12" Powerbook - battery & pram issues

The following command will reset the PRAM if you're running Tiger:

sudo nvram boot-args=”-p -r”

Nothing should happen, you should be returned to the command line after the process completes.

You're welcome. Yes, you can clear the PRAM contents without a restart.

As for your battery, it's not in good shape, but it should still charge when connected. Attempt to reset the PMU:

Resetting PowerBook and iBook Power Management Unit ...

In the System Profiler there is an area where battery and power specs

are reported; this should tell you if there is no chance of the battery

ever working.

Usually even a low Cycle-count battery of a certain age can be flat dead.

And the cure after a few years is a new replacement battery. These do

not store well even if never used, and unlike newer batteries in recent

model portables, these also have a short life no matter what.

Without a known-good battery, and a known-good AC Power Adapter,

most portables are difficult to troubleshoot. A third issue may exist

where after you find you do have a new battery and excellent as-new

power adapter (when both can be tested on a second known-good

PB G4) that you find the circuit known as "DC-in Board" had failed.

The OWC site shows replacement batteries for two sizes of G4 PB.

They have a good report from most Mac users, as a source of parts.

As a larger display model often shipped with SuperDrive, too, that is

the model using a higher spec battery. It also may be physically larger.

For the 12" model, their battery spec is correct with or w/o superdrive.

Some other brands or off-brands may be OK; reports of both extreme

experiences from amazon sellers of cheap cloned products vary.

Good luck 🙂

As to the question or issue of battery replacements, you may have

to check up on any plausible source of quality product that can be s

erviceable, from sources other than Apple or OWC-macsales.

A search shows some results, but nothing within my limited experience.

•battery powerbook G4 12 inch - search results:

https://www.google.com/#q=battery+powerbook+g4+12+inch

Didn't check to see if powerbookmedic, ifixit.com, wegenermedia, powermax

or other companies who repair and sell these restored, have for parts to sell.

•PowerBook repair guides - iFixit.com:

http://www.ifixit.com/Device/PowerBook

So a good battery with at least a 12 month warranty should be available

from a reliable source who actually has a good product & customer svc.

•Is this the correct battery for 12" G4 PowerBook (alu) Used w/ 6mo warr.

http://www.ifixit.com/Store/Mac/G4-Aluminum-12-Inch-Battery/IF153-019

How old is the PowerMac running OS 9? Is it a PowerPC G3 or G4?

Does it dual-boot OS X and OS 9, or run OS9 as Classic under X?

Depending on the power mac tower, the route should be easy if you

can find a suitable replacement drive (PATA IDE ATA) of vintage spec.

And if the software you need will run in the System the tower supports.

Some info is available for products in the downloadable database

of MacTracker.ca, and of course everymac.com has a fair bit, too.

Good luck 🙂

PS: you could see if a reconditioned iBook or PowerBook G4 in $300. range

could suffice to use the software you have that runs under Tiger 10.4.11; so

long as there is enough RAM and the hardware checked out OK.

If the keyboard itself has gone bum, or some circuit on the logic board, that may

be more costly to repair in addition to any other pending wear items. Does the

PowerBook G4 12" work OK with an external USB apple keyboard? It may not

like a newer model, so an older white polycarbonate may do where newer won't.

Oh, back to the PRAM battery question... they show one at iFixit but I didn't look

further to see exact model details... they say this is for PB/G4 models.-- incl 12??

http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Replacing+a+PowerBook+G4+PRAM+Battery/3662

The older hardware prefers FireWire external drives with their own power supply

to help support external file storage or for use with bootable system OS X clones.

My earlier post timed-out while I was looking into some things, and I'd had trouble

with the Apple support discussions several times a day, and so didn't get back in.

Some amazon resellers offer various replacement batteries; seems it is easier to

find an iBook G4 12" 1.33GHz battery for a lower cost there, than some others.

• http://www.powerbookmedic.com/Aluminum-G4-12-Li-Ion-Rechargeable-Battery-p-16665 .html

Anyway, hopefully this helps somewhat. 🙂

Some models of Apple portable use a capacitor to

act as PRAM battery, and they too wear out.

You could try & rescue the content available from that PowerBook's hard disk drive, & consider getting an estimate to have the computer repaired; this would require a reasonably thorough diagnostic, & a repair would also likely include new parts or refurbished ones; perhaps even tested good ones from donor PB/G412s.

I have a PB G4 1.33GHz 12" that has issues and in a discussion with someone at wegenermedia in SC, given the four or five things requiring repair (parts replacement, maybe even one solder in logicboard; they do complex repairs and have modern workstations for this) it would be affordable to the extent of practical function. Of course, for that kind of money, I could upgrade an as-new iBook G4 1.33GHz 12" with low run time, to SSD, and get a new battery. Ultimately these would still be G4s, to be able to only run whatever software available to Leopard OS X 10.5.8. A later model MacBook 13-inch, circa 2009 or '10 has more forward mobility at less cost.

And my first-edition MacBook1.1 coreduo 1.83GHz can run circles around a last model PowerBook 1.5GHz; it can run as new as Snow Leopard 10.6.8 and with 2GB RAM, that is a fair gain.

So the matter of attachment to an old car that is comfortable, and is a memory of some other time, may be fine. But if you do restore it, be sure to get a complete spare and whatever hard parts looking forward. Even then it will someday no longer run at all. Some people collect gems instead since they are small & portable.

Good luck! 🙂