment and a few more in the recent past).

Just wondering if this is a generalized problem and if there is any remote chance of Apple recognizing this problem and giving Lombard PB owners with a dead card a break?? Replacement parts are ridiculously expensive and even refurbished cards aren't cheap.

Pismo Infrared Port Cover Replacement?

Longtime reader Matt asks:

My Pismo has been a workhorse for the last two years but I'm feeling the need to upgrade obviously however the current crop isn't quite good enough that I'd upgrade so I'm looking at fixing some of the minor problems that I have on the Pismo. Most are just scratches and slight cracks (as I said, it's a workhorse) but I arrived in work and discovered that during its travels it managed to lose the IR port door so my internals are exposed to the world. This makes me a bit nervous.

Is there anywhere I could get a replacement IR door? It's just a little piece of red plastic and it would mean my workhorse would be at least a little more comfortable in its convalescence.

Thursday, October 3rd 2002 00:01 CDT

Third Time's the Charm

Twice in the past, once just this past week, we've had a threat to our publishing headquarters by tropical activity. In 1998, Hurricane Georges looked to be bearing down, but left us with clear skies and hit Mississippi and Alabama. Last week, Tropical Storm Isidore caused $100 million in damage in Louisiana, but that's a relatively small amount, and there were no deaths.

However, it seems as if the third time is the charm with Hurricane Lili. Just one week following Tropical Storm Isidore, Lili is following roughly the same path, but with 145 MPH (and possibly strengthening) winds. It will be the most powerful hurricane to make landfall in the United States since Hurricane Andrew hit Florida at Category 5 level before hitting Louisiana two days later at Category 3 a little more than a decade ago.

Our publishing headquarters is in Baton Rouge, LA. While we should be safe from any serious damage, and there are no evacuation orders here, we expect to be without power for a few days up to a week, based on our experience with Hurricane Andrew. Our servers and files are handled by Pair in Pittsburgh, PA, so that's not a concern. All orders for FireWire enclosures that we had were shipped out yesterday. New orders will probably be ready to go by Monday.

Keep an eye on Weather.com, the National Hurricane Center, and our local news sites The Advocate and WBRZ if you're interested in local news.

Tuesday, October 1st 2002 10:19 CDT

Another Musical PB Sighting

Another reader sent in this sighting:

Paul McCartney¹s tour also uses PowerBooks with two Tibooks and a Pismo being visibly used. One Ti and the Pismo were for the keyboards and synths and the other Ti ran the teleprompter for the scrolling lyrics monitors. On his Flaming Pie special he demonstrated composing on a G4 tower using something like Finale. His producer on his current album did a lot of production work using Logic and he was recently said to have given Paul an iPod with all the potential mixes for his upcoming live album and DVD. Macca uses MAC . Kind of odd that he and Steve Jobs and respective partners both founded Apple ;¹}

.Mac Reaches 180,000 Members

Apple announced today that .Mac has reached over 180,000 in paid subscribers, according to this press release. If you think about it, almost all of those 180,000 paid members paid the $49.95 introductory price, so that's nearly $9 million in revenue that wasn't there before for Apple. The number goes up if there were a substantial amount of $99 paid members.

Surprise Surprise! Steve Jobs to Keynote Macworld Expo SF

IDG Expos stunned the Mac community today by announcing that Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO, will be keynoting the Macworld Expo San Francisco in early January. Color us shocked.

Monday, September 30th 2002 14:26 CDT

The Boss and The 'Book

Reader Joe sent this PowerBook sighting in:

I was at the Bruce Springsteen concert in Milwaukee on 9/27. I stood in line all day to get a spot in front of the stage. Needless to say, the concert was tremendous. After the show ended, I made my way back to the sound mixing area to see what kind of sound mixing console the sound engineers were using (a huge Yamaha PM series). Immediately behind the sound mixers, was a big work station with several LCD flat panels (not apple), and I spied a PISMO PowerBook! This work station was either stage lighting control, or real-time video editing for the simulcast on the LCD screens beside the stage. I briefly looked for the CPUs driving the LCD panels, but I was tired, my ears were ringing, and the house lights were dim, so I was simply content to see an Apple PowerBook playing a role in producing a Bruce Springsteen concert. Neat. Anyone else with sightings can send them in here.

Cheap Pismo Batteries?

Though Lithium Ion batteries are the best technology available now, they too can degrade in performance over time. Reader Steven wants to know where to find some replacement batteries for a Pismo cheaper than $150:

Do you know of a good place to purchase a Pismo Powerbook battery? I bought an additional battery when I got my Pismo Powerbook for about 70 bucks, and now I see them listed on MacMall for about $150. Do you know of somewhere cheaper to get them?

We feel sure there are both people who know where to get new batteries for less than $150 and lots of people who are seeking new batteries. Send in your tips here.

Tiny 4 Port USB Hub

IOGear calls their "MiniHub" the thinnest 4-port USB hub out there. It's about the size of a credit card and is 1 cm thick. It's available now for $15.

iSync Beta Available

A beta copy of iSync that's good until February 28th, 2003 can be downloaded from Apple's iSync site here.