Alright, here's the scoop. I've got a 1999 Powerbook G3, the 333MHz one. Back in April it suffered a nasty fall, and performance went downhill from there.

The PMU failed right off the bat, mainly because that's what the book landed on, so I replaced that and it ran fine.

Then I started getting errors on bootup complaining that there was a problem with the "Memory cache" and that I should consult an Apple tech. Did that, and they suggested it was the daughtercard. So no prob, I was eventually going to swap it for a upgrade later anyway.

But then the hard drive stopped responding. It would power up, but the computer wouldn't recognize the hard drive. So I swapped it out with my original hard drive, and same thing. Tried to initialize it, and get an "Initialization Failed" error. Tried the new one, same thing. Talked to the techs about that, and they said "Yep, that's the motherboard. It's hooped."

So I gave up for the time being, and bought a new iMac.

So recently I grabbed a motherboard and daughtercard off ebay for decent price. Tore the computer apart, reassembled with new motherboard and daughtercard. Booted up fine from CD, no "Memory cache" error, so that was good. Then I tried to initialize the hard disk from Drive Setup, and lo and behold, I get the "Initialization failure".

I mean, what gives? Anyone have ANY idea where the problem lays? Any help would be GREATLY appreciated, as I'm about to tear my hair out. How irritating.

Sounds like the HD crapped out too - did *both* hard disks give that problem, or just the one that was installed when it fell?

p

There is a small chance that the backup battery or PMU has finally died. The charge card could also have gone gunnybags.

A more likely scenario is that the hard drive connector has broken or come loose. This is the right-angle card that attatches the HD to the logic board.

I would be looking for minor hairline fractures in solder points and boards. You may not even be able to see them. This could give you the intermittent problems and high error rates which would slow the whole thing down.

Kerry

With a replacement logic board, I rather doubt the connector is a problem.

p

It couldn't be the hard drive, because the hard drive in the machine at the time DID die, and I replaced it. And the other hard drive that I tested it with is known to work. Even the Apple techs were able to confirm the workability of the hard drive I'm using. Thanks for the ideas though.

Still no luck though. :( What about the cable connecting the hard drive to the logic board? Any way that could be the problem?

Yeah, but somewhat unlikely as those cables can withstand a lot more shock than the drives themselves can.

Is there anything that *hasn't* yet been replaced other than the HD and plastic casing?

p

Things that haven't been replaced? Hmmm...

LCD screen and connected stuff
modem
trackpad and connected stuff
RAM

And pretty much anything else that isn't physically attached to the logic board, daughter card, or PMU.

See if pulling the modem helps at all; likewise with the RAM.

p

No such luck.

:(