I have a 1999 G3 Powerbook. It has 192
MB memory (64 with a 128 upgrade), a
400 MHz processor, a 6 GB harddrive and
a 2X DVD ROM drive in the right hand
drive bay. It reads CDs just fine, but
Apple DVD player 1.3 will not play DVDs.
In fact, the system will not recognize the
disc. It tries to spin it up, then tells me
that "this disc is not readable by this
Macintosh. Would you like to initialize this
disc? ProDOS OK?" Now we both know
that it can't be INITIALIZED becaused it's
a DVD, not a DVD-R and because this is
a regular DVD drive, not a DVD/CD-R
drive. I am currenlty dual booting Mac OS
9.1 and OS X on two different partitions. I
get the same problems under both OSes,
both of which have been under CLEAN
INSTALL (reformatted the drive and all).
Am I missing a driver or something? The
control dock says that the left bay is a
battery and the right bay is an ATAPI DVD
drive, so I believe the system knows that
it's a DVD drive.

Please help me...part of why I got this
system was to watch DVD movies on
long road trips. Feel free to e-mail me.
And I do my best to help answer your
questions here.

Thanks

CrasH

I purchased a VST DVD-ROM drive which came with a PCMCIA DVD decoder card. My drive exhibits the same behavior as yours when I don't have the PCMCIA card installed and try to access a DVD. The 1999 Powerbooks did not come with DVD - that was an option you had to spend several hundred dollars for at the time of purchase.
Use the System Profiler located under to the Apple Menu to determine if you - in fact - did receive a DVD-ROM drive.
I too enjoy the DVD for long trips. Be sure to bring a pair of headphones.

I checked both the removable drive itself
and the system panel. It says I do have a
DVD ROM drive, but with no mountable
media inserted (in spite of the fact that
there is a movie in the drive). It is a
MATs---A 085E removable drive with
driver version 1.94. I appreciate any more
help, as it still won't recognize DVD discs.
I am currently off to Apple's website to see
what can be done there.

Thanks

Sorry, driver 1.4

Thanks to all those who posted. Turns
out that the **** who sold me the laptop
on e-bay claimed it worked perfectly, and
it does...provided that he had included the
PCMCIA card that serves as the decoder
card. Never had much trouble from e-
bay, but this guy wouldn't respond in the
first place to my e-mails and only gave
me two days to get the $1000+ to him
before threatening negative feedback,
non paying bidder notices, etc. Buyer
beware. Anyone have a DVD Decoder
card for a G3 Powerbook Wallstreet
edition for sale?

Thanks to those who helped. I just
purchased a PCMCIA DVD decoder card
for the G3 Powerbook (on e-bay). I hope it
works. Thanks again. If any of you need
anything, don't hesitate to e-mail me.