G4 Powerbook- Is It Cactus?

[Bikkies]

I've got a G4 powerbook I've had since about 2001, and I've recently fitted it with a replacement superdrive, battery and 1G of RAM (second-hand except for the chip). Since then the battery doesn't seem to charge, Opera and Safari shut down on their own constantly, the mailbox cleared itself and is now basically useless and the clock keeps reverting to 1970. Is it going through puberty or should I bin it and buy a Mac Air?

 

[Walrus666]

I've got a G4 powerbook I've had since about 2001, and I've recently fitted it with a replacement superdrive, battery and 1G of RAM (second-hand except for the chip). Since then the battery doesn't seem to charge, Opera and Safari shut down on their own constantly, the mailbox cleared itself and is now basically useless and the clock keeps reverting to 1970. Is it going through puberty or should I bin it and buy a Mac Air?

Did you ask yourself that question before shelling out the bucks to repair the Powerbook? I would say definitely go for the Mac Air. If you have the cash, why shouldn't you have the newest and the best? Especially, when it comes to computers. Nowadays, if a computer is a few years old, it's old! I just upgraded from an eMac G4 to an iMac 2.66 and what a difference! Although, I have to admit that I'm still quite fond of the old dinosaur (eMac).

 

[Bikkies]

It was working OK until I did the upgrade, albeit slow. Now I get the rainbow whirlygig constantly, especially if using opera. The hard drive is pretty full though- would this cause it to vapourlock? I've been trying to buy a mac mini from the US through ebay but I've been gypped thice- 1st time was a scam and the cops caught him, I'm waiting to get my money back; second one was through an ebay powerseller who went bust in the time between me paying them and them shipping the computer, so I'm more than a little peeved- I want to transfer most of what's on the hard drive to the mini and just use the powerbook as a stand-by/travel unit, but it's not much use for that if the battery won't charge. Mac Air'd be nice but I'm waiting for the price to drop a bit- if they get to under A$1000 we don't pay tax on them if bought overseas.

 

[Walrus666]

It was working OK until I did the upgrade, albeit slow. Now I get the rainbow whirlygig constantly, especially if using opera. The hard drive is pretty full though- would this cause it to vapourlock? I've been trying to buy a mac mini from the US through ebay but I've been gypped thice- 1st time was a scam and the cops caught him, I'm waiting to get my money back; second one was through an ebay powerseller who went bust in the time between me paying them and them shipping the computer, so I'm more than a little peeved- I want to transfer most of what's on the hard drive to the mini and just use the powerbook as a stand-by/travel unit, but it's not much use for that if the battery won't charge. Mac Air'd be nice but I'm waiting for the price to drop a bit- if they get to under A$1000 we don't pay tax on them if bought overseas.

That's a shame about those eBay transactions.
Yep, those Mac Airs are a bit pricey. Quite frankly, for that price I would go for the new iMac and carry it around in a case!
How much free space is left on the hard drive?
Have you tried using a good maintenance app? MainMenu, Onyx, etc? You can find them on Version Tracker. See link.
http://www.versiontracker.com/macosx/

 

[Bikkies]

Only 500 Mb.

 

[Walrus666]

Only 500 Mb.[/QUOTE
Oh yea, that could be the reason your Mac is sluggish.