I've heard of others here with G3 Powerbook (Firewire) DVD drive modules that went dead, and I was hoping that mine would be an exception to the rule. As far as I can tell, this was virtually the last Pismo sold (the last one in SmallDog.com's inventory, and as far as I saw, the last one any mail-order company had for sale. I've loved it. From your descriptions, it sounded like it did contain one of the problematic models of DVD drive, but I was hopeful. I never had much trouble with it, aside from the occasional burp. Until last month, when it started refusing to mount increasing numbers of CD disks (including my Jaguar Install disk), started making a funny noise, and would take a LONG time to read those it would finally mount.
Well, since I still have about 10 months of AppleCare warranty coverage left, I called up Apple, and told them the problems. They took me through resetting the power manager and zapping the PRAM (which I'd already done anyhow, but I humored them). They determined that I had to send the whole Powerbook in for repair. The shipping box arrived 18 hours after it was requested--I hadn't even finished swapping out the internal hard drive (which I wanted to keep using, in an external firewire enclosure while the 'book was away). I sent them my Pismo Wednesday night, containing an empty hard disk. This morning it arrived back! Less than 46 hours! With a new DVD-ROM module, new rubber feet, a cleaned keyboard, and a cleaned screen (no keyboard markings). And they installed OS 9.2.2 on the disk (probably as a by-product of testing the new module).
I'm quite impressed. Given this repair and the other telephone support I've received from Apple, I think the $300 I spent for AppleCare to be a worthwhile. The only way it would have been better is if Apple hadn't used these dodgy DVD mechanisms in the first place.
One thing I'm especially glad about is that I never played around with re-programming the DVD firmware to overcome region-encoding limitations. I'm guessing they'd have noticed, and tried to blame that for the troubles.
Good luck with your 'books!
--Jim.
-- G-Books is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and...
Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | -- Check our web site for refurbished PowerBooks | & CDRWs on Sale! |
Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html>
G-Books list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-books.html> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/g-books%40mail.maclaunch.com/>
---------------------------------------------------------------
The Think Different Store
http://www.ThinkDifferentStore.com ---------------------------------------------------------------
