>> The following quote was taken from an earlier post to the DuoList. Being
>> fairly new to Powerbooks, my question is, what connectors are OK to hot
>> swap, and what are not? Specifically for the PB 2400c.
>
>You can always hot-swap serial port connectors on a Mac (or most anything
>else) without doing any physical harm (this includes traditional modems,
>printers, and Localtalk or Phonenet connected to mini-DIN-8 ports, USB, and
>even Geoports like the 2400 has). Generally you can also do it without
>severely irritating any software drivers in the system, but you may want to
>try and be sure the port isn't in use to avoid a crash. You can also
>hot-swap Firewire cables (essentially a serial bus). Note that this doesn't
>apply to ADB (see below).
>
>You can hot-swap the floppy drive on the 2400c any time it's not actually
>in use. To be sure of this and to again avoid crashing, I'd personally only
>do this when no disk is in the drive.
>
>You can hot-swap the power connector any time the main battery is
>connected, and sleep-swap it any time at all. Note that the machine will
<snip>
I love replies like this. I haven't quoted the whole beast -- as some of
it is valid, but let me tell you that I earn tons of money from people
who follow such suggestions. I fix things for a living, like the list
mom, and bunches of others who live on this list. And we all can tell
you stories of blown serial port circuitry, scsi chips and yes, even adb
ports (with the exception of one beast noted previously: the adb on a
wallstreets).
Now for my advice: never, ever follow the advice outlined in the above
partially quoted posting. Always shut down. Always. How much is your
time worth, anyway? Is it worth blown hardware: I've never heard from a
desperate client who said -- "geez, am I glad I pulled that cable, saved
myself 2 minutes of boot time, and have caused a week's delay due to my
impatience."
I rarely wish to ever appear to flame my respected colleagues on this or
any list, but this has to be the WORST advice I've ever seen posted (even
worse than advising to buy a Windows machine 'cause it's so much easier
to use and configure).
As for power connectors, the author is generally correct. But most
anything else, even if it says it is hot-swappable, should be sensably
powered down before swapping out cables or modules. I have repaired most
lines of Macs at the board level -- I'm not just blowing air up anyone's
skirt here. I've even seen a 3400 blow the ide card on a 6 Gb hard drive
when the CD drive replaced the internal floppy module. That was 5.5
gigabytes of unbacked-up information. The card blew, not the extent
table, not some damn directory. And the client paid handsomely for some
magic recovery. Respect your toys, folks -- or pay for it big time.
back to your regularly-scheduled programming...
paul
----
Paul Vail, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://home.att.net/~afterhoursconsulting/
----
----------
Duo/2400 List, The friendliest place on the Net!
A listserv for users and fans of Mac subportables.
FAQ at <http://www.themacintoshguy.com/lists/DuoListFAQ.shtml>
Be sure to visit Mac2400! <http://www.sineware.com/mac2400>
Dr. Bott LLC | Get a LapBottom with new �GRIPPIER� gripper pads!
| http://www.drbott.com/prod/lapbot.html $23.00
Midwest Mac Parts <http://www.midwestmac.com> | After-market parts
for Macs. Fix your ticking dock for $59 w/ trade-in of PS. 888-356-1104
PowerBook Guy is | Click here!
Everything PowerBook! | http://www.powerbookguy.com
