G3 PB declared DOA...

[Banana]

as of 9:48 AM, July 14, 2004, and certified by a Genius at local Apple store.

So I have two questions- what would be a good external case for the HD, and whether if it's feasible to get a new logic board and keep the case.

However, the data on HD should be recoverable, and they suggested to put it in a FW external case for $75. I think I can do it myself for less, so am asking if there's any good suggestion on case, especially for a HD coming from a laptop (it looks smaller than 3.5" when they showed me the HD, I think)?

As for option of replacing the logic board/processor;

AFAIK, the case, ports, and screen all should work. Battery and adapter may have to be replaced mainly due to its age. I don't need a top of line G4 ibook and would be satisfied with a fairly old logic board, since it'll be an improvement over the one I have now. (I can't remember mhz- it was a G3... 400 or 500 mhz?). I did some looking, and looks like the current one is $250, same as what they said at the store, and I could get a G4 500 mhz for about $350. Would it make any difference here?

TIA.

[ghoti]

It's a 2.5" hard disk. There are lots of external cases available for them, just shop around. I got one with only USB for € 18; if you only want to get the data off, that should be sufficient. FW cases cost quite a bit more, the cheapest I have seen were around € 50.

[Brad]

$75 actually isn't too expensive for one with a FireWire interface.

Google for "firewire enclosure notebook drive" and see what you get. There are USB 2.0 drive enclosures that are typically much cheaper, though.

[FFL]

$75 is a great price if it includes the case, but I suspect that's labor only.

try here
http://www.macdrives.com/fw4-usb2-25minicase.html
or at fwdepot.com

As far as repairing it, that's throwing good money after bad IMHO. I'd eBay it out for parts and buy an iBook.

[Banana]

Thanks for pointing out the USBs and the advices. Much obliged.

[Banana]

I just realized- the HD may or may not be ATA (I checked the specs at Apple- some model has ATA while other uses IDE), so I'm going to play it safe and get an enclosure that supports ATA, but strangely, there's nothing on website to incidate it supports ATA.

Should I be concerned?

[709]

Don't fret. The PowerBooks all use similar disk drives. Don't worry about the IDE/ATA thing. At this point it's a non-issue.

I've got quite a few of these (http://www.transintl.com/store/category.cfm?Category=2517&RequestTimeOut=500), but I'd encourage you to look elsewhere for the best deal.

[Banana]

Great! Now going to the Best Buy to get myself a enclosure.

Thanks!

709, that's a cool looking one.

[Ebby]

However, the data on HD should be recoverable, and they suggested to put it in a FW external case for $75.
Fry's just had a sale on external laptop drives enclosures: $4. :smokey: I picked me up one. It's USB 2 but still darn fast.

[darshu]

I just realized- the HD may or may not be ATA (I checked the specs at Apple- some model has ATA while other uses IDE), so I'm going to play it safe and get an enclosure that supports ATA, but strangely, there's nothing on website to incidate it supports ATA.

Should I be concerned?

ATA and IDE are essentially the same thing. (Serial-ATA however is not)
They are all essentially revisions of the same spec. The name IDE means Integrated Drive Electronics, and it comes from a time when prior to all hard drives used in PCs did _not_ have "integrated drive electronics", they were MFM, RLL or ARLL and were actually directly controlled by a separate card in the PC. IDE allowed for the adoption of a more logical command set (you can think of it as being sort of higher level, rather than "spin this part of your motor, move the disk head by this much, etc).

ATA stands for "AT Attachment", where "AT" stands for "Advanced Technology", the term AT was used for IBM's PC archictecture when they first made a PC using the 80286 processor from Intel. (As opposed to their previous architecture, XT (eXtended Technology)). Essentially various revisions of the system have increased the speed of it, with UltraDMA/33 (also known as UltraATA or whatever), then UltraDMA/66, UltraDMA/100 and so on, the numbers specifiy the theoretical maximum number of MB per-second that can be transfered (virtually never acheived). There are also known varyingly as UltraATA-3, -4 and -5 , or sometimes just ATA-3, -4, -5, ...

A normal 3.5" HD like in a desktop has a 40 pin IDE connector and a separate power connector, the laptop 2.5" HDs have a 44 pin connector that combines the IDE and power signals.

All these technologies are backwards/forwards compatiable, and with a suitable cable you can even connect a laptop drive internally to a desktop. Anyways this is probably way more than you wanted to know, I just felt like babbling :P The main point is you have no reason to worry about it, the only possible slip-up would be if the powerbook actually had a SCSI drive. Although I don't think any of the Powerbooks ever did.

[Jerman]

Here is the external enclosure I purchased:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817146604

It is 36.99 and works great. (Made out of aluminum) and has USB 2 and Firewire. There is a firewire only version, but it only costs a dollar less. Anyways, had nothing but good luck with mine.

[torifile]

I've got the same enclosure. It was a breeze to put together and I haven't had a single problem with it.

[DMBand0026]

Great! Now going to the Best Buy to get myself a enclosure.

Thanks!

709, that's a cool looking one.

Best Buy sucks balls.

Buy on teh internet!

Cheaper, and you don't have to deal with the idiot teenager that Best Buy staffs their computer departments with.

[CobaltFire]

lol, I second the "idiot teenager" thing. I was actually told that I knew too much to work there. They said that the didn't need hard-core tech guys, they just needed people to sell stuff. Needless to say, I don't talk to those people anymore.

[DMBand0026]

Exactly, they don't care if people know how to use the fancy new computer they just bought, they just want them to walk out of there with product in hand. Most of the time people buy more than they'll ever need because the sales people are told to push them in that direction.

And now Best Buy is making a killing off the Geek Squad (glorified IT guys) because they sell people a computer that they don't know how to use, or set up, or even turn on, and they charge $110 an hour to show you how to use the mouse.

Screw that, I'll do it for like 20 bucks an hour and run those losers out of business.

[Quagmire]

Screw that, I'll do it for like 20 bucks an hour and run those losers out of business.

Want to be partners? We split the profits 50-50. Heh. Best Buy are full of idiots. They pulled a similar stunt with my bro with the iPod. " Battery lasts 7 months, and you have to cough up $250. Might as well buy a new iPod. Apple scams you. While here we can remove the original battery and replace it for you. We also back up your music( so we can pirate it as well)." I chimed in and everyone saw me owning the person behind the desk.

[Banana]

Funny, that.

The "best buys sucks balls" came after I went there. I ended not getting anything cos (silly of me) I thought that if they sell it for $20 on their website, they'd have one in store. They didn't and they only had one product and it charged 49.99. Its not even FW for crying out lloud! :eek: :err:

So I said, no thanks and walked away. (In my head, giving them the finger) :p

EDIT=Cobaltfire, not surprised. Its standard operating procerhures for a big box retailer to not hire any intelligent person, any person with past retail experience, any pro unioners. They are purely interested in "fresh meats." This way, they can fuck and fuck whenever and wherever they like. I know. I've been there and still smarting from that rape.