[Carl Norum]

Just a note about some successful completions - this last week a friend of mine and I took apart our iBooks. Mine went from a 10 GB hard disk to a Toshiba 40 GB model, which gave me some stretching room, and his is now a 600/100 model.

Some comments - we will be taking the machines apart again in the near future to perform more changes, and we'll be sure to take some digital photos and post instructions to the web. The instructions out there are not as good as they could be, and we think we can do better.

Also, there is some weirdness to report regarding the overclocking. Apple system profiler in Mac OS 9.2.2 reports "600-350 MHz" as expected, but the Mac OS X version reports 400 MHz. What's up?

On a side note, we are willing to provide these services to anyone who will bring us their machine. Just send me or Stan an e-mail at:

carl.norum@usask.ca and sar407@mail.usask.ca

[ 02-02-2002: Message edited by: Carl Norum ]

[Carl Norum]

Update! Another successful OC!

We also solved the System Profiler issue by tweaking the Open Firmware a little. A friend of ours has a (real) iBook 600, and we noticed that it's ROM revision is higher than our 500's were.

There you have it!

Web page with photographs and instructions coming in the near future.

[Dan Szwarc]

There's a decent article in the March 2002 macAddict about doing OC'ing on an iBook.

[Carl Norum]

Cool! We'll have to look into that for input into the web page.

We did another (mine) tonight, by the way. Making:

My iBook 500 -> 600, and also with a 40 GB drive,
Stan's iBook 500 -> 600, and
Zuan's iBook 500 -> 600.

Huzzah!

My old 10 GB is going into a classmate's ThinkPad, but that's a job for later in the week.

This stuff isn't nearly as hard as you'd think from reading about it on the 'net...

[x user]

Please do tell!

I've been waiting for a chance to turn my 500/66 to a 500/100 or 600/100 (maybe even a 550/100). I want to overclock (seeing as how I don't plan to sell this 'book). Anyway, give us them instructions (does it involve detailed soldering work? I might be able to handle it, I don't know.). I also have a 18gb HD waiting to be put it

[Carl Norum]

Originally posted by x user:
<STRONG>I've been waiting for a chance to turn my 500/66 to a 500/100 or 600/100 (maybe even a 550/100). I want to overclock (seeing as how I don't plan to sell this 'book). Anyway, give us them instructions (does it involve detailed soldering work? I might be able to handle it, I don't know.). I also have a 18gb HD waiting to be put it </STRONG>

From the number of successes we've had (3) with overclocking to 600/100, I am all but absolutely certain that *every* iBook ever released has a chip rated at 600 MHz. PowerPC 750CXe chips from IBM (the one in your iBook, for example) are available in speed ratings from 400-700 MHz. I would expect that Apple would have found it easier to buy a large purchase of 600 MHz models rather than deal with a multiple purchase order.

Also, note that the iBook 600 models were released the *same day* as the new PowerBook G4 models. I think that Apple was just holding back to avoid having a "consumer" model machine that appeared faster than a "pro" model machine. It would certainly explain the ease of the changeover.

Our instructions should be up on the web in the next couple of weeks. We have about 100 digital photos to go through and choose from, and also the instructions to write up. Not to mention that midterms are just getting started. Here's hoping for spring break (starts next weekend).

The hard disk installation is practically trivial for us now - we can easily disassemble the iBook for that purpose in less than 45 minutes. Overclocking is a much bigger pain in the back, though, and runs us around 2 hours per machine.

I would expect that you'll be happier with your machine if you clock it to 600/100. It's also an easier setting to go to 600/100 than to 500/100 because of the way the Phase-Locked Loops are set up inside the machine.

Please feel free to contact me (e-mail above) if you have more questions.

(And yes - detailed soldering is required. The jumpers we're talking about here are 0806 components, as far as we can tell. Approximate dimensions are 1 mm x 2 mm - 0806 means 80 thousandths of an inch by 60 thousandths of an inch, and that's as close as we could find in the DigiKey catalog. To go from 500/66 to 600/100 you need to move 1 4.7Kohm resistor, and change the positions of 3 other jumpers. You end up with one less jumper inside your machine than you started with.)

Good luck!

[x user]

I've somewhat a background in electronics. But I don't have the steadiest hand, so I know what needs to be done, just not if I'm capible of doing the detail work. I was wondering what kind of heat you use for the small components? Oviously a regular tip (I have a small 700° screwdriver tip and a pointed 800°) could easily overheat the tiny parts. Jumpers are not such a problem, but the resistor makes me a bit nervious. Can't wait for the picto instructions. I think I'll wait till then to decide if I think I can handle the job.

[ramenite]

Now the question is how well the 600 will go to 700, if it's even possible.

A REALLY nice mod would be to make a switch on the outside, to toggle from 500, 600, and 700 on a 600mhz ibook. 500 when your on batterylife and don't need the extra cpu(think Intel's speedstep) the normal 600mhz, and 700mhz if it's stable to get some more preformance while it's plugged in.

[x user]

I doubt that the 600's will go to 700 without a fight. But we should also note that once the multipiler gets past 5x(magic number) the actual improvement is not that steller. The current iBook is already at 6x, so going to 7x won't improve it that much. If we coulde sneak a 133mhz bus in, that would be a significant improvement, however thats not very likely.

[Phaedon]

Hey guys,

Just had a thought... how sure are we that the model of ibook that came with 64MB of RAM has exactly the same processor as the one that came with 128? Has anyone overclocked the 64 MB version? I just want to make sure that the small difference isn't going to mean not being able to overclock because of the first model being released with a lower processor which was already clocked to the max.

Another thing... since you guys deal with upgrading old ibooks... I figure you'd know what the best deals for second ibooks were. I'm looking for the very bottomest of models provided it's not broken in any way. Is ebay the right place or is there better?

Keep us posted on the great mods!

Phaedon

[x user]

We're talking about ALL 2001-2002 model iBooks having 600mhz processors, some bumped down to 500mhz by apple. Although this is not positive, as mentioned it seems likly. As for e-bay thier prices seem fair.

I personally am looking for just a DVD or Combo drive. Just the drive itself. Anyone know where I can get one? I want to o/c, upgrade the HD (already have it) and change to dvd/combo all in the same shot. Perhaps change the LED/sleep light too .

[Carl Norum]

Originally posted by Phaedon:
<STRONG>how sure are we that the model of ibook that came with 64MB of RAM has exactly the same processor as the one that came with 128? Has anyone overclocked the 64 MB version?</STRONG>

Well, I'm almost certain that every iBook ever made has the same chip. If it doesn't work, you can always put it back.

<STRONG>Is ebay the right place or is there better?</STRONG>

Best place I know of...

Hey, it's X User. I'm posting off my sisters computer because mine's apart on my bed.

I have a couple problems, first i'm trying to upgrade my HD. I have a 18gb Toshiba (apple branded) that is slightly taller than the one that is in there. I assume that the one's that in there is a 8.5 mm? And that would me mines a 9.5 mm.. Is it to big? Please say no...

Also if you could give me a quick pic of which jumpers need to be changed or a link to tell me? Please I want to do everything at one time if possible.

[Carl Norum]

Originally posted by &lt;MacXUser&gt;:
<STRONG>Hey, it's X User. I'm posting off my sisters computer because mine's apart on my bed.

</STRONG>

Well, at least you've begun.

<STRONG>I have a couple problems, first i'm trying to upgrade my HD. I have a 18gb Toshiba (apple branded) that is slightly taller than the one that is in there. I assume that the one's that in there is a 8.5 mm? And that would me mines a 9.5 mm.. Is it to big? Please say no...

</STRONG>

Well, the drive in there is a 9.5 mm. I installed an MK4018GAP, which is also a 9.5 mm drive. Toshiba's web page says that the only 18 GB drive they've made is the MK1418GAV, which is a 12 mm model. I don't think it's possible to put a disk that big into an iBook. Sorry!

<STRONG>Also if you could give me a quick pic of which jumpers need to be changed or a link to tell me? Please I want to do everything at one time if possible.</STRONG>

No jumpers need any changing to put the new disk in.

[Carl Norum]

Originally posted by &lt;MacXUser&gt;:
<STRONG>Also if you could give me a quick pic of which jumpers need to be changed or a link to tell me? Please I want to do everything at one time if possible.</STRONG>

It just occurred to me that you might mean for overclocking.

Check out www.xlr8yourmac.com

[x user]

Thanks, like I said the drive is apple branded. Now the observant on the forum will note that Apple never released a 18gb laptop HD. So these were obviously ones that they had ordered, then decided to go to 20gb instead. However the point is if the one in there is 9.5, one that is larger must be 12mm right? That sucks 'cause I really need a bigger HD, but don't have money for one. Is it possible that mines an 8.5 and this one is a 9.5.


Darn I guess not. Oh well.

I'm discouraged. Infact I'm in dispair. I've followed the O/C directions to make the machine 600-350. But after reassebling most of it, it doesn't work. The powersupply powers up, but other than that, nothing else indicates it's on. I'll have to recheck my soldering, but I'm downright scared now.

Poor College student with one Dead iBook...

[Mac Zealot]

Originally posted by &lt;MacXUser&gt;:
<STRONG>I'm discouraged. Infact I'm in dispair. I've followed the O/C directions to make the machine 600-350. But after reassebling most of it, it doesn't work. The powersupply powers up, but other than that, nothing else indicates it's on. I'll have to recheck my soldering, but I'm downright scared now.

Poor College student with one Dead iBook...</STRONG>

Calm down, MacX, you can do it.

If anything is going wrong, first check your soldering and make sure it's not shorting, if that's not the problem, then you might need to get rid of the solder (very very hard thing to do, try meltingand letting it drip off.. ...)

If all else fails, I would hope that you could order a processor card somewhere, calm down, I'll try to find out more, there are things that help to remove solder.

If all else fails pull off the parts that were soldered and replace them, if possible... really hope you get good luck, it might just be the machine isn't grounded or something.

[x user]

Whoohoo, I got it working. Bad solder joint. But them resistors are sooo small it's hard to get a good one . Anyway, the now 600mhz iBook seems to be stable, although the graphics card is giving me fits. When I play Return to Castle Wolfentstein beta, it kind flickers. Does speeding up the bus affect the graphics card too? That could be the problem. But overall I can live with it. I do notice it seems to be running warmer, also it seems that OS X is a bit snappier. Also a wierd thing in OS X is the system profiler says i'm running at 400mhz ( don't laugh, I didn't acidentally go the wrong direction...) Is there a fix for this?

Heh, I also changed the sleep LED to red, it looks cool. So now I have a nice custom iBook. Now I need to find a DVD drive... Anyone with a DVD iBook that wants to swap for a CD? ROFL

[Carl Norum]

Originally posted by x user:
<STRONG>Also a wierd thing in OS X is the system profiler says i'm running at 400mhz ( don't laugh, I didn't acidentally go the wrong direction...) Is there a fix for this?</STRONG>

You will see the solution about 10 posts above:

Here's the steps briefly.

Boot up in Open Firmware. (Command-Option-O-F at boot).

You will get the Open Firmware screen.

Type the following (exactly - including space, but blank lines have been included for ease of reading):

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1"face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial">code:</font><HR><pre><font size=1 face=courier>
nvedit

<font color = red>" /"</font> select-dev
5efc680 <font color = red>" clock-frequency"</font> get-my-property 2drop !
<font color = red>" /cpus/PowerPC,<font color = blue>750</font>@<font color = blue>0</font>"</font> select-dev
239ea700 <font color = red>" clock-frequency"</font> get-my-property 2drop !
5efc680 <font color = red>" bus-frequency"</font> get-my-property 2drop !
17bf1a0 <font color = red>" timebase-frequency"</font> get-my-property 2drop !

Control-C

nvstore

setenv use-nvramrc? true

reset-all
</font>[/code]

This will reset your computer's bus speed to the correct value. It will also keep your clock from running silly (speed issues were fixed in 10.1.2, but the machines we did were running *backwards*).

At any rate, you should *definitely* do this OF tweak to keep the machine in good shape.

Good luck!

[x user]

God I must be eternaly stupid. Here's what i did, but it didn't work.


nvedit (RETURN)

"(SPACE)/"(SPACE)select-dev(RETURN) [text just disapeared]

And so on down the line.

{CONTROL-C}

nvstore [computer said 'ok']

setenv use-nvramrc? true [computer said ok]

reset-all [computer, quit and rebooted]


Did I mention that this didn't work I suck.

[ 02-08-2002: Message edited by: x user ]

[Carl Norum]

Originally posted by x user:
<STRONG>God I must be eternaly stupid. Here's what i did, but it didn't work.</STRONG>

Well, as far as I can tell, that should have worked. Maybe you're just having a bad day. =)

Check out www.xlr8yourmac.com for more details.

[x user]

Wow finally worked. One carrege return too many on my part.

[x user]

Ok, I ran for several hours last night, so I'll post a bit of a review:

With the overclocking done, OS X has a slight improvment in speed. Window resizing seems a bit snappier, and apps open a bit faster. I did notice that the iBook got hot, really hot, almost as hot as my dads Lombard 333. Which gets really hot. After looking at the number on the CPU, I'm convince that at least with the orginal iBook 2001's that the processor is rated at 550mhz. There was a 55 in the number and no indication of a 60 or 600.

The main problem I'm having is with 3D games. (which i do alot of.) In the RTCW beta 2 there is a horrible flickering problem, makes it somewhat harder to play. I tried Tony Hawk 2 demo and it doesn't seem to have this problem at all. Then I tried 4x4 Evotution. It had a slight flicker, actually maybe not even a flicker, but a bit of a lag might decribe it better. I have a feeling it has something to do with the path speeding up without the chip working harder.

Is there a way to modify the firmware to fix this problem as well? I don't know much about the firmware stuff, I'd like to somehow get my hands on the firmware for the real ibook 600mhz.

[iPOPE]

So, You can change the HD and overclock the machine... but is it possible to change the graphics card?

[Carl Norum]

Originally posted by iPOPE:
<STRONG>So, You can change the HD and overclock the machine... but is it possible to change the graphics card?</STRONG>

Upon further investigation, I believe that this is not possible.

You can replace the modem, though.

[x user]

No, you can't change the graphix card.

Is there any possible way I can update my firmware to match the iBook 600 exactly?

[Carl Norum]

Originally posted by x user:
<STRONG>No, you can't change the graphix card.

Is there any possible way I can update my firmware to match the iBook 600 exactly?</STRONG>

Nope - they have a different boot ROM revision. (At least according to Apple System Profiler on the iBook 500's and 600's around here).

ROM = Read Only Memory.

Sorry.

[stew]

As we're on it, can you answer me one question: What wrench size are the small screws that keep the iBooks case? My tools are all several thousand miles away, and before I buy the wrong set of wrenches, I'd like to know what I have to buy. Hex? Torx? Metric?

[Carl Norum]

Originally posted by stew:
<STRONG>As we're on it, can you answer me one question: What wrench size are the small screws that keep the iBooks case? My tools are all several thousand miles away, and before I buy the wrong set of wrenches, I'd like to know what I have to buy. Hex? Torx? Metric?</STRONG>

Everything on the entire machine is Phillips-head screws. EXCEPT: 3 hex screws on the bottom (we call them Allen screws in Canada - is that different in the States?), and 4 Torx screws on the hard drive mounts.

We used #1, #0, and #00 Jeweler's screwdrivers. The torx screws on the hard disk are T-9, but I don't remember the size of the Allen screws.

[vmarks]

Originally posted by Carl Norum:
<STRONG>

Nope - they have a different boot ROM revision. (At least according to Apple System Profiler on the iBook 500's and 600's around here).

ROM = Read Only Memory.

Sorry.</STRONG>

Unless it were flash ROM, which makes sense, as firmware updates do come from Apple, and survive hard drive upgrades.

[Carl Norum]

Originally posted by vmarks:
<STRONG>Unless it were flash ROM, which makes sense, as firmware updates do come from Apple, and survive hard drive upgrades.</STRONG>

But it's not necessarily flash ROM. If I were designing it (and I'm not), I'd make the boot ROM real ROM so that nothing could happen to it, and have it turn on and initialize a flash chip (Open Firmware). Then no one can *totally* screw their machine.

[x user]

I was under the impression that there was a small ammount of REAL rom, that wrote to the flash rom for a boot. Then it'd combine with the open firmware to finish the bootup process...

[vmarks]

Originally posted by x user:
<STRONG>I was under the impression that there was a small ammount of REAL rom, that wrote to the flash rom for a boot. Then it'd combine with the open firmware to finish the bootup process...</STRONG>

What about the ROM file that resides on the hard drive and loads into RAM?

...

[Carl Norum]

Originally posted by vmarks:
<STRONG>What about the ROM file that resides on the hard drive and loads into RAM?</STRONG>

Anything on a hard disk is _definitely_ not ROM. By definition, even. That's why you can change the hard drive in a computer without wrecking the computer (or the hard drive).

[waffffffle]

I would really like to do this with my iBook, but I have a few problems. First, I have spent a total of 15 minutes of my life using a soldering iron so I really don't know what I'm doing. The second is that I can't break this machine because it's not mine exactly. It will be mine eventually but right now it doesn't belong to me so it has to stay completely functional until it becomes mine, which will be in about a year. I was wondering if there's someone on these boards who would be willing to do this job for me, and is confident enough in their work that they can do it safely. OS X is so slow for me so I really want to boost the speed of this thing as much as possible.

I'm at school in central jersey, but I can easily make it to NYC. I;m a poor college kid so I don't have that much cash. If you're interested email me at waffffffle@aol-dot-com (I wrote it like that so that I don't get spam, you can figure out what it really is). Thanks.

[TheAnunnaki]

But of course Macs use Flash ROMs !

How would Apple do a ROM update otherwise ?

Look on your new world mac's mainboard - you will find an Flash Chip likely from Intel or so, which is 1MBit in Size. This could vary I dunno

500 Mhz --&gt; 600 MHz = 20% increase in clock speed
600 Mhz --&gt; 700 Mhz = 17 % increase in clock speed

should work well, but dont run SETI or RC5 on a 700 Mhz overclocked iBook, heh !

The 500-&gt;600 MOD give far more speed boost since it also involves raising the bus speed. THIS is very good for Mac OS X especially.

700/350 Mhz would be a niiiiice setup, and give you 2 states,high speed and long battery. with 350 you can still watch fullscreen divX movies, so...

;-))

[Carl Norum]

Originally posted by TheAnunnaki:
<STRONG>But of course Macs use Flash ROMs !

How would Apple do a ROM update otherwise ?</STRONG>

My hunch is that there is flash ROM (= firmware), and also real ROM (= boot ROM). But I have no real proof of that. =)

<STRONG>500 Mhz --&gt; 600 MHz = 20% increase in clock speed
600 Mhz --&gt; 700 Mhz = 17 % increase in clock speed

The 500-&gt;600 MOD give far more speed boost since it also involves raising the bus speed. THIS is very good for Mac OS X especially.</STRONG>

Indeed. I've read some OCing forums around the web, and it seems like 5x is the "magic multiplier". What it comes down to is that once you push your processor's bus multiplier past 5, the performance gains are negligible. You certainly aren't doing anything faster if all your processor is doing is waiting for bits to be fed to it by the system. I don't think that going 600-700 will be a noticeable change in operation. The largest change going from 500/66-600/100 is the bus speed increase, which affects every piece of operation inside the computer (RAM, hard disk, optical drive, etc).

if the jumper resistors are 1 mm by 2 mm then you certainly aren't talking about 0806s -&gt; plus 0806s don't exits
0201, 0402, 0603, 0804

and yes the sizes correspond (roughly) to thousandths of an inch
4 thousandths of an inch by 2 thousandths of an inch


0804s are massive compared to 0402s.

if you want to do a clean job, use solder flux (liquid) and to remove excess solder you need some braided copper solder wick.

Hi there,

Anybody have any experience with overclocking a PowerBook G4 400 to 500???

-DB

the real question is... can i upgrade the stock 128megs of ram in my 600 to 512 so i can get a maximum 1gb ram?

cheers,

-=aj

[x user]

Probably not.

Anyway, just for anyones info. I've been running RC5 on my iBook 500 OC/ed to 600/100 for 2 days now (all day yesterday, taking 100.3% of the processor according to Process Viewer) with no real problems. Yes that machine gets HOT, but its really an awesome upgrade.

Another thing, if you've never used a soldering Iron for small parts, forget about even trying. I've had 1-2 years of experience soldering parts, and these ones were even hair for me and my dad (35 Years soldering experience 8-o)

[Carl Norum]

Originally posted by &lt;chicken_tastes_good&gt;:
<STRONG>if the jumper resistors are 1 mm by 2 mm then you certainly aren't talking about 0806s -&gt; plus 0806s don't exits
0201, 0402, 0603, 0804</STRONG>

You're right - 0806's don't exist. That was a typo. But you're wrong, too. According to page 542 of the Sept-Oct 2001 DigiKey catalogue: 0402, 0603, 0805, 1206.

0805's are 2mm x 1.25 mm.

So I think I am talking about those. =)

<STRONG>0804s are massive compared to 0402s.</STRONG>

They are 4 times as big. 0402's are 1 mm x 0.5 mm.

[Carl Norum]

Originally posted by &lt;dannybarnes@mac.com&gt;:
<STRONG>Anybody have any experience with overclocking a PowerBook G4 400 to 500???</STRONG>

Nope, but I'll bet it can be done. Try this page for information.

[Carl Norum]

Originally posted by &lt;upgrading stock ram&gt;:
<STRONG>the real question is... can i upgrade the stock 128megs of ram in my 600 to 512 so i can get a maximum 1gb ram?</STRONG>

Nope. Not unless you're superman.

Originally posted by Carl Norum:
<STRONG>
You're right - 0806's don't exist. That was a typo. But you're wrong, too. According to page 542 of the Sept-Oct 2001 DigiKey catalogue:

0805's are 2mm x 1.25 mm.

So I think I am talking about those. =)</STRONG>

Well, from your description, and I left this out of my original post by mistake, I would think that the jumpers of which you speak are actually 0402s which are about 1.5 (roughly) mm by less than 1 mm.

you see, motherboard space, especially in a notebook is at a premium. Using an 0805 for a jumper, which has no specific need to dissipate large amounts of heat (as you are basically placing a weak pullup/down on a signal) is a waste of space. I just looked at my sawtooth mobo and other than multipacks (multiple resistors in a single pack), everything (except fatty caps) is an 0402. 0402s are more or less standard. To build with anything larger is overkill. I would almost guarantee that an 0201 would work as a jumper (if you could solder it -&gt; they're nasty to hand solder)

From page 584 of the pdf catalog found here http://info.digikey.com/T021/V5Complete.html
(page 542 were SMD caps)

we can see that in (mm)

type L W
0402 1.0 0.5
0603 1.60 0.80
0805 2.00 1.25
1206 3.20 1.60

Now would you care to post a picture of these jumpers or would you like to use a pair of calipers to make sure you aren't .5 of a mm off in you guestimate

And yes, I grew up using metric

more than telling me that I'm wrong, prove to me that I'm wrong

[Carl Norum]

We'll be taking Stan's iBook apart again sometime this week to put a new hard drive in it. I'll check then.

[x user]

Yes I'm alomost positive that they are the smallest ones. The LED that I replaced was twice their size and it was tiny.

Are there any instructions available for hacking the "sleep" LED (the white one) that glows when the iBook is asleep? I'd like to put in a different color.

[x user]

I can't give you any really detailed instructtions. I did it on mine (now red). I can tell you the the LED is on a seperate circuit board, and you have to take the screw and plastic off for it to work. The LED itself is a small surface-mount one. You should be about to acess it by taking off the bottem and perhaps top cases. To learn how to take the cases off
iBook disasembly PDF tells you how. I suggest taking the white LED and measureing how much voltage it takes to light it all the way, then try to get as close as possible with whatever color you choose (blue would be cool).