Ask Jacob

A new battery would probably be the next step after resetting the PMU without success. But before you plop down some big cash, does the PowerBook retain date and time if you remove the battery and power supply from the laptop? If it still looses the time, you could have a faulty backup battery that should be replaced. In rare cases, a dead
backup battery will block a main battery from charging. This battery is internal and takes some technical skill to replace.

You can buy the part from We Love Macs if you want to attempt the repair yourself.

Another consideration should be your Power Adapter. Make sure you are using the proper Wattage power supply for your PowerBook. You need a 65W adapter for your PowerBook but some earlier models used 45 Watt and some replacement adapters don’t provide a full 65 Watts. An underpowered adapter will not charge your battery.

Otherwise you can get a replacement PowerBook battery and that should fix your issue.
- Jacob

If you using the Sync with Google Calendars feature of BusySync Google limits the number of concurrent connections to a standard account. To test you could shutdown the working computers and then restart the one that is not updating. See if it starts syncing. If it does maybe you can limit the number of Google Calendar Synced clients and have everyone else just use the LAN sync feature of BusySync to get the data from the Google Calendar Synced systems.

Let me know if that helps,
- Jacob

The white plastic Intel iMacs can accept 3GBs of RAM via one 1GB chip and one 2GB RAM chip.
And in case you just want to max out the RAM, here is the link to a 1 GB chip.

- Jacob

That message typically indicates that the files have been moved form the library or their original source. That source can be an external hard drive, iPod in disc mode, CD/DVD, or even a network mounted drive. To make sure your files are actually in the iTunes Library, you need to change a iTunes preference setting. Go to the “iTunes” menu and down to Preferences. In Preferences, click on the “Advanced” tab. Now mark the Checkbox for both “Keep iTunes folder organized” and “Copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding to library.”

Those changes will make sure that your music shown in iTunes is actually on your computer. If you received the music files via a CD/DVD, you will need to re-add them to your iTunes library by reinserting the disk and using the “Add to Library…” item from the File menu. Then just select the disc and add all the files.

- Jacob

The 466MHz Power Mac G4 (Digital Audio) was technically very close to the 1st generation of Quicksilver G4, so you should have no issues moving your older drives over. The RAM and hard drive bus are the same between the two models.

Jumping computers should work well for you, except for the drop in processor speed and the reduction of overall processors.

- Jacob

The original Bondi Blue G3 iMac was a revolutionary computer and set Apple back on the proper track. Unfortunately this computer is limited in how expandable it is. The later iMacs with FireWire ports make them much more expandable via external hard drives and external DVD burners. This is not to say that your iMac will not do more, it just means that you are limited to USB 1.1 compatible devices for your upgrades or replacing internal parts.

CD burning will be your limit to optical drive upgrades because an average DVD is larger than your 4 GB hard drive. You could not even store enough data on your drive to burn a DVD. You can easily burn CD-R discs by replacing your internal drive. MCE Tech used to make a replacement G3 iMac CD drive and they may still have them in stock.

Here is the installation guide for that G3 CD drive, not tough but make sure you are OK with the process.

Beyond that the people over at Low End Mac can be a great resource on learning about you beloved “piece of history.” Of course any time you have a upgrade question just give us a call, we would love to help.

- Jacob

You are on the right track, you only need the Apple Micro-DVI to DVI Adapter to connect to the other end of male dvi to hdmi. Then it will connect to the cable you already own, like this HDMI/DVI cable and connect to your home theater.

All these adapters can drive you crazy, but at least Apple as standardized on a single Mini Display Port for all new Macs, even the 2008 MacBook Air model uses it. If you ever get one of those you will need this Apple Mini DisplayPort to DVI adapter.

Both adapters have female ports so the mail DVI connector will hookup.

- Jacob

Yes all Intel Mac Laptops have accelerometers in them that can “Park” the hard drive heads, in the event of a drop. For the best shock protection, consider a Solid State Drive (SSD). They do not have any moving parts in them to get damaged in an impact accident, and a SSD will operate your Apple computer at lightning fast speeds.

- Jacob

It is not a stupid question as it is not always obvious how your music is place on an iPod. The iPod can only be managed by the iTunes application on your computer. Once you have iTunes stocked with encoded music from your CDs and purchased music, you connect your iPod to the computer.

The iPod will show up as a device in the left had section of the iTunes window. You can then select the iPod and set the way you want music to be synced to the iPod. Depending on the size of your iTunes library and the capacity of your iPod, you may be able to have all your music on the iPod, or just some Play Lists if your library will not fit on the iPod.

Make sure you have the latest version of iTunes. And watch these videos showing you how to manage your iPod.

The Canon camera is probably the most Apple computer friendly camera of the three you are looking at. This could be because Canon does not make any competing computers with the Mac. Check out this Canon VIXHA.

Like many of these HD camcorders, the VIXIA has a decent still camera included in it, and comes with Mac specific software tools to get good images off the camera. It is also a full HD camera with the trusted optics from Canon. I own an Canon Digital SLR camera and am fairly impressed with the optical performance of their lenses. Most user reviews are positive on this camera and it seems to be built off some solid standards. It is often a good idea to avoid cutting edge sensors or recording formats. Otherwise you end up acting as a beta tester for the new technology.

This should be a solid HD camera for you ad your Mac computer.
- Jacob

The lower wattage of the MacBook Air power adapter will let your Unibody MacBookrun. It will not recharge the battery with the MacBook running though.

Your MacBook has a 45-watt battery and that 45 watt MacBook Air adapter will just provide enough power replace the power that would have come from the battery, but that is it. To charge the battery you will need to have the proper 60 watt adapter or, completely shut down the system so all power can be used to charge the battery.

- Jacob

You should be able to swap that SATA hard drive between MacBooks. Make sure that you have the latest OS installed on the MacBook’s hard drive before you install it on the MacBook Pro, and be prepared to use the OS X install disk that came with the MBP. You probably will not need them but you can always do an Archive and Install if you experience any issues. Both the MacBooks, and the Unibody MacBook Pros, make it a trivial job to swap out hard drives.

Do not be too surprised if Windows needs some driver updates after the swap though. The Mac OS is portable but Windows often chokes on a hardware transplant. Have the Mac Boot Camp drivers handy.

- Jacob

I do not have personal experience with that brand of KVM but I know some KVMs will have problems passing along settings data to a Mac. When you power on the G5 Power Mac, you have the KVM switched to its port right? In many cases that is essential for the video card to find the proper resolution.

Aside from that, it should work. Please let me know if the other video card makes a difference.

- Jacob

You may need to repartition it through the Partition tab in Disk Utility.

To repatriation a drive, select the drive (not the indented Volume) that you want to erase and click on the Partition tab. Change the Volume Scheme popup menu from “Current” to “1 Partition.” Click the [Options...] button and set it to use the “Apple Partition Map.” Then give it a name and click on the [Apply] button. One more click to say that you understand all data will be lost on that drive and then it should work fine for your Mac computer.

It will not work on PCs after that though, it will be a Mac drive.

- Jacob

Even the mighty iPod nano is no match for a washing machine...

It is unlikely your daughter’s iPod nano will come back from the dead. The wash is a thorough killer of the iPod family, particularly the batteries. The best bet is to dry it in the windowsill, on a sunny day. That should get it warm enough to cook out the moisture without further damaging the electronics. After a day of drying try connecting it to a computer through the docking cable. Then see if it will power on. Even if the battery is dead it should still work off the USB power. If you see nothing it will probably mean you need a new iPod.

If it does turn on then try to charge the battery. If it does not charge, there are battery replacement options. Some sites offer repair, but those could cost as much as just replacing the unit.

- Jacob