Tossing an idea around here ... I'd like to use my old Powerbook as a media server for my Windows network. [more inside]
posted on Jul 12, 2008 - 5 answers

iBook G4 battery is out of juice. Computer won't start up... even when AC adapter is plugged in. Is there something else going on? [more inside]
posted on Jun 10, 2008 - 7 answers

Macfilter: Thinking of buying a 12" G4 Powerbook, is this irrational thinking? [more inside]
posted on Jun 9, 2008 - 24 answers

A question about reselling an ibook g4 with a broken screen. [more inside]
posted on Jun 4, 2008 - 4 answers

Mac Powermac G4 AGP will not boot, can I take the drive and boot using a firewire enclosure on another G5? [more inside]
posted on May 26, 2008 - 6 answers

My iBook G4 is possessed! Please help perform an exorcism. [more inside]
posted on Mar 7, 2008 - 6 answers

i live two floors above the wireless router, and my powerbook can't get a strong enough signal. what's the most cost-effective solution? [more inside]
posted on Jan 22, 2008 - 12 answers

[Ohgodno!Filter] My iBook G4 has for months been making a weird sound when I move it, but today something in the vicinity of the hard-drive has started to make a sharp rhythmic whine/scrape when the laptop is tilted. Is there any hope other than bringing it into the shop? [more inside]
posted on Oct 22, 2007 - 15 answers

the optical drive in my powerbook G4 has separated, sayeth the genuis, but i didn't buy applecare for my now 19-month old computer. there seem to be a few options, but i don't know which to try. advice, please! [more inside]
posted on Sep 12, 2007 - 4 answers

The battery in my G4 Powerbook won't charge, and I am a long way from any technical help! [more inside]
posted on Jul 30, 2007 - 5 answers

What happened to my RAID setup today? [more inside]
posted on Apr 19, 2007 - 4 answers

My 12" Powerbook G4 has decided it likes the current CD inside it so much that it has refused to spit it out. [more inside]
posted on Apr 13, 2007 - 7 answers

My year-old Powerbook G4 has acquired the habit of suddenly shutting off when it thinks it has no more power, which usually happens when the menubar item says the battery is around 30% full. Do I need a new battery? Or can I massage it into the proper sleeping/hibernating behavior somehow?
posted on Jan 18, 2007 - 8 answers

My friend is trying to finish his album on pro tools but is running out of hard drive space. [more inside]
posted on Jan 12, 2007 - 11 answers

I am going to rebuild a used G4 as a media centre and have a few questions for anyone who might have done this [more inside]
posted on Jan 10, 2007 - 9 answers

I need to install linux on a PPC G4 Powermac at work. What distro should I use? [more inside]
posted on Nov 25, 2006 - 8 answers

The sound on my OS X G4 laptop has suddenly become very loud and distorted. Help me make it stop. [more inside]
posted on Nov 14, 2006 - 4 answers

How can I save my iMac G4? [more inside]
posted on Sep 29, 2006 - 5 answers

My iBook G4 has lately been winking out, for no apparent reason, as I'm in the middle of something (I have to reset the date each time, among other things). The weird thing is that it only seems to happen when I'm on battery power. When I press the little button on the bottom, it seems to indicate full power. However, I was noticing a month or so ago I was getting weird battery warnings -- saying it was almost out of power, when it said there was 41% power remaining, etc. Has anyone had this problem, and might a new battery somehow be the solution?
posted on Aug 17, 2006 - 5 answers

My G4 iPod has crapped out. It's a few years old and was working with no problems for some time. But recently it corrupted a bunch of my songs. I tried reloading and it now crashes my Mac running 10.4 because the move hangs halfway and nothing can be done. Is there anything I can do with this thing? [more inside]
posted on Jun 27, 2006 - 8 answers

Yesterday on the sidewalk in front of the office, my computer bag strap broke and the bag fell to the ground, denting the corner of my (loaner) Powerbook G4. [more inside]
posted on Jun 27, 2006 - 9 answers

macfilter: What is the best way to create a wireless network between my eMac and iMac g4 (lamp) without using Airport or Airport Express? [more inside]
posted on Jun 26, 2006 - 5 answers

On a Mac G4 system, OSX Tiger, how do I stop my external firewire drives from going to sleep whenever I step away from the machine for more than a 5 minutes? [more inside]
posted on Jun 9, 2006 - 5 answers

Help me get my aged G4 onto my home wireless network. [more inside]
posted on Jun 7, 2006 - 8 answers

Help me save my Powerbook G4. It keeps freezing and I have to force quit it. It will not last more than five minutes without freezing. What can I do? Is my computer dead? Is there no hope? [more inside]
posted on May 5, 2006 - 15 answers

I need to add a bigger hard drive to my oldish Mac G4. This kind of machine can only see 120G of storage on a drive. [more inside]
posted on Apr 7, 2006 - 5 answers

I would like to upgrade my old 15" G4 powerbook laptop 400 Mhz. I would like to get more speed out of it. I have maxxed the ram out and installed a faster access HDD. What else can I do? Motherboard? Recommendations?
posted on Mar 24, 2006 - 7 answers

Adam Sesler and Morgan Webb. How much are they pulling down a year? [more inside]
posted on Mar 15, 2006 - 15 answers

I acquired a secondhand Power Mac G4 Dual 867MHz MDD a few days ago, but it's been acting a little weird. [more inside]
posted on Feb 23, 2006 - 4 answers

The power connector to my G4 Powerbook is almost dead. It only charges in one very specific position, and I have to twist it around for a few seconds to find the sweetspot (rotating it in situ). Nothing is loose and nothing is visibly wrong. I tried squeezing the metal sleeve slightly to make it more elliptical in the hope this would create a tighter connection, but it made no difference. [more inside]
posted on Feb 16, 2006 - 18 answers

I need a cheap graphics card for my old Powermac G4 that will drive a high-res LCD. [more inside]
posted on Feb 14, 2006 - 5 answers

I'm considering buying a Powerbook G4 15 inch, but I hesitate to do so knowing that the Macbook comes out so soon. I am worried that Macbook is untested and could be buggy, especially with heat/power/battery issues (see here and here). Is it a bad idea to buy a Powerbook G4 now? Will the price drop after the MacBook goes on the market? [more inside]
posted on Feb 2, 2006 - 22 answers

completely dead powerbook g4. [more inside]
posted on Jan 8, 2006 - 7 answers

I'm looking to buy an external firewire hard drive for my aging G4. [more inside]
posted on May 16, 2005 - 14 answers

So when is the Powerbook G5 really coming out? I have been a lifelong PC user, but I want to get a laptop as my next computer and after using several of my friends' Powerbooks I was sold on buying one. However, it seems like there's conflicting information and advice on (a) whether I should buy the revised G4 PB or wait for the G5 (which could have some quirks upon initial release), (b) whether I really need the power of of a G5 in my laptop, and (c) when the hell the thing is even coming out. Please help AppleGurus.
posted on Apr 5, 2005 - 17 answers

I'm replacing the zip drive in my 450MHz AGP "Sawtooth" G4 with a DVD burner. Any tips?
posted on Jan 24, 2005 - 9 answers

Is the new iMac Mini comparable in performance to the old G4 Quicksilver? Rather, are there any grievous issues as to why one should not consider purchasing an iMac Mini?
posted on Jan 14, 2005 - 32 answers

My 2.5 year old Powerbook G4's battery seems to have suddenly lost the ability to hold more than a 40 minute charge. What's up with that? What should I do about it?
posted on Dec 13, 2004 - 6 answers

I'm going to Japan in a few weeks and I'm wondering about the differences in electrical outlets and how my laptop (powerbook g4) will be able to handle it, and if there is a special kind of adapter I need because it's a computer. All the power adaptor kits i've found thus far have been for hairdryers and what not. Anyone know?

And while I'm at it, anyone know anything good to do in Kyoto, especially for New Years? heh.
posted on Dec 12, 2004 - 18 answers

I have recently acquired a busted PowerBook G4 Titanium with the 15" LCD. I've determined the logic board is shot, so it's really not worth much to me. I've pulled out the interesting parts—hard drive for an external FireWire enclosure, AirPort card for eBay or a friend's iBook, battery—but I keep looking at this beautiful LCD.

Is there anything I can do with this, interesting-fun-hack-wise, instead of just selling it off for parts? I'm very handy with electronics and soldering and all, but I wouldn't know where to start on a project like this. Ideas?

And hey, happy Decemberween!
posted on Dec 1, 2004 - 11 answers

I use a Windows XP box at work. I use a Powerbook G4 at home. I'd like to buy the bluetooth Apple Pro keyboard and use it both at home and at work. Is this possible? If so, any specific recommendations for a USB-bluetooth adapter for my work machine? Thanks in advance.
posted on Nov 9, 2004 - 1 answers

Here the short story...Is there anyway to remotely disconnect/connect dsl connections under OS X? the long story inside....
posted on Oct 12, 2004 - 8 answers

Can I use the OSX CDs that came with my iBook to upgrade a desktop G4 from OS9?
posted on Oct 12, 2004 - 11 answers

MacBrowserHell: I just updgraded from a Lombard 333 Mhz Powerbook to a G4 667 TiBook with 1GB RAM. Camino now seems to run dog-slow. And the others have their troubles...
posted on Aug 22, 2004 - 21 answers

When your iBook G4 loses faith in the idea that it has DVD drive, complaining of an error [-70012] when you stick a DVD in; when even firmware prompt commands like "eject" won't pop it out; when you realize that for purposes of style you have been deprived of a manual-eject pinhole; in such straits, friends, is there any hope of freeing your Digital Versatile Disc of "Spiderman" from the drive?
posted on Jul 21, 2004 - 13 answers

My Powerbook G4, which I bought in January, is beginning to worry me. Microsoft Word crashes incessantly, you have to jiggle CDs back and forth to get them into the slot, and tonight when trying to wake my computer from sleep mode, it wouldn't awake. I had to hit the power button 4 times before anything happened. What should I do?
posted on Jul 15, 2004 - 11 answers

I have a Mac G4 with a similar problem to some recent questions - it restarts when I try to shut it down. (more inside)
posted on Apr 26, 2004 - 4 answers

Oh dear. Mac data recovery question. One of my coursemates accidentally deleted her final year degree coursework when trying to free up some disk space on her G4. [More Inside]
posted on Mar 3, 2004 - 7 answers

As an extension of this previous thread: I've decided on an iBook. I have the opportunity to get a 14" 900MHz G3 refurb'd for $900. I can also get this discontinued model new for $1000. The comparable G4 iBook, which has almost exactly the same specs (save the processor, of course) is $1300. My $1000 could also buy me a 12" 800MHz G4.

I'm having trouble parsing the literature about the chips. I understand that, particularly with Macs, it's not just about the MHz, so should I expect the "slower" G4 chip to outperform the G3 I'm looking at? I expect to use this computer until at least spring '06, which seems like a long way off considering that the G3 chip is now technically obsolete. Also, there are obvious form factor issues; does anyone have a strong opinion about the old iBook design vs. the new? Has anyone been personally affected by the logic board problems I've heard about for the last-gen G3 iBooks? Any warnings about Apple-refurbished machines? [slightly more inside]
posted on Dec 27, 2003 - 15 answers