I got my PowerBook DVI 800MHz yesterday. First off, like many others have complained about, mine was scratched and slightly dented on the top due to the way it was packaged. The plastic bag that it ships in had two holes in it where the Styrofoam meets the lid of the PowerBook. The scratch appears under the hole nearest the latch. For a moment, I thought about putting it right back in the box and sending it back, but I didn’t. The scratch (although visible) is not that bad. Apple clearly needs to fix this packaging problem! No dead pixels. I am also missing the S-Video to RCA adapter as others have complained about.
This unit was sent to me to set up for imaging all of our new PowerBooks that my company is getting next month. I immediately began loading all of our applications and demo files and customizing it the way our field reps will need to use it. Once that was done, I used imaging software to make a disk image of the drive. Once the disk image is created this becomes my PowerBook to use and I can put my 48GB Hard drive in it.
This is where the fun begins – AirPort Hell.
I followed the PowerPage instructions on replacing the hard drive by first updating the OS X on it while it was in the PowerBook 500MHz. That went great! I installed the drive in the PB 800MHz and that went fine. I booted and viola, it worked! However, I noticed that there was no AirPort signal. I remembered that you had to run the AirPort 2.0.2 software updated disc and I did. Still no signal. I tried the usual, zapping the PRAM, reinstalling/updating OS X again, updating OS 9.2.2, logging in as a different user, etc. Still no signal. Finally I booted in OS 9 and lo and behold, a signal. So I knew that the card was still working. I tried deleting the hidden AirPort preference. Still no signal in OS X. At this point it was 2:30 in the morning and I finally gave up. I figured that there was something in OS X that had a physical bind on the card itself. So I finally just swapped AirPort cards (using the one that was in my PB 500MHz) and viola, signal!
My suspicion is Final Cut Pro 3 (or some other software I have) as I have heard that its copy protection scheme physically binds to the networking hardware of the Mac itself. I find this to be shocking if its true! Worse case I was expecting to have to reinstall FCP (Which I still have to do, as it will not Launch-warning of invalid System ID), not carry the AirPort card with the drive from Mac to Mac.
