Rising Above Mediocrity
by Benjamin Geiger

After my initial analysis of my Powerbook problems, I figured I’d simply add a bigger stick of RAM to the other slot.

Wrong.

I’ve tried three different 1GB sticks from two vendors (one off-brand from Newegg, two Kingston from Circuit Slum). With the off-brand RAM, the Powerbook refused to boot at all, and with the Kingston, it kernel panicked before Finder loaded.

All three sticks of RAM are well within the specs given in the Powerbook documentation. (PC2700/DDR333, CAS latency 2.5, 200-pin SODIMMs.) Either, by some coincidence, two companies and two vendors have yielded three faulty sticks of RAM, or the other slot is failing somehow.

Apparently, I have to either fix the logic board or replace the machine. To replace the logic board would cost approximately $700 USD. To buy a cheap laptop would be $6-700, and to buy a good laptop (the MacBook Pro) would be $1800 (with academic discount).

I don’t have $700—never mind $1800—and the computer is incapable of running much of what I need to run now (Virtual PC, for instance). I can’t borrow money from the school, like I did last time, because I already borrowed my entire loan allowance so I can survive this term. So I’m in a bit of a pickle.

If anyone has any suggestion (or better yet, a donation), don’t hesitate to let me know.

A few days ago, my Powerbook (Toad) began running extremely slowly. I first chalked it up to spyware (I had installed the NX client the day before), and after that was ruled out, to a failing hard drive. It wasn’t until today that I noticed that my “About This Mac” dialog said my machine had 256 MB of RAM.

“256? There should be 512!”

A quick peek into System Profiler said it all:

Power On Self-Test:

  Last Run:	2006-02-02 12:32
  Result:	Failed
  Failure type:	Memory
  Memory slot:	SODIMM0/J25LOWER

Some Googling led me to a discussion of a potential class action lawsuit. Apparently, all aluminum Powerbook G4 models are susceptible to failure of the lower SODIMM slot. The only way to repair this is to replace the logic board, an expensive repair.

My Powerbook is out of warranty, and when I purchased it, Apple was not allowed to sell AppleCare in Florida (for reasons I still don’t fully understand). Apple has offered to repair newer Powerbooks with this defect, but their offer doesn’t extend back to my model; it’s only for 1.5GHz and 1.67GHz models, and mine’s 1.25GHz. Also, the design has not been changed, so the problem has been known to recur.

My options, as I understand them, are as follows (in order of increasing cost):

• Live with the reduced performance. I’d prefer not to do this, because it’s extremely slow. (The computer sometimes takes upward of 30 seconds to respond to input.)
• Buy a large stick of RAM and put it into the remaining good slot. Crucial charges approximately $100 for 512MB (which would return previous performance) and $200 for 1GB (which would be preferable). I haven’t priced similar products from other vendors yet.
• Have the logic board repaired. Apparently, this costs about $400 and would not improve performance beyond pre-failure levels.
• Buy a new laptop. The cost could range from $600 for a Wal-Mart cheapie to $1800 for a MacBook Pro. As much as I’m drooling over the MacBook Pro, I don’t have $1800 to spend.

So, I guess I’ll use this opportunity to beg for donations; I’m a poor college student and can’t afford much… I need all the help I can get.

(Update: PayPal donation link added to the upper right corner. Feel free to donate if you’re so inclined.)