Installing Mac OS 9 onto my Clamshell iBook

[The Grim Ninja]

Well, that's sure one phrase I never thought I'd find myself saying (or typing).

I just picked up a Clamshell ibook with a dead battery (wouldn't charge) and an airport card for a very good price.

I tried everything I could to get the battery to charge while in OS X.3.9 Reset Power Manager, Reset PRAM, reset open firmware... Nothing

Put in the OS 9 CD and start installing, and the battery starts charging. Restarting now, hopefully it keeps charging.

300 Mhz
6 GB HD
128 MB RAM
CD ROM
Airport

Next problem to tackle, airport card will connect to my network but won't authenticate. Anyone care to inform me of the differences between the two original airport card versions? I believe one is 64 bit and another is 128?

Now, who was it that collected Clamshells here?

[rgG]

PeterB is the Clam man.

I have two a Blueberry and an Indigo, but neither has the airport card. I wish both did.

[The Grim Ninja]

Alright, a bit of research, and I figure it out. The pulldown menu when asked about connecting to a network! I forgot about that! I don't have much experience with airport equipped macs. My first airport card died a few weeks after I got it, and it was only used in my MDD G4, so not very frequently.

Installing 10.3 (No 10.4 since I don't have a DVD drive).

I found a 128 MB chip from an iMac motherboard I parted out last night (Literally parted out, removing the surface mount components and all). So now the thing has 192 MB RAM.

[incognegro]

have fun!

6 gb hd is gonna be tight. 800x600 is a bit small also. i think it will take a 512 mb if you come across one. a 256 will bring it up to 288, that's what i used to run.

if it doesn't have it, i think there's a firmware update for that model.

[cbelt3]

Location Manager is your best friend.
Clamshell batteries don't always respond to Power Manager, at least not in my experience. Gotta fix a couple of them- they've been living in the closet for a while. At this point the laptops are worth less than the Airport cards that are happily inside them (Got 'em when they were clearancing them out at $49 each- those were the days)

[The Grim Ninja]

Sheesh... my 10.3 CDs are dead, my 10.4 is a DVD, so I'm installing 10.2

I forgot how long 10.2 takes to install..


I know the system is cramped in many ways. (RAM, HD, Display) So, I won't hang onto it too long. Just wanting to play with it a little first. And hopefully get this battery to charge.

[PeterB]

Yep, as others have said-- that particular one isn't worth very much ... the 366's and 466's are the ones in higher demand.

Batteries-- remember that on the clamshell, there is no separate PRAM battery... so when you remove the battery, you lose all your date/time settings unless you do it quickly. For resetting the battery, the typical four things: 1) PRAM zap; 2) NVRAM reset; 3) PMU reset; 4) remove all power (AC and battery), hit power a few times, let sit overnight, then reassemble everything (essentially a "deep" PMU reset). In the case of the earlier model iBooks, the Battery Reset program (only works in OS9) is also worh a try; it doesn't work on the later model machines. Finally, I find iBatt to be a great utility for checking out batteries-- it will give you hard numbers, show you if the battery is charging, etc. ...

[The Grim Ninja]

I still can't get this battery to charge. Via my volt meter, it's at .5volts (Up from the .2 it was at earlier, though)

I'm installing 10.2.8 right now. Geeze, I can't believe how slow this process is. (10.2 was horrible, apparently.)

I'll try the extreme reset tonight, and the battery reset program in the morning.

Know anyone looking to buy a piece of history? (Once I get it working, that is).

[PeterB]

Grim, I'd try the Battery Reset app first, since it's an "all-or-none" effect, e.g., either it will work or it won't, and it runs in OS9, which you've already installed: http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/3653

... in my experience though, a battery which won't charge at all is usually dead, kaput, etc. ... it's a dead parrot.

I usually try to put Panther or Tiger on these machines, and in my experience, cloning is the way to go. (Though obviously that's a problem with the non-Firewire versions...)