Pismo Battery and Screen Problems, Zip vs. Hard Drive for Backup, and MacBook Air Packaging

• Pismo Battery Problems
• Fuzzy Pismo Screen
• Backup to Zip Disks vs. Hard Drive
• MacBook Air Packaging

Pismo Battery Problems

From Leo LeBron:

Hey, Charles.

I just got one of these fine machines (my second one). It's a 500 MHz/128 MB/12 GB machine, with 128 MB extra RAM installed. I upgraded the hard drive to a nice spacious 80 GB 5400 RPM Seagate and nearly maxed the RAM to 768 MB. I noted that in some of your older articles, you said that 10.4.4 breaks the Pismo's modem. Well, Apple must have fixed it, because it works flawlessly under 10.4.11. Do you happen to know in what update this was fixed? Just out of my morbid curiosity.

Also, I was wondering if your Pismo does the same thing, but mine seems to have issues with the battery, but probably because it was in storage for a while. However, it arrived to me with a good PRAM battery, as I was able to boot the machine, and it keeps the time with the main power disconnected. Anyways, the problem I am having is the first time I charged up the battery and ran it from battery power, it cut out at exactly 80% and went to sleep. Upon pressing the battery button, it had the single flashing LED, Which is odd because minutes before, it had all 4 LEDs lit up.

Upon recharging and discharging, it cut out well before it hit 0%, this time at exactly 70%. Note that I get no low battery warnings or anything. Third charge, and it cut out a little under 70%, I think 65% or so. If I keep doing full charge cycles on it, will it eventually reach full capacity? It seems to be running longer and longer each time.

Also, Apple System Profiler reports the charge cycles as 0. It seems to be accurately measuring the full charge capacity and remaining capacity, which the former was 2400+ mAH a few cycles ago, and now it's at 2161 mAH. coconutBattery oddly says the original battery capacity is -1 mAH, which is impossible.

Lastly, the OS X battery menubar item never finishes calculating my time remaining, or time until full (when charging). It always says "Calculating . . . remaining" or "Calculating . . . until full"

Would a simple PRAM reset fix any or all of these problems? I don't think this machine has been running on battery in a long, long time, but so long as it gets longer than an hour like my iBook did, I am set.

Thanks, and sorry for the long email.

Hi Leo,

Congrats on the Pismo purchase.

Yes, I had issues with the early builds of Tiger and my Pismo's modem, to a degree that I downgraded to Panther in desperation for a while. However, when version 10.4.6 came out I reinstalled Tiger and have had no more modem issues. I'm currently running OS 10.4.11 and finding it a smooth performer.

As to your battery issue, batteries can be weird, but my suspicion would be that yours may be on the way out. Since it hasn't been used for some time, putting it through some charge/recharge cycles would tend to revive it to a degree, but I'm not optimistic about it lasting. I was getting similar behavior with a FastMac TruePower battery in one of my Pismos last fall, and the battery was replaced under warranty.

I'm doubtful that this is a PRAM issue, but you should definitely try resetting the Power Manager. If you're not familiar with it, on the Pismo the process is:

• If the computer is on, turn it off.
• Press and release the reset button located on the rear panel of the computer between the external video and modem ports. Wait 5 seconds.
• Press the Power button to restart the computer.

One way to vet out whether the problem is with the battery itself would be to substitute a known-good battery (perhaps from your second Pismo?).

Charles

Thanks for the tips. I tried resetting the PMU (which I Googled to find out how), but that did not help. The battery still says "calculating". I knew something was fishy when I pulled the main battery (I ran it down until the computer fell asleep) and the machine shut off completely (sleep light stopped pulsing, luckily I did not have any work open). This means the PRAM battery is likely dead, right? It seemed fine for a while, because it was keeping the time when I put the battery in the right bay to test the contacts on that side. Guess I need a new one now. Any good supplier of these? I don't feel safe buying a "new" one on eBay.

Oh, and I was testing my video out capabilities and had the machine hooked up via S-video to my 15" LCD (the blueberry one that is hooked to my B&W, Apple model M4551, a great display). It works, but the video is off. There is a 1 inch black bar around the edge of the screen, and the colors are off. I tried running the ColorSync calibrator, advanced options and all; I tried adjusting the resolution; I even tried the settings on the monitor. Nothing seems to be working. I tried different cables, booting in to Mac OS 9, everything I can think of. Could it just be the monitor? RCA input is just fine, I use it all the time with my PS2. Unfortunately I have no S-video inputs on my TV, about the only other thing I can think of are the ones on my dead G3 AIO's personality card. I could swap that into my beige G3 MT, but that seems like a lot of work. It's not critical, since I can output to VGA as well, and when I get a Bookendz dock for this thing, I will.

Thanks

Hi Leo,

Are you losing your time settings when the machine powers down? If not, the PRAM battery must still be working.

Wegener Media has PRAM/PMU batteries for the Pismo for $18.99. Other suppliers would be iFixit and TechRestore, PowerBook Guy, and probably more I'm not thinking of.

See iFixit's Pismo teardown guide for info on installing the PRAM battery.

I still suspect that your main battery is going south on you.

Charles

It must be the PRAM battery. I rebooted into OS 9, and the time was already off. I don't notice it in X, because I use the auto synch feature. I guess I will have to get a new one now. Hopefully that cures my battery issues, and even if not, I can always get a new, higher capacity one. (iFixit has a 7200 mAH one that is almost double the capacity of the original one.

I can see me using this machine well into the next decade. Forget the black MacBook I was gonna get for college, this is the machine. Just gotta get another 512 MB stick to max this machine out, a 120 GB hard drive (optional, the 80 GB feels big enough, but there are some things on my B&W's hard drive that can't fit on my Pismo, but all my documents/movies/music/pictures are here, so I am happy.) I also need to grab a USB 2.0 PC Card.

Oh, and one very cool feature I just found out today: I have my 4th gen U2 iPod hooked to my B&W G3 desktop via FireWire. I connected my long, gold plated FireWire cable to the Pismo to copy files overnight, but I booted regularly, and iTunes launched upon login, and my iPod appeared on the desktop and in iTunes, and it even synched with my library on my Pismo.

Hi Leo,

If the date setting is unstable, you very likely have a PRAM battery issue.

The extended life batteries are great. I have a couple of 7200 mAH ones from FastMac and a NuPower (OWC) 6800 mAH one, and any of them more than doubles the runtime best runtime I ever got from an OEM Pismo battery (although the newest one of those I had was a year old when I got it).

Nifty with the iPod synch.

I definitely intend on using a Pismo into the next decade. I figure Tiger should stay reasonably supported for at least two years and possibly longer.

Charles

Fuzzy Pismo Screen

From Laurie:

Hi Charles!

I wonder if you can give me some insight into a problem I'm having with my Pismo display. I'm not sure if the problem is actually just the display itself (I hope so, because it's easier and cheaper to swap displays with the infamous "up in smoke" Pismo whose trackpad gave up the ghost last summer). Suddenly, for the past couple of weeks or so, type is showing up as faint and fuzzy . . . both in web browsers and applications. It's getting worse by the day. I'm not technically proficient enough to know if it's something that needs to be replaced inside or if it's just the display. And you are the authority as far as I'm concerned!

Thanks as always for your help,

Laurie

Hi Laurie,

Thanks for the kind words. I'm humbled.

The problem you've described is something I haven't previously encountered.

If everything else seems to be functioning normally, my best guess would be that the issue is with the display itself, but it's just a guess.

One way to do a differential diagnosis would be to connect an external monitor to determine if the same phenomenon manifested there. If not, you could be pretty sure it is a screen issue. If text is still fuzzy and faint on another monitor, that would indicate something else, probably in the video support circuitry.

Charles

From Laurie

Since all I have is a TV, I have to go buy fancy cables/adapters to hook it up (don't have an S-video cable or an S-video port on my TV) but I will try that. Thanks :-)

Yeah, it's strange . . . and is causing a lot of eyestrain and headaches. I don't want to have to buy my third laptop in 2 years, that's for sure. Much as I love this thing, I'm starting to doubt the wisdom of buying 7-year-old computers and using them for 18 hours a day.

Thanks for what seems like the billionth time.

Laurie

Hi Laurie,

You have a point, but of course issues like display life depend a lot on how much a machine has been used rather than it's chronological age. For example, my "newest" Pismo purchased a year ago has a screen and keyboard that appear to be as good as they were when new, even though this machine is actually 10 months older since date of manufacture than my "old" Pismo, which has had a ton of use. The display backlight has had the "pink screen" disease for more than a couple of years now, but it still clears after a few minutes use. If the display screen turns out to be your problem, it's an unusual one.

Another Pismo advantage is that DIY screen or backlight replacement is within reason for handy users, which is not the case with any of the aluminum PowerBooks.

If you had a VGA adapter, it shouldn't be hard to find somebody with a PC desktop who might let you connect to check out the video on their monitor.

Charles

I didn't know I could hook it up to another computer! I still have my dead-trackpad Pismo, and also an eMac. I can do that?

I understand your point entirely . . . and it's the only reason I am even slightly reconsidering the Pismo path I took. I love this thing beyond reason, but I run it into the ground. I often work 80-100 hours a week, and thus might need to get a machine with a few less miles on it. That's unfortunately my reality. Believe me, my ideal outcome here is to find out it's just the display, swap it out, and resolve to split my work time between Pismo and eMac from now on. I don't feel like I want or need a new laptop. All things considered, this thing is darn near perfect. 100 GB hard drive, 768 RAM, Wireless G, runs Tiger, all the convenience of the bays and ports . . . and I paid $240 for it. Hello.

Please let it be the display...

PS: Thanks so much for listening. You're my guru.

Hi Laurie,

You can connect a Pismo to any VGA monitor that the 8 MB of VRAM and Rage 128 Mobility GPU have the guts to drive (millions of colors on external displays up to 21"), which covers quite a lot of monitors used with desktop PCs.

No way that I know of, however, to output video through a built-in monitor in another laptop or an all-in-one desktop like your eMac. The monitor from your other Pismo could be swapped over, but it's not a simple procedure. You can check out the iFixit Pismo teardown guide for what you would be up against:

http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Mac/PowerBook-G3-Pismo/6

Since you like the Pismo and it's doing what you need it to do, it's hard to beat as a value for the money. Mine just seem to go on and on, although they get more like 3 hours a day use (the PowerBook G4 is my long hours machine these days).

Charles

Stupid Radio Shack didn't have the cable I needed. But I'm beginning to think this screen problem is really my rapidly failing eyesight! I turned on my other Pismo and don't see much difference! I need to go get my eyes checked. Staring at this thing night and day may be the real problem. And I looked the iFixit thing and PowerbookMedic, and the display swap scared me to death.

So on advice from your column, I've decided to reaffirm my commitment and go for the Daystar G4 upgrade now. For under $300 I can turn this baby into the same computer I'd pay $600+ for if I were to buy a used G4 PB. Probably one day I will need to buy a new laptop. But for now I'm happy with what I have. And if there is something wrong with my display, inside or out, Daystar will be able to diagnose and/or fix it.

Best as always,
Laurie

Hi Laurie,

Yes, the VGA adapter is an Apple part, unlikely to be sold anyone but Apple or a Mac-specialist reseller. They shipped with the computer when it was new, but it's rare to get those ancillary bits when you buy used.

I've been very satisfied with my Daystar Pismo upgrade.

If you are looking for a good deal on some new specs, check out Goggles4u and Optical4less.

I bought a new pair of single vision eyeglasses from goggles4u back in November - titanium frames, high-density lenses, antiglare, anti-scratch, and polarizing coatings for the princely total of total of US$37.44 delivered to my door (from Pakistan). The quality of both frames and optics is excellent - maybe the best pair of specs I've had in 50 years of wearing glasses.

Charles

You're such a sweetie. :-) I have an eye test Wednesday morning, and I will definitely be visiting those sites for my backup specs (I wear contacts, but also glasses before I put the lenses in/after I take them out).

Can you believe I think I'm experiencing the infamous pink screen of death on the dead-trackpad Pismo (which is the same one that went up in flames when I got it)? The screen has a pinkish hue. I'm to the point now where I have to laugh about all of this. I feel like I'm in some really bad geek sitcom. Or the butt of a string of cruel practical jokes.

I already took the Daystar plunge last night, I'm afraid. But I feel good about it! (She says, conveniently ignoring the fact that she is clearly where Pismos go to die.)

Hi Laurie,

The pink screen is not really a biggie, although annoying. My older Pismo has been afflicted now for more than two years. It gets a couple or three hours use daily and has only very gradually gotten worse. The pink tinge upon wakeup clears substantially after a few minutes uptime, so I just haven't bothered doing anything about it so far. Does that sound like the symptoms you're noticing. The cure for that is to replace the CCFL backlight tube. They aren't terribly expensive, but replacing it is a job you wouldn't want to tackle yourself unless you're fairly handy with a soldering iron and comfortable taking things apart. Daystar can probably help you with that.

Charles

The pink screen is on the dead trackpad/up in smoke Pismo - the one I'll be relying on while my current baby is with Daystar - so I think I can live with it. It's really not that bad, and yes, it does pretty much clear up, although the screen does keep a slightly pinkish hue. Bet I can re-calibrate that into nonexistence with very little effort. :-)

Me with a soldering iron, taking things apart. Now there's a frightening thought....

Backup to Zip Disks vs. Hard Drive

From Dan Knight:

Please pass this along to Bill Hatchell:

I used to do backup to 100 MB Zip disks, and I gave up after 240 MB hard drives. It beat floppies, but it was still a long, slow, tedious process. The best solution is a second IDE hard drive, either inside the computer or external using FireWire (the Classic Mac OS doesn't support USB 2.0, and 1.1 is too slow for backup).

One of the nicest things about the Power Mac G3 and G4 models is that they all use standard IDE optical drives, so it's trivial to plug in a third-party CD-RW, Combo, or DVD+/-RW drive. It's not a fast way to do backup, but media is cheap. (You may need third-party drivers. It's a long time since I used my beige G3, but I recall that the CD-RW I pulled from my Dell desktop just worked.)

Dan

MacBook Air Packaging

From Eolake Stobblehouse:

Ya gotta like Apple's new efforts in making their packaging compact. This parcel is barely bigger than the one my last version of Photoshop came in, and that one only contained a CD and 38 pages of legal boilerplate. :)

Yours,
Eolake
http://stobblehouse.com

Thanks Eolake.

Charles

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