Troubleshooting ¶
Track down a number of hardware problems using the PowerBook G3 Lombard troubleshooting guide.
Upgrades ¶
There are a number of components in the PowerBook G3 Lombard that can be cost effectively upgraded.
- Memory: The Lombard has two RAM slots. You can place a 256 MB chip in each one for half gigabyte of memory. Browse our Lombard RAM selection for a chip that suits your need for speed. You must use a low profile chip in the lower slot, but the upper slot can be whatever you choose. Don't forget to install it using our free iFixit PowerBook G3 Lombard RAM installation instructions.
- Hard Drive: With our tools and instructions, you can install your new hard drive yourself!
- Optical Drive: Lombards are not inherently able to play DVDs. They require a special DVD decoder that was integrated into the second release of the Lombard. If your Lombard didn't come with a DVD drive, then you probably don't have one. There are PC card solutions to this problem, but their effectiveness varies greatly. If you have the decoder, you can only watch DVDs in OS 9. It will not work in OS X or classic. Apple never developed the hardware for it.
Identification and Background ¶
It was much thinner and lighter than its predecessor. It had longer battery life, and the user could double the duration to 10 hours by substituting a second battery for the optical drive in the expansion bay. The keyboard was also improved and now featured translucent bronze-tinted plastics.
The Lombard was the second PowerBook (the Wallstreet being the first) to use industry-standard ATA optical drives. A DVD drive was optional on the 333 MHz model and standard on the 400 MHz version. This model introduced USB ports to the PowerBook line while retaining SCSI support.
Use the laptop identification system to help you identify your machine. PowerBooks tend to look very similar, and it's important to know which machine you have before ordering any replacement parts.
