Pushing a PowerBook 2400c WAY TOO FAR

[@MarcoGPUtuber]

Now that's a laptop i'd be proud to take into Starbucks to write essays on.

[@jannuarytrash]

"Through the magic of buying two of these..."

[@panchenima]

Easy Alec.

[@brennencramer2497]

Ah, a man of culture.

[@Mac84]

GRATUITOUS MAC84 COMMENT (I hope we can BOTH get our PowerBook 2400 models working!)

[@andrive]

Aye niceeee

[@krissjacobsen9434]

I'm just amazed about the ingenuity of using an ice cube tray as a screw sorting box!

[@app73n3rd]

You just described the last 20 years of my life. I've been though 4 of these with the same hope, upgrading it with a G3, SSD and max RAM. Every time I take one apart, I end up in the same GLOD situation. Thank you for making this video. It actually made me feel better. If you ever need parts or get this to work, PLEASE LET ME KNOW!!!

[@fsfs555]

So a few things: all of the Duos had an (optional) internal modem and a serial/printer port (behind the flip-down feet) so they weren't completely isolated without a Dock. Whomever IBM had fabricate the case (Teijin Chemicals, I'm pretty sure) did an excellent job using high-quality plastic that's not nearly as fragile as other PowerBook models of the era. Logically, the 2400 is exactly the same as the 3400, with the same major ICs and even using the same ROMs, so it has exactly the same performance as the equivalent 3400 model. The 2400 never had official CardBus support from Apple but it was a possible mod (same with the 3400 and Kanga, but these also needed their card cages modified/replaced so it wasn't as common as the 2400's simple jumper wire or capacitor snip). Someone figured out how to get to 128MB total RAM but it's a huge mod involving lifting a particular leg from each RAM chip on the logic board and soldering in a bodge wire from each one and to a specially-modified memory module; not really worth the effort for an extra 16MB. The blank VRAM pads are either for using lower-density memory devices or for an abandoned 2MB option (the ROMs are from the 3400 and they're hard-coded for 1MB, so there was no way to get the 2400's video chip to recognize any additional VRAM without reprogramming the ROMs, unless maybe you can modify a kext for the Chips 65550 in OS X since OS X basically ignores the ROM anyway). Also with these I recommend using an external keyboard for testing because it's a little easier to finagle and you're less likely to short something out with the metal shielding on the underside of the internal one.

[@MaxOakland]

You can run OS X on this? That’s really surprising

[@eDoc2020]

The broken off component looks like a surface mount ceramic capacitor. These are somewhat prone to cracking internally so maybe it needs to be replaced with a new one.

[@johnnystene8339]

Also, it looks like the pad it's on is lifted - that could cause problems too.

[@soknightsam]

Send it to Louis Rossman or Ben Heck I bet they'd get a kick out of helping

[@rommix0]

Yeah like kicking it all over the place. Louis is known to be an Apple hater.

[@soknightsam]

@@rommix0 that sounds highly unlikely even if he does hate apple he's an expert on their products and has the raw technical knowledge of components to effect repairs

[@josh1234567892]

@@soknightsam lol that’s the thing. He does repair their products but absolutely despises apple’s less-than-desirable business practices.

[@startedtech]

10:11 those lozenge-shaped Varta batteries are pure evil lol! I had some on an IBM 5150 expansion card that nearly ruined the whole motherboard, it had a battery backup using those Varta cells.

[@deaxes]

Have you tried clearing the PRAM? Command-Option-P-R... And trying that with the external PRAM battery?

[@aaroncook7709]

After seeing this I went over to Newegg to get that msata adapter and ssd for my 2002 Quicksilver G4. Newegg apparently already knew what I was looking for and showed both those exact items in this video on the front page in the "you may also like" section...

[@electricmiragemedia]

The powerbook 2400c was my laptop during high school -- I played Unreal, UT, and Quake 2 on it, 320 x 240 at around 15-20 fps. God I loved that thing, though the keyboard was small even for my little baby hands at the time.

[@MichaelAStanhope]

IBM definately knows how to build a laptop. Every Thinkpad that they made is built like a brick shithouse and they are all notoriously difficult to get into! At least you know that it won't disintegrate like many Powerbooks do!

[@jm036]

Difficult to get into? Not really...

[@SUPERBOBESPONJA1000]

My T400 wants a word with you

[@pafawag5b6b5b]

14:03 "well, shEEP!"

[@HB-Productions]

I think that logicboard needs a trip to Mac84 land for de-cursing! Also the Floppy Disk I'm guessing goes with a CPU upgrade!

[@jimboblivesforever]

Not sure if this is an obvious thing you already tried, but have you tried to reset the PRAM/Power Manager? There should be a button above the floppy connector on the back. Also, are you sure this is one of the powerbooks that actually works without the PRAM battery? I don't know myself, but it might be worth to do some Google magic on that

[@jonpurdydotcom]

I have a 2400 and took the PRAM battery out as a precaution. Works great without both PRAM and Lithium battery, as well as without PRAM but WITH Lithium.

[@lornetc]

I remember the PowerBook g4 12” served me well for the entirety of my undergrad

[@sovietnyc9125]

word, same! i had the 1ghz model. i was the only person in my CS classes with a mac.

[@shehanum]

Me as well! I loved my little beast, especially that screen! One of the brightest, crispest laptop screens I ever owned! I wish I still had it.

[@Scott__C]

Man, I hope that's a G3 upgrade! Also, those machines are gorgeous.

[@MightyJabbasCollection]

I've got a Japanese version of the 2400c that I got a couple of years ago after wanting one literally since the 90s. Unfortunately the backlight died a few months after I got it, and I'm not sure what I can do about it. Probably have to find a second otherwise dead machine with a working screen.

[@MichaelSeneschal]

This is fantastic. When I worked as an Apple Genius 15 years ago, one of my customers just gave this computer to me. He said he had no use for it, and rather than recycle the computer, he thought that I’d enjoy having a vintage Mac. :) He was correct! I’ve only powered mine up a few times, everything works perfectly. The only issue with mine has been the deteriorating rubber feet on the underside of the case. I may open it up and address that leaky PRAM battery, as I’m sure my copy will be in the same state as yours - meaning it’s working now but not for long. I’m pretty interested in your mods you do to this device if you ever get it working again (not a ton of 2400C content on KZbin… ‘cause why). Will check out your channel (and instant sub, I love channels like this).

[@bluephreakr]

What happened to the followup?

[@JeffWaynee]

What I imagine must be going through your mind when filming your hand gesture segments. "Okay..... 1 finger, all 5, back to one, back to five etc."

[@mndlessdrwer]

My best guess about the floppy is that it's a boot environment with scripts to get you low-level firmware access to change the max RAM configuration in the BIOS. Apple and IBM both were quite insistent about their pre-baked hardware limitations, so it takes some effort to make their systems more competent than they wanted them to be from the factory.

[@floflo7550]

You could try remounting everything as it was including new battery,old hdd, clear the pram ,am reseating ram(cleaning ram plus slot),try holding power button for more than a few seconds to discharge everything inside,same with command key's ,try command key to boot from floppy or cd rom keep holding or option key then poweradapter-power button, should start if everything is connected properly, had some blackout problems on newer powerbook and turned out it was the old internal battery, true it was the g3...(I also have a few older models like 1400cs that just won't keep internal hdd on so won't let me boot from it).

[@sleora]

For the SSD to IDE adapter you first show and that did fit, there's a way aroud it. Under the PCB there's a tape that mask solder pins, it's because of them that your adapter can't fit, I had the same problem. Just cut them and try to fit the adapter inside the PowerBook (I did that with an old Thinkpad T42).

[@DaveM245]

I ground the pins down almost flush and then re-soldered them to get it to work in my Satellite Pro 4300.

[@AnonymousFreakYT]

Woo! *FINALLY* got myself a reasonably priced 2400c. So I now have the full lineup of "Mac sub notebooks": PowerBook 100 PowerBook Duo (have a few of these, notably a 210, 280c, and 2300c.) **Newly added** 2400c PowerBook G4 12" (the first Mac I ever bought brand new, back in 2003.) MacBook Air (2009, just for the ease of mini DisplayPort.) MacBook Air 11" (2015.) MacBook (12" Retina, 2015.) The 2400c arrived nonfunctional, I messaged the eBay seller, they partially refunded with me keeping it. (I videoed opening the package and trying to use it, because the packaging looked lackluster.) Opened it up, the inner connector boards had popped loose from each other in shipping, as I suspected. Got everything cleaned up and reassembled, and it works great!

[@UpLateGeek]

Oh hey, speaking of PowerBooks, I finally figured out why my 1400c wasn't booting. It was the PRAM battery. After disassembling the laptop enough to get to the battery, I checked it with the multimeter and it was dead. But I spent a few hours searching in vain for a replacement while leaving the laptop plugged in, and it scared the crap out of me when right out of the blue the machine chimed and started up! Unfortunately if I leave it unplugged it does the same thing, so I need to replace the cells. What's worse is that the weird rechargeable lithium button cells that it uses are super uncommon and expensive, so it'll probably cost me >$30 Aussie dollary doos for just two cells plus delivery! And I'll have to solder directly to the cells, since I can't find any that have solder tabs.

[@MikieLAX]

Is there an online video to help disassemble the 1400 all the way to the PRAM?

[@sydneybiscuit]

> Aussie Dollary Doos I first heard that from Dank Pods and I absolutely love that other people call it that

[@UpLateGeek]

@@sydneybiscuit I mean everyone here calls it that, since it's the official name of the currency. 🤣 Seriously though, it's from a Simpsons episode. Every Aussie kid who grew up in the 90s knows which one I'm talking about.

[@sydneybiscuit]

@@UpLateGeek love it 😂 and TIL I'll have to look it up!

[@ste76539]

I've had no end of trouble with those MSata-IDE adapters. First the pins are slightly ofset to one side by about 0.75mm which means they will not fit into any laptop that has a hard drive location that doesn't have extra clearance - i.e. just about every classic Windows laptops I've tried so far. However it is possible to just use the PCB without the housing itself. The only problem then is that every one I've tried so far there is some sort of electrical fault that stops laptops from booting or even starting. Remove the adapter and put the original hard drive back and everything works again. I've had several from eBay, Banggood etc and they're all been the same. I've noticed, they all have the same chip on them regardless of their form factor.

[@oofcloof]

Same, the first (and only) one of those I bought for a Dell Inspiron 9100 crapped out on me a month after I bought it

[@jestertech3790]

Could it have been the metal sata adapter? was ther an insulator between it and the motherboard?

[@wojiaobill]

seeing you trying to fit that 2400c into the manila envelope, reminds me of trying to fit into my old jeans

[@TomFoolery9001]

I had one of the 12 powerbook G4's and it was wonderful. It seemed so fast and compact at the time. I loved that laptop!

[@johnDingoFoxVelocity]

I would also look at does the machine requires the battery to boot

[@okojijoko]

Hard to see, that does look like it says akuserareeta though. You're gonna shove one card thingy for the zoomies, and one use that floppy to install it on a G3 series machine.

[@UpLateGeek]

Those mSATA to IDE adapters are really handy, although as you found out it's annoying that they don't use a surface mount connector. You could probably desolder the connector and mount a new one on the bottom of the board, but that might make it too tall to fit inside the laptop. And you couldn't use the nice (-ish) plastic enclosure to mount it without some pretty heavy modifications, so you'd have to figure out an alternate mounting method. I've had a lot of luck heatsetting those tapped M3 brass inserts into the sides of these enclosures. The trick is to drill the hole out to 3 mm (I have a 3.2 mm drill bit which works well, but 3.5 mm might also work), then put a screw into the insert but only screw it in so there's a tiny gap between the insert and screw head. Then you can heatset it with your soldering iron until the screw is flush with the plastic. It takes a bit longer, but the screw ensures the alignment of the insert, and it won't melt plastic to the end of your soldering iron if it pokes through the insert too far. You may also need to file the bottom of the enclosure flat if the plastic bulges out around the insert too much. If you heatset the screw in till it's fully flush with the side of the enclosure, you won't need to file the sides since it melts any excess plastic flat against the head.

[@mattrichardson4351]

My teacher had the fully load PowerBook G4.. I was so wanting one

[@alextirrellRI]

Is it possible the metal rails on that SSD adapter shorted something? Bonus: G3 Upgrade

[@4ngeldus739]

I know what the floppy at the end was for!!! It's for a processor upgrade ^.^

[@shalroth]

I once bought two broken Wallstreets (for my Newtons) and put the two together... one was Bad logic, the other was bad display. Can't believe it worked!

[@kirishima638]

What a shame. Impressive build quality for a 90s Apple laptop though - I've worked on many PowerBook 1xxs and Duos and they were all plastic nightmares. Apple had an aversion to using metal frames apparently, so all the components are cobled together with attachements directly to the plastic case which acts as the frame. As the plastic aged and became brittle, these fixings snapped and the whole thing would implode. The Duos were the worst.

[@_..-.._..-.._]

I love the looks of the PowerBook g4. I have a few 2008-2012 unibody MacBooks too because the look is similar. I use my non-pro 2009 unibody 13” more than my high output 2013 MBP 15”

[@Cyber_Horse_Studios87]

I honestly have had really good luck with the Msata SSD route too. The dogfish SSD’s are actually surprisingly reliable drives. I have yet to encounter one that’s failed.

[@HenrikVendelbo]

On the topic of iBook G3. How the heck do you boot something on it to upgrade from firmware v1.2?

[@johnDingoFoxVelocity]

Dubious I would say sometimes dangerous I remember the performa towers where if you put too much RAM and put dual CPUs on it the sucker would blow the power supply and even funnier blow the hard drive

[@naryasece]

Ooh I have a 2400c waiting to be worked on, it also suffers from the GLOD. I tore it apart last night after watching your video to pull out the PRAM battery, thankfully it had not leaked!

[@markpinney7750]

Where do you look to find things like these? eBay? Some international seller?

[@insainllama]

So wild how the g4 PowerBooks still look sleek 20 years later.

[@WindowsG]

aha druaga nice

[@Bleats_Sinodai]

THE PULLED TRACE ON THAT SMD CAPACITOR GAVE ME ANXIETY OH NO

[@MikieLAX]

I was a Duo 230 user who upgraded instead to the Powerbook 1400c/166 and later added a PowerPC 603 daughterboard. I took it out of storage as I wanted to use Apple's LocalTalk Bridge software to bridge my Mac SE/30 to my Tiger MacMini2,1. I found on eBay another Powerbook 1400c with the rare internal Ethernet adapter and was having fun using it with its OS 8.6 and installed software. I thought it would automatically go to sleep when closing the lid and when I opened it some hours later, the plastic on the front display which hides the hinges just exploded off of the machine. I said, that's ok, I'll just install the internal Ethernet adapter into my other Powerbook 1400c and indeed its plastic also exploded: it seems that plastics used by Apple in that era have become brittle over time. That leaves me with two sets of working parts and my 3rd backup Apple Powerbook 1400cs, with which to do a complete part swap. Will you be doing a video for the 1400 all the way down to the PRAM batteries? I see that you do a SSD swap, but that is not deep enough.

[@GaryBeltz]

well (mac sound) why were the PRAM batteries prone to leaking in those machines?

[@Anaerin]

Same reason Varta batteries in big box Amigas and some PCs do - They have a corrosive electrolyte and a lifespan of 5 years... Which ran out about 15 years ago.

[@jeremyb66]

I loved my PowerBook g4 12”. I hacked the firmware so the 1x SuperDrive was a 2x! Changed my life at the time.

[@CoolFire666]

And thus starts the classic electronics upgrade/repair/modding struggle cycle of just getting back to square one.

[@jameswyma9849]

What a marvel of computing history

[@kubosh3]

I think you need to get a pre-heating table and air-hot gun to re-solder some parts on the mainboards. It's not expensive but help a lot ;) regarding to your question - I think new Powebook will has the G3 Upgrade installed ;) (Lucky you)

[@staz3014]

0:37 i have the exact same wallpaper on my laptop!

[@GraemeWoller]

Bro, did you ever get this wee fulla sorted? I was looking for a follow up vid but couldn't see anything. Probably says more about my eyes than anything else to be fair... 😁

[@hypertalking68k]

Oh dear, another computer I’m going to have to take apart and dig out leaky crap from. And this doesn’t look like a very fun disassembly. Thanks for the heads up Sean!

[@jamesperih9658]

PERFECT segue @ 15:48

[@Ryan.Lohman]

Went hunting on the ancient forms myself and found people saying it needs to be a drive that is compatible with the ATA-33 standard, that some SSD adapters are too sensitive and creates a host of boot issues. To do it via PCMCIA to SSD adapter instead. But I digress , I imaged you've already researched that option and even tried booting from the original HDD.

[@atomicorang]

“Ten owas latare” Cool video.

[@KOSMOS1701A]

G3 processor upgrade card?

[@HuntersMoon78]

2400c has a moustache. 2400c pisses you off attempting upgrades. 2400c's now name = Pistachio.

[@michaelrcolton]

I had one of those years ago. Loved that thing!

[@bmichel5581]

My memory is fuzzy, but I thought you needed a G3 to run 9.2.2. If you can get it to turn on again maybe try loading 8.1 first and upgrade from there.

[@ZeroHourProductions407]

Wow. Maybe not an ssd but if I had one I think I'd have gone for one of those SD card to IDE converters to keep it simple

[@mikek1187]

The Interware disk goes to an accelerator card built for the 2400 PowerBook.

[@negativeflare]

omg Druga, love that guy. Well EEP. Omg that sound effect, coming straight from an old mac.

[@jonpurdydotcom]

Nice Interware Booster G3 upgrade; it's likely worth more than the 2400c itself. If you've got it, try putting the original 603e card back in to resolve the GLOD, otherwise you might need to wait for your Japanese 2400c to arrive to try swapping them. I can reproduce GLOD by pulling the 603e from mine and powering it on without it. I'd also pull the 96MB RAM module and boot just with the onboard RAM. (My 64MB module is only recognized as a 32MB module; common problem with the chip layout and this machine not recognizing the second side of the module.)

[@jonpurdydotcom]

I just rewatched the video and noticed it was working at the beginning. I'd bet even more heavily on the processor card needing to be reseated. If you haven't already, I'd also remove the lithium battery (so there is no PRAM or lithium battery) and try booting then. I mention these because they weren't described in the video and others might be looking into the comments for help. (But you've probably tried all sorts of these combinations of steps already.)

[@brendanhoffmann8402]

I remember the first time I used a PPC mac. It was probably 1994 or so... a 6100/60. I didn't get to own one until well after they went obsolete in about 2006 I bought a 7200/90. It died about a year after I bought it and I didn't have the knowhow to fix it. I ended up throwing it out and didn't own a Mac again until this year when I bought a 2011 mac mini! I've since sold that and received a free Macbook Air 2013 and bought a slightly damaged 2015 Macbook Pro. I gave the MacBook Air to my cousin's kids. The only problem with the Macbook Pro is that it has a few lines on either side of the screen. I'm not that bothered by them personally but I wouldn't be able to resell it without replacing the screen.

[@ogdan1173]

Do you are can run modern linux on this ancient computer ?

[@chipbush0111]

Love the video! I especially appreciate that you pronounce "homage" correctly.

[@YearsOfLeadPoisoning]

How would one pronounce it incorrectly?

[@CaelThunderwing]

hmmm SSD in a laptop this old.. hmm wonder where Druaga1 went, :D

[@MrHeem94]

Hey great job breaking the s#!% out of that perfectly working PB!

[@zacharyschwanke7160]

omg i remeber using those ibooks in elementry

[@formdissolve]

I've had 4 out 7 Dogfish SSD's fail within a year.. but I've also heard some people having good luck with them. Watch out for cheap SSD's!

[@DavidStahlOLDHAPPyMACs]

Sean I Really Like that little laptop and yes I hope that doner one from Japan works. would be nice to get it running and modding it out

[@bobbymcjones9911]

Where do you usually buy your computers? They are in such good condition!

[@floydiandroid]

Oh, is that an interware G3 upgrade?

[@fmefw9892]

You should try installing MacOS X 10.0 since if you put a G3 booster and the 96mb of ram it should be able to boot

[@Angelgreat]

This Does Not Compute: YOU STEAL LAPTOP! Action Retro: DID NOT! This Does Not Compute: DID SO!

[@LeahCanadian]

is there a part two!

[@acerIOstream]

Is it my headset or is something rattling in the left audio channel?

[@The-Weekend-Warrior]

G3 Accelerator board?

[@kirishima638]

There's a forrest of electrolytic capacitors at @11:00 which could be the culprits. I would expect all caps from machines of this vintage to be dead by now.

[@mojoblues66]

Yeah but they wouldn't all die at the same instant at disassembly, right?

@@mojoblues66 Depends on how you define die at the same time. Some electrolytic capacitors for example can have harden and dried up o-rings after sitting for years in storage. Then you power the machine on and it works just fine, BUT the caps now get hot and there metal casing expands, but the o-rings are dry and hard and dont expand so the electrolyte starts to escape out the bottom. This takes a while so the machine might work fine for a startup or two and run for 45-50 minutes, how ever long it takes to drain enough electrolyte to make it unstable enough not to post again. A friend of mine gave me an old Mac a few months ago, he tested it and it ran. Then I received it a few days later, didn't even start, stone dead. Well over half the caps in the PSU had wet electrolyte freshly leaked, replaced them and the PSU and computer kicks in to life just fine. I had similar problems with my Alpha after it had been stored in the attic for 4-5 years. Some caps dont like being stored in a room that dont maintain a stable room temperature and this machine was also stored in the attic with no temperature control. But Im not so sure the caps are the problem its not posting, but electrolytic caps can be time bombs just waiting to leak on a power up years later.

[@mojoblues66]

@ Interesting, thanks for sharing!

[@DeputyNordburg]

I desperately want one of these. But can't imagine what i would do with it...

[@billlodhia5640]

Maybe have Louis Rossman look into this, I'm sure he'll be able to find some schematics somewhere and revive this back to greatness!

[@CassandraCarter]

Looks like an Interware G3 upgrade for the 2400c is in the works.

[@BilisNegra]

The moment I heard "actually made by IBM" I immediately thought, didn't Colin (This Does Not Compute) feature this one?. I've checked, he did.

[@RyanClarky]

Command+option+p+r at boot? Haha 😁👍🏻

[@heatherbrown2761]

I am thinking that floppy disk goes to an accelerator card. 😁

[@smeqwack7337]

i remember the first time i heard of a notebook computer, and i thought it meant that you can put the pc in a notebook

[@Da40kOrks]

you know you can buy IDE SSDs?

[@queens.dee.223]

Did you ever release part two? The Algorithm gave me part one. Either way, looks cool :)

[@whatevercm]

So, Green means... go(ne?) - Not the most intuitive error indicator but OK. 😉

[@Retrocatone]

Due to the name of the product and maker, I’ll says processor upgrade, as it was a popular upgrade back in the days on Japanese modding scene for this laptop. Btw, you got it at a decent price in consideration the high demand on the market for this model in Japan. My advice is to well check lcd screen when you buy in Japan, as due to the climate over there and often long term storage in not control conditions, it’s tend to kill them w/separation between layers of the screen, rendering it completely useless. Don’t ask me how I know.

[@rickdellis_]

Did you get it fixed yet?

[@CasioMaker]

Ah, tiny laptops. Always cute to carry but a nightmare to update and maintain. Still, I would love to add this model to my collection

[@soknightsam]

Various versions of Macos can run on an Acer Zg5 or Asus equivalent Eeepc if you're interested in a stop gap or substitution

[@Kyrad777]

I*m Guessing turening it on without the CPU heatsink killed the processor. "G" Series processors run Crazy hot.

[@ZanderSwart]

I have the same wallpaper as on that powerbook!

[@CrashCarson14]

Is your arm on a spring?