Club 17

[ojfd]

I needed OS9 capability for one specific project (no, it's not games) and all I was able to find was this poor fellow. The best half of it, to be precise. Do I qualify for the club now?

Dead display, no top cover (no keyboard), no hd drive, no hd bracket, dead audio board or cable, no screws, no battery, rattling left fan..
Running it with the display from 15" A1138 at the moment. You can see 17" display behind it. Booting from external FireWire drive, starting with screwdriver.

I'd love to bring it back to quality life somehow, so, if anyone have any spares or donor machine lying around, let me know.

 

[B S Magnet]

, rattling left fan..

I'd love to bring it back to quality life somehow, so, if anyone have any spares or donor machine lying around, let me know.

Spare for the fan may not be warranted. Have a look here. I’ve done this with both my PB G4 15/17 and aluminium MBP 17 fans.

 

[ojfd]

Thanks, B S Magnet. If the fans are easy to pull apart, this will be no problem for me - I've dealt with lubricants and precision machinery before. I hope the fans have sintered bronze bearings, not some delrin / whatever hard plastic ones..

 

[B S Magnet]

Thanks, B S Magnet. If the fans are easy to pull apart, this will be no problem for me - I've dealt with lubricants and precision machinery before. I hope the fans have sintered bronze bearings, not some delrin / whatever hard plastic ones..

Although I don’t know the specific units in your PowerBook, the ones on which I’ve completed this servicing were all “brushless” (“maglev” sometimes imprinted on the vendor detail label), with metal spindle on the fan side and brass-hued sheath surrounded by electromagnets on the power side.

 

[LightBulbFun]

im happy to report That I have acquired a nice 17 inch DLSD, so now i can Join club 17 (its my first 17 inch Mac laptop of any kind) Apple does a good job at making the 17 inch seem smaller then it is, only time the fact its 17 inch slaps you across the face is when going to pick it up, it is noticeably heavier then my 15 inch DLSD, and of course the screen is real nice

now for a picture of course here it is compared to my 15 inch DLSD, I Just need a 2005 12 inch PowerBook G4 and ill have the set (here is a geekbench score https://browser.geekbench.com/geekbench2/2636860 it got 1 point more then my 15 inch DLSD )

some 6(!) and half years later I finally have aquired my first 17 inch MBP to go with my 17 inch PowerBooks

just a quick shot while I had it booted off my Firewire SSD for testing, I got it with another 17 inch MBP (a 2010 AG) and a couple iBooks and a MacBook2,1, the 17 inch MBP's where certainly the star attraction of that lot

although they will both need a bit of TLC, this particular one sadly has a couple bad dings to the back of the of the display which I think may of broken one of the backlight tubes, as the backlighting is quite uneven, its missing its battery and RAM door all the outside screws (someones been in it to hoik the hard drive)


but otherwise it seems to work well, I got lucky with this one and its got a replacement green dot motherboard

which I really quite chuffed about, because someone back in the day pretty much maxed this machine out spec/BTO wise

I did not even realise the MacBookPro3,1 could be specced with a 2.6Ghz (T7800 in this case) CPU I always thought they where 2.2 or 2.4 only, and then on top of that it would of come with a 200GB 7200RPM hard drive and the piece de resistance, is the HR 1920x1200 LCD someone specced, I am looking forward to getting tiger chucked on this 1920x1200 beauty (just a shame about the broken backlight tube, I was given a parts machine along with this one, so ill have to see what LCD that has if its worth the hassle of swapping it over)


as an aside I find the Apple Certified refurb sticker interesting, I guess apple did not elect to replace the top case with one bearing a new remanufactured serial number so just covered it up with the sticker, but not something i have seen before

 

[hopfenholz]

That's amazing, I didn't realise these could be spec'd with a 1200 pixel screen

 

[Amethyst1]

That's amazing, I didn't realise these could be spec'd with a 1200 pixel screen

The hi-res screen was an option on the mid-2007 and early-2008 models before becoming standard on the 17“ unibodies.

 

[LightBulbFun]

The hi-res screen was an option on the mid-2007 and early-2008 models before becoming standard on the 17“ unibodies.

it actually became standard from what I can tell on the rare Late 2008 pre-unibody MBP

at times I would specifically look out for those machines, since that would guarantee myself 1920x1200 LCD

never did find one that met the right conditon and price etc, but its something worth keeping in mind if your looking for the ultimate Pre Unibody MBP

(and I still would not mind finding one even now)

 

[B S Magnet]

That's amazing, I didn't realise these could be spec'd with a 1200 pixel screen

Atop this, the HR screen could be configured as glossy or anti-glare. My early 2008 17-inch was shipped with HR glossy, and I often wonder if I’ll ever find another locally with HR anti-glare. I am not holding my breath.

 

[AphoticD]

some 6(!) and half years later I finally have aquired my first 17 inch MBP to go with my 17 inch PowerBooks

View attachment 2349057

just a quick shot while I had it booted off my Firewire SSD for testing, I got it with another 17 inch MBP (a 2010 AG) and a couple iBooks and a MacBook2,1, the 17 inch MBP's where certainly the star attraction of that lot

although they will both need a bit of TLC, this particular one sadly has a couple bad dings to the back of the of the display which I think may of broken one of the backlight tubes, as the backlighting is quite uneven, its missing its battery and RAM door all the outside screws (someones been in it to hoik the hard drive)


but otherwise it seems to work well, I got lucky with this one and its got a replacement green dot motherboard

View attachment 2349058
which I really quite chuffed about, because someone back in the day pretty much maxed this machine out spec/BTO wise

I did not even realise the MacBookPro3,1 could be specced with a 2.6Ghz (T7800 in this case) CPU I always thought they where 2.2 or 2.4 only, and then on top of that it would of come with a 200GB 7200RPM hard drive and the piece de resistance, is the HR 1920x1200 LCD someone specced, I am looking forward to getting tiger chucked on this 1920x1200 beauty (just a shame about the broken backlight tube, I was given a parts machine along with this one, so ill have to see what LCD that has if its worth the hassle of swapping it over)


as an aside I find the Apple Certified refurb sticker interesting, I guess apple did not elect to replace the top case with one bearing a new remanufactured serial number so just covered it up with the sticker, but not something i have seen before

Nice score @LightBulbFun ! How are the running temps?

I have the 2.5GHz 2008 model (also with green sticker), which had it's backlight go dim like that and eventually fail on me, so I put a spare PBG4 17" display (non-HR) into it and now Catalina looks pretty, bright and enlarged at native 1440x900 - better for the eyes than hi-res anyway haha

I stripped mine down to reapply thermal paste and replace the thermal pads, but then discovered a thread from @B S Magnet over on the Early Intel forum outlining how to improve the thermals even further. I am still yet to strip it back down again, but it seems happy enough, even though it hits 100°C CPU core temps under load...

 

[B S Magnet]

Nice score @LightBulbFun ! How are the running temps?

I have the 2.5GHz 2008 model (also with green sticker), which had it's backlight go dim like that and eventually fail on me, so I put a spare PBG4 17" display (non-HR) into it and now Catalina looks pretty, bright and enlarged at native 1440x900 - better for the eyes than hi-res anyway haha

I stripped mine down to reapply thermal paste and replace the thermal pads, but then discovered a thread from @B S Magnet over on the Early Intel forum outlining how to improve the thermals even further. I am still yet to strip it back down again, but it seems happy enough, even though it hits 100°C CPU core temps under load...

If you get some spare time to tinker, this thermal mod would be well worth your while to explore! I would also recommend going a grade or two thicker than I tried for the thermal pad material, as this may better sandwich and to help the pad to squeeze more completely into more of the microscopic pores/imperfections of the metal surfaces with which they make contact.

Unfortunately, none of this passive cooling does much for the annoying swelling of batteries to come from third-party suppliers.

 

[LightBulbFun]

Nice score @LightBulbFun ! How are the running temps?

I have the 2.5GHz 2008 model (also with green sticker), which had it's backlight go dim like that and eventually fail on me, so I put a spare PBG4 17" display (non-HR) into it and now Catalina looks pretty, bright and enlarged at native 1440x900 - better for the eyes than hi-res anyway haha

I stripped mine down to reapply thermal paste and replace the thermal pads, but then discovered a thread from @B S Magnet over on the Early Intel forum outlining how to improve the thermals even further. I am still yet to strip it back down again, but it seems happy enough, even though it hits 100°C CPU core temps under load...

Thanks not sure ill be able to give feedback atm on the temps, since I dont have a battery for this machine, so I dont think its running at full speed

I see you can still get generic batteries on ebay for £40~ so ill see about picking one of those up at some point (and a RAM door)

interesting to hear the Low Res PB G4 display worked I have always wanted to see the opposite, someone try a 1920x1200 HR-AG with a 1Ghz PowerBook G4 17 inch albook, for the ultimate OS9 machine

I think someone did try at some point? i certainly recall seeing OS9 looking suitably small on a PB 17 inch display, but maybe I am mistaken

 

[Amethyst1]

I stripped mine down to reapply thermal paste and replace the thermal pads, but then discovered a thread from @B S Magnet over on the Early Intel forum outlining how to improve the thermals even further. I am still yet to strip it back down again, but it seems happy enough, even though it hits 100°C CPU core temps under load...

Another path (maybe) worth pursuing is undervolting the CPU as that can have a dramatic impact on temperatures (and stability if you go too low), but CoolBook only works on Snow Leopard.

I have always wanted to see the opposite, someone try a 1920x1200 HR-AG with a 1Ghz PowerBook G4 17 inch albook, for the ultimate OS9 machine

Ahem!

 

[B S Magnet]

Thanks not sure ill be able to give feedback atm on the temps, since I dont have a battery for this machine, so I dont think its running at full speed

I see you can still get generic batteries on ebay for £40~ so ill see about picking one of those up at some point (and a RAM door)

Just be mindful how most of the aftermarket stock on there yield batteries which hold charge until dipping beneath 40 per cent, start to fail after fewer than 20 charge cycles, or in the case of the battery I still have (and, carelessly, use), begin to bloat. Fortunately, I've kept that bloating directed downward, away from the system and logic board. Eventually, one of its three polymer packs within will fail.

interesting to hear the Low Res PB G4 display worked I have always wanted to see the opposite, someone try a 1920x1200 HR-AG with a 1Ghz PowerBook G4 17 inch albook, for the ultimate OS9 machine

I think this is what @netsrot39 (?) accomplished? It’s something I want to do with my A1139, as well, as its display has a single, horizontal line bisecting the display now.

 

[LightBulbFun]

Ahem!

I should clarify that I meant a portable machine I mean if we are playing the desktop route (I mean your not taking Big Bertha to starbucks are you? ), then the machine you want to pair big Bertha with is a Dual CPU MDD with upgraded 2Ghz 7448's and a GeForce 4 Ti 4600, for the ultimate OS 9 machine

I think this is what @netsrot39 (?) accomplished? It’s something I want to do with my A1139, as well, as its display has a single, horizontal line bisecting the display now.

yeah but thats not a 1Ghz OS 9 compatible machine, I wanna see someone do that upgrade, but with a 1Ghz 17 inch AlBook, those machines are unique in that unofficially, they work very well with OS9



speaking of 17 inches of 1920x1200 tho

I got the 17 inch 2010 MacBook Pro working

turns out these dont suffer from C9560 failure like their 15 inch counterparts do, it turns out however they are quick choosy/picky about the RAM they will work with

I always thought it was just MCP79 machines that where sensitive in this regard, but no turns out the first gen Core i's can also be similarly choosy/picky


the capacitor thing was a pretty good red herring tho, as the machined behaved almost just like it was suffering from such issues, but a few fine details did not quite add up so, and after learning/seeing that the 17 inch 2010's dont suffer from the capacitor failure normally, I played played with the RAM a bit and low and behold! it booted an OS finally hopefully tomorrow I can find my stash of RAM sticks and wrangle a better amount into it

 

[B S Magnet]

I should clarify that I meant a portable machine I mean if we are playing the desktop route (I mean your not taking Big Bertha to starbucks are you? ), then the machine you want to pair big Bertha with is a Dual CPU MDD with upgraded 2Ghz 7448's and a GeForce 4 Ti 4600, for the ultimate OS 9 machine


yeah but thats not a 1Ghz OS 9 compatible machine, I wanna see someone do that upgrade, but with a 1Ghz 17 inch AlBook, those machines are unique in that unofficially, they work very well with OS9



speaking of 17 inches of 1920x1200 tho

I got the 17 inch 2010 MacBook Pro working

View attachment 2349460
turns out these dont suffer from C9560 failure like their 15 inch counterparts do, it turns out however they are quick choosy/picky about the RAM they will work with

I always thought it was just MCP79 machines that where sensitive in this regard, but no turns out the first gen Core i's can also be similarly choosy/picky


the capacitor thing was a pretty good red herring tho, as the machined behaved almost just like it was suffering from such issues, but a few fine details did not quite add up so, and after learning/seeing that the 17 inch 2010's dont suffer from the capacitor failure normally, I played played with the RAM a bit and low and behold! it booted an OS finally hopefully tomorrow I can find my stash of RAM sticks and wrangle a better amount into it

What you have there is my dream laptop. Well, my dream laptop would be exactly this — 17-inch antiglare option — albeit a late 2011 quad-core i7 (in another universe where Apple chose instead to turn to Nvidia, and “Radeongate” is completely unknown).

That is just magnificent. That is an exemplar of Apple at a high water mark.

 

[eyoungren]

I should clarify that I meant a portable machine I mean if we are playing the desktop route (I mean your not taking Big Bertha to starbucks are you?

Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh……………

 

[LightBulbFun]

Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh……………

@Amethyst1 if you could kindly show this young man your trio of Big Bertha's, I think he may then realise why one might not be so inclined to take one to starbucks 😁

 

[LightBulbFun]

What you have there is my dream laptop. Well, my dream laptop would be exactly this — 17-inch antiglare option — albeit a late 2011 quad-core i7 (in another universe where Apple chose instead to turn to Nvidia, and “Radeongate” is completely unknown).

That is just magnificent. That is an exemplar of Apple at a high water mark.

"Just" get DosDude, to remove the defective dGPU and replace it with an x8 PCIe slot, so you can install any GPU or PCIe device of your choosing

 

[B S Magnet]

"Just" get DosDude, to remove the defective dGPU and replace it with an x8 PCIe slot, so you can install any GPU or PCIe device of your choosing

Yah I remember watching that when he first posted. It’s a fascinating workaround, but the complexity of installation is far beyond my skill set and it also renders useless the Thunderbolt port.

I’ve long thought an interposer between the original AMD 65xx socket and another, say, AMD GPU would be more elegant a tweak, keeping all inside and unified, but I also know how complex that undertaking is, as well as thickness constraints of said interposer being sandwiched in there.

 

[LightBulbFun]

Yah I remember watching that when he first posted. It’s a fascinating workaround, but the complexity of installation is far beyond my skill set and it also renders useless the Thunderbolt port.

thats why you pay Dosdude to do the upgrade for you you also dont have to give up the thunderbolt port, thats only if you want the M.2 SSD part as well, so you can elect to keep the TB port instead (of course it wont work as a display output anymore, but well thats what the eGPU would be for )

I’ve long thought an interposer between the original AMD 65xx socket and another, say, AMD GPU would be more elegant a tweak, keeping all inside and unified, but I also know how complex that undertaking is, as well as thickness constraints of said interposer being sandwiched in there.

in this case there would be no reason to keep the AMD GPU, since its defective, it is just easier to get rid of it entirely


I am still waiting for someone to make an AGP version, we can install a proper GPU into a Mac Mini G4

 

[LightBulbFun]

so I got the MBP6,1 onto a more appropriate OS

and I noticed something quite interesting while looking at the kernel log during boot

the first up is the AppleAPCPICPU strings, note how there are 8 of them, that tells me that the firmware is setup to some degree to handle quad core processors, which I find quite interesting, while there where Quad Core first Gen Core i Mobile CPU's they where 45Nm parts known as Clarksfield and they had no iGPU

so apple never used them so its interesting there seems to be some support for them, I wonder it might be a holdover from the Late 09 and 2010 iMacs which do use Quadcore Lynnfield CPU's which Clarksfield is the mobile veriant of


the other interesting this right at the end of the log "Apple LMU Controller found an anti-glare notifying SMC" as I understand LMU Controller is to do with the ambient light sensor and controlling keyboard/screen brightness etc

so I find it interesting that the system has a way of knowing its an anti-glare display and that on top of that, there seems to be different setting for it? I wonder whats tweaked exactly over a normal glossy display!

I had no idea that the system could tell when an anti-glare display is fitted, at least it seems to be the case on the 2010, I see no such log on my 2007 MBP3,1

just thought i'd just post about these findings, I found em interesting perhaps others might too

 

[dandeco]

I've got a 17" PowerBook G4, with 1.67 GHz processor, the RAM maxed out to 2 GB, a 256 GB mSATA SSD plugged into an IDE adapter, and running Mac OS X 10.4.11 Tiger!

I got it at work with an Arabic keyboard though, and I am planning to eventually replace it with a USA keyboard. It also needs a new PRAM battery; if the laptop battery is depleted, even when plugged in the G4 won't boot until said battery has charged a bit.