07-23-2007, 03:44 PM

Hello all. Thanks to quick reactions on Craig's List, I am now the proud owner of a Pismo/500 which I found for $60.

It does have some minor issues which I was curious about, and I was hoping someone on here could give me some insight.

1) The screen doesn't have any dead pixels but it does seem to have a slight sepia tinge to it. Its not bad, just interesting. Any ideas why it has it and/or anything I can do about it?

2) The battery doesn't seem to take a charge at all. Given that the reason I got it so cheap was because the PRAM battery was completely dead, and it wouldn't boot at all, is the main battery toast or could it be the power board in the Pismo. I've got a new PRAM battery coming, and will be ordering a new main battery anyway this week, I just wanted to know if this makes sense.

3) I plan to replace the G3 inside here with a G4 processor ASAP, since the current CPU is just a bit underpowered for Divx. Anyone done this before, and what's the resale value of the existing CPU?

Thanks again to all here for the help I've gotten so far.

07-23-2007, 05:42 PM

I haven't owned a Pismo before, but I have owned the two models prior, the Wallstreet and the Lombard. Very similar in form and design to the Pismo so this should help:

Originally Posted by AncientRelic

1) The screen doesn't have any dead pixels but it does seem to have a slight sepia tinge to it. Its not bad, just interesting. Any ideas why it has it and/or anything I can do about it?

It could be a number of things, but I would chalk it up to either age or a serious need of calibration... which is the most likely. Not a really big issue to remedy.

2) The battery doesn't seem to take a charge at all. Given that the reason I got it so cheap was because the PRAM battery was completely dead, and it wouldn't boot at all, is the main battery toast or could it be the power board in the Pismo. I've got a new PRAM battery coming, and will be ordering a new main battery anyway this week, I just wanted to know if this makes sense.

Replacing the PRAM battery would be the logical first step. If that doesn't help, you can buy replacement batteries which is what I did for both of the Wallstreets and the Lombard I had. As a last resort, you could find the charging board on either www.ifixit.com or ebay and replace it yourself. It isn't too complicated to take those machines apart and work on them

3) I plan to replace the G3 inside here with a G4 processor ASAP, since the current CPU is just a bit underpowered for Divx. Anyone done this before, and what's the resale value of the existing CPU?

I did replace one of my Wallstreets with a G4 upgrade card. It did show a marked improvement in the notebook's performance. In the Wallstreet this was great, as the speed jumped from 233Mhz to 500Mhz. In the Pismo where the processor speed is already 400-500Mhz, it won't show nearly as much improvement, especially since it's logic board is still running on the slower bus speed. As for the resale value of the old daughter card, it would be better to send it back to the upgrade vendor as they usually offer a discount off the price of the upgrade when you send them back the old card. You won't likely get much for it reselling it on your own.