Pismo Owner Looking for Help....

S

sirfulcrum

Registered
Hey all,

With WiFi booming everywhere, I finally took the plunge and upgraded my Pismo PowerBook to Jaguar and Airport. Needless to say, it's great being a part of the truly mobile computing set again; I finally have a use again for my PowerBook, which had been gathering dust for the better part of a year.

Which is part of the problem. I kept it plugged in for weeks on end, thinking I'd pick it up and use it the next day. But I never did. Of course, leaving it plugged in for weeks on end is absolute murder to a battery's lifespan. So now my battery craps out after about 2 hours, even though the energy monitor says there's still 40-percent charge left! Now, 2 hours ain't too shabby, but I was used to the 3-4 hour lifespan of a new battery. I figure a new battery will get me that 40-percent charge back, which translates into me being able to make it through my day on a single charge.

Unfortunately, Apple does not sell G3 Pismo batteries anymore. Does anyone have a good recommendation for a place that sells them? I'm looking for cheap, but reputatble. I've done google searches on the 'Net and I found a couple of places that had them, but I'm hoping that maybe someone knows of a great place that I've missed. BTW, I should have bought a spare battery when I bought my PowerBook... they were only $120 then. Now they're around $170.

Also, I managed to bend the part on my AC Power Adapter that plugs directly into the PowerBook. I bent it back and it works, but it's very loose and I'm never comfortable with that fact. So I'm thinking of getting a replacement as well. Of course, Apple doesn't sell that anymore, either. Grrrrr.... You'd think Apple would think there'd be a market in selling those kinds of things to its customers. So if you know a place that sells Pismo Power Adapters, I'd be appreciated.

Thanks!
 
You might try draining the battery and recharging a couple of times before buying a new one, and resetting the PMU.
 
Is your powerbook under warranty? I purchased the AppleCare plan with my Pismo and I just used it last week. My battery was on the fritz and the power supply was breaking as well. I called Apple and in 20 mins they were sending me a replacement battery and power supply. I got the power supply in 2 DAYS and I expect to get the battery within the next 3.
 
Unfortunately, no. In retrospect, I should have bought the care package. I'll know better next time.

Thanks for all the help, folks. I've tried draining it a couple of times and charging it, plus resetting the PMU, and it's still dieing early. But it's good to know that there are cheaper prices on ebay! I'm looking into them.

I did have a couple more questions, though.

1. Generally, what are the best strategies to prolong a battery's life and charge? I've read that it's never good to leave a rechargable battery plugged in for long periods of time, because that can actually kill the battery's capacity. And for some batteries, it's best to drain completely before charging again.

2. Have any of you seen "white bruises" on your LCD's? I lug my PowerBook around with me all the time, strapped to my back thanks to a Trager Laptop Messenger Bag. Obviously, it gets bumped a lot, and that's where I imagine the "bruising" comes from. You can only see the "bruising" from an angle; if you're sitting straight in front of it, you can't see them.

I know this is a longshot, but is there any way to remove the bruises? At first, I always thought it was just dirty, nothing that a good cleaning wouldn't fix.

3. The clasp at the top of my PBook that keeps it closed when you lower the lid broke off. I imagine that any super glue would fix that, but does anyone have a special recommendation?

4. Thanks for one of those aforementioned links! They even had replacement rubber feet! Though it costs $21 for 4. Damn little things come off too easily, and as a result it slides a lot on a table. Has anyone tried supergluing them on?

5. Here's a RAM question. I've got 192 MB, which is 64 MB more than what Jaguar requires. I'm thinking of replacing the 64 MB chip with a 256 MB crucial chip, but will that really help performance all that much? I've been reading posts from folks on these boards with Dual G4 desktops and 1 GB of RAM who are still complaining a bit of Jaguar's "pokiness". So with a G3 400, will there really be any benefit with 384 MB over 192 MB?

Thanks once again for all the help, folks!
 
384 M of RAM. Definitely yes. Go for it. Powerbooks have slow hard drives so hitting VM is lethal in terms of speed. If you plan on having more than one app open, or have uptimes of more than 2 days, I guarantee you will experience an improvement with the additional RAM. 384 to 512 ... I'm not sure if you'd feel that, bud 192 to 384 I can verify makes a Wallstreet noticeably snappier.

Batteries, check out APC. I little pricey, but new, modern, and about 150% the capacity of the original batteries. As for the discharge thing, that's usually called memory. Memory was a serious problem with NiCad batteries, less of a problem with NiMH batteries, and not really an issue with LiIon batteries. To avoid the memory effect, you should discharge your batteries different amounts. ie, don't always drain the batteries by 20% and recharge them, eventually they'll remember that they only discharge that much and the other 80% capacity will be forgotten. Whether you should deep discharge the battery depends on the recommendation of the manufacturer. Essentially, you don't do that until you have no choice but to try.

I think the LiIon batteries I'm replacing now were damaged by an accidental deep discharge. Both of them. :-( Combined life gone from 6-8 hours to 20-30 minutes. Owwie.

The clasp ... good luck. The bruises, just be glad they're not worse and try not to get any more. Trying to remove them could risk far more serious damage.

And for sticky feet, never underestimate the value of cutting up on old neoprene mousepad. Open jars, stabilize computers, isolate speakerphones from table vibration, I love those things!
 
Thanks theed!

Just checked APC, and while they stock batteries for damn near every PowerBook from wallstreet and before, they don't have Pismo batteries.

Also, DOES ANYONE KNOW what kind of Cas latency that Kingston's PowerBook memory has? I want CAS 2, but I can't find that info anywhere on the web, not to mention Kingston's site. Or does latency not matter so much with PBooks? Planning on getting 2x256MB chips, $40 each!
 
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