I have had a trial by fire buying a Powerbook 1139 and wanted to share my learned knowledge with everyone who might be interested.

If purchasing via the internet (ebay etc.):
1. Have them use the Apple System Info from MacOS X to prove the model and stats of the PB. The chassis serial number is not a good way to determine what is in the box.
2. Make sure you have adequate pictures of the unit itself to validate claims of it's condition.
The sellers rating on Ebay is not a good indication of if they really looked over the box or know macs. Even if they have sold apple equipment and have good ratings be cautious. Have seen hairline cracks on the screen not noticed by seller.
3. Have buyer confirm that the memory in the PB is matching from the same manufacturer and chip. PB's will run with 2 different memory modules but will have kernel panics and fail updates.
4. Buy the machine exactly how you want so you don't have to take it apart. If you want an SSD added, it is a major effort to replace the hard disks. You will need mutiple tools and patience. If the seller is a PB expert and can add it for you, go for it. Make sure to read the guides on partitioning and mount the SSD first in an external firewire case to test first.

Nice effort to help out newbies that want to buy a PowerBook to run MorphOS3.0 on when it is released.

Don't know if I agree with everything you wrote though. It is not that difficult to replace the hard drive with a larger, faster one, or with a SSD. All you need is a small Phillips screw driver and the correct size hex driver. I have had both of my G4 PowerBooks apart several times and getting to the hard drive is much easier than replacing the fans & heatsinks. But you are right, if someone does not feel comfortable in taking apart such a delicate computer, they should let an experienced tech do it instead. Depends on who you are buying it from as to if they are more qualified than you are. I think it is a good idea for any PowerBook owner to remove the heatsinks and re-apply the thermal transfer paste, or have it done by someone qualified, as the application at the Apple factory may be less than optimum and can affect the cooling efficiency of your system.

I did not know about the problems with differing RAM chips causing kernel panics. I may need to look into this further, as my 17" PowerBook experiences lockups regularly and sometimes kernel panics. I don't know what is happening when the whole system just freezes, but that could be a kernel panic as well.

[ Edited by amigadave 04.01.2012 - 11:49 ]

Have you tried the free program 'rember' to check the memory?

I get the same thing with my dual 1.42 Powermac, weird panics or freezes, on random programs and different processor cores, Never found out what's causing it, works for days then crashes again, dunno. Changed the memory, changed the fan to keep it cool, changed the graphics card, very odd.

Never crashed with MorphOS, hmm..

I bought a PB that had issues with kernal panics and crashes, talked to some old amiga friends who have been with mac a long time and they said, mixing brands of memory or simply bad ram was the issue.

Sure enough, the PB had 2 different one gig sims, put the same exact chips in and the problem went away.

Didn't run rember or any other memory check software.

I guess I'm getting older, I found putting in the SSD a real pain in the backside, my mac friend had all the right tools and I still would have rather the seller put it in and test it for me. Lazy or to busy, you decide. The little D connector for the ribbon cable was the worst part...

The other item was that the seller on ebay sold me an 1138 stating it was an 1139. The chasis and serial stated it was an 1139, but the serial sticker on the mother board proved other wise. Funny, I traded a friend for the 1139 and it came with a chasis that was from an 1107... So don't bother even reading the serial numbers off the bottom.

Enjoy...



[ Edited by matt3 04.01.2012 - 22:58 ]

Your PB motherboard would therefore be a dual channel motherboard and both sticks MUST be identical, maker , timing, and otherwise.
This is normal for any dual channel PC motherboard.

[ Edited by bash64 06.01.2012 - 14:57 ]

Thanks for the technical reason Bash.