page
3
The
Ultimate PowerBook 1400 Upgrade guide (also the PB 2400 & 3400)
Click
on pictures for enlargements
Like a lot of before and after model PowerBooks, the 1400’s are
really easy to open up to install the RAM. After removing the top grill,
the keyboard pops up and the aluminum plate cover over the processor
and RAM slots comes off with four screws. Be sure to “ground”
yourself and discharging any built up static electricity before handling
ANY RAM or electronic component. Better yet, invest in a $3.00 wrist
attached grounding strap from Radio Shack.
Feeling HDD
cramped?
Back when the PB 1400 came out, the OEM 500MB or 1GB Hard Disk Drive
was considered reasonable. But today’s bloated applications and
Operating Systems have changed that. Fortunately, the PowerBook 1400
used a standard 2.5-inch notebook ATA drive. You have a lot of choices
for drives, however you stick with a drive no thicker than 12.7mm (9.5mm
is optimal) and you really shouldn’t waste your money on anything
with more than 20GB capacity.
I went with my perennial favorite Toshiba 9.5mm Super Slimline HDD’s and picked up a 4200 RPM 20GB 2MB cache MK2018GAP (http://sdd.toshiba.com/) online for just $98 plus shipping. The Toshiba HDD’s are quieter and longer lasting than any other drive brand I’ve used long term. Toshiba also makes a 15GB model if you want to save a few bucks.
Two notes here; first the mounting holes for the original HDD in the aluminum “caddy” will be different than the pattern used on today’s drives. No problem, just drill new holes in the thin caddy’s top. Second, I could find no reason that you have to partition the new drive with a small “boot” partition as do with the Rev A – D iMacs. Our test PowerBooks recognized the 20GB Toshiba’ drive accurately and I installed OS 9.1 on it.
What, no CD
ROM or it’s dead?
Hey, a lot of PB1400’s only came with Floppy Drives, or if you bought
a used one it may have be sold without the CD ROM drive because the jerk
selling it figured out he could sell it piecemeal for more money. Not
a terribly big deal though, you can find orphaned (or the one that actually
came with your eBay special) CD ROMs in 6x, 8x or 12x also on eBay and
other used hardware sites.
We bought a nice used 12X CD module from the nice folks at Andover CG Inc. on their eBay store (www.andovercg.com) for just $24.99 plus shipping. I’ve seen them for less and sometime much more, from private party sellers too.
Maybe you’ve got a CD ROM module, but it’s either dead (not unusual) or it’s just too slow for anyone’s taste. It’s amazing to think back to 1996 - 97 that a 6x or 8x CD ROM was considered normal, even fast!
You’ve got three solutions if your present CD drive is dead or too slow; fix it, buy a faster one (12x), or upgrade your to a 24X CD drive!
The PB1400 CD drives are notorious for apparently dying, not because of a failed Laser, but because the Lasers “aim” goes out of adjustment. This is a trial and error fix job, but it can be done and you’ll have to completely take you drive a part to find the tiny slotted adjustment screw on the underside of the CD tray. Make tiny adjustments 1/8th of a turn at a time in either direction until it reads the CD disks again.
I already talked about buying used CD ROM drives, so the last alternative is to replace the guts of your dead or slow PowerBook 1400 CD drive with something faster and it is easier than you think! I found a used 24X CD drive for $12.00, from a Toshiba notebook and transplanted it into a dead Apple PB1400 8X drive bay module. My 1997 PB 1400 is now spinning CD’s at a full 24X! Click here to read the complete how-to. I just wonder if I can now find a CDRW in the right form factor? You just might check back in a few months.
Reach out
and touch someone –
When the PowerBook 1400 debuted, all that was available for modem accessibility
were 28.8K and 33.6K PCMCIA cards or you used an external serial port
model. Unless you bought a later model 56K PC Card modem along the way,
you’ve missed the boat buying a Mac OS compatible one retail.
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