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Upgrade
that PowerBook 1400 CD-ROM
Oh yeah, you can do it all right! Surprisingly, owners and third party hardware companies have been changing out or modifying original Apple CD-ROM drives for some time. Kits were sold with CD-RW drives for the G3 PowerBook Lombard’s and Pismo’s.
I thought that since
Apple had switched to using standardized PC hardware around 1994 in
desktops and PowerBooks, this ought to be pretty easy to change out
the horribly slow 6x, 8x or even 12x CD ROM drive in a PowerBook 1400
(same goes for the PB 2400 and PB 3400). With a bit of Internet research,
I was fortified in my belief when I found a Apple recycled parts dealer
selling a 24x CD-ROM “kit” to upgrade your dead or slow
drive.
Click
on most pictures for enlargements
Since I had
already taken a PB 1400 12x CD-ROM drive a part already to adjust the
Laser back into useful life, I knew that Apple had been using Teac CD-ROM
internal modules that looked just like the modules used in many late
model Windows Notebooks.
So, using my favorite
used or NOS (new old stock) research site eBay, I entered “24x
CD-ROM, Teac, Notebook” and about 60 returns came back with new
and used drives. With the opened dead 6x Apple CD-ROM in front of me,
I searched through the listings for one that had come from a PC notebook.I
found three Teac 24x drives that looked right and they were all derivations
of the “CD-224 Laptop 24x Slim CD ROM Drive”, I bid on one
at a time until I won a CD-224E that had come from a Toshiba Satellite
notebook being parted out. My winning bid was $10.51 + $12.00 shipping,
considerably cheaper than the 24x kit listed online for $45.50 plus
shipping at Wegener Media.
Original Apple 8x CD-R on left, Teac 24x CD-224E on right
The important feature
on the Teac drive that you’ll be hunting down is the location of
the SCSI interface port on the back of the internal module. It MUST be
on the same side and type as the internal module in your current PB 1400
CD-ROM module.
The Apple connector
gender adapter must match!
And before you ask
yourself, yes I am already looking for a compatible CDRW drive; I hope
to recruit some help from Teac America. Check back in a few months to
see If I have found “gold”.
Installation is incredibly simple; probably the hardest part is putting the pieces back together in the right sequence. All you will need is a small narrow point Phillips screwdriver.
Follow the pictures in this tutorial and don’t be afraid to tackle this, even girls can do this!
Four screws, that’s
all that holds the Apple CD-ROM together. Not many parts are involved,
but just the same pay attention how it came apart.
Inside the CD-ROM
is the actual drive module, which is just a pretty generic OEM part that
usually Teac made. However the important part is where and what kind of
connector is on the back of the module. The reason is that the adapter/gender
changer board has to fit as is.
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