The Adventures of my new Lombard

[Project Alice]

A couple weeks ago I picked up a Lombard, and a 3400C both untested. Around $200, a little more than I would’ve liked to spend given the condition from the photos.

Unfortunately, the 3400 didn’t survive shipping. The battery also exploded (I knew that from the listing photos) and for some reason they left it in there. I’m hoping if I clean the logicboard, I can get it working. Granted the entire right corner of the case is non-existent.

Anyway, onto the Lombard!
This thing has been an adventure. I tried powering it on, and it would start up for maybe half of a second. Fiddled around with the power cable and that continued. So I ordered a new sound/DC card. Pulled the whole thing apart to replace that. Then I discovered the entire metal frame internally was for some reason covered in corrosion. So I removed all of that and scrubbed it with isopropyl alcohol. Put the DC card in, and put her back together. Lo and behold the power button also doesn’t work, luckily I have some early iMac G3/PM G4 USB keyboards that support powering the Mac on. I wish I would’ve took photos of that whole tear down process but I wanted to just get it over with at the time.

Well, it works. It booted to 9.1 on the original 6GB HDD. It also has Mac OS X 10.2.8 on a second partition, much to my surprise.

I will eventually put in a larger drive, but there was some interesting stuff on the internal disk so, I wanted to find the best way to get an image of it first. Carbon Copy Cloner. Personally, I have had no success of ever getting a bootable clone of anything using the version available for Jaguar, only Tiger. So, I attempted to netboot Tiger. Turns out it will not pick up my netboot server. After a few days of trial and error, I tried starting up one of my Bondi iMac’s from said server and got the same results as the Lombard, so I’m pointing at something in the hybrid new world/old world nature of the Lombard is causing it to be incompatible with my server.

So how to get Tiger on this thing without erasing the drive? Well each partition only has about 60MB available so upgrading is out of the question. It doesn’t have FireWire, and USB 1.1 is out of the question just for my sanity.

I forgot I had a FireWire PCMCIA card laying around. I booted up Jaguar and stuck it in there, having no idea if it worked or if it was even compatible.

Turns out it’s compatible and works.
To explain what’s going on here..
I knew there was no way it would boot off that FireWire card, but I thought I’d try anyway because what else am I doing with my Saturday night. Xpostfacto supports using a “helper” drive which, as far as I can gather boots the system from that drive, and then bootstraps over to the one with the actual OS X installation. Well that worked using this FireWire card. So here we are booted from Tiger on the internal SSD on my PowerBook G4 over FireWire on a Lombard.


The internal display works, but it’s got this terrible scratch/tearing all over it, plus a solid line of dead pixels on the left side. Hence why it’s hooked up to this monitor.

The internal fan doesn’t work, so I’m trying to limit my usage of it til I find a replacement. The battery on the other hand does work, though I haven’t tested for how long.

Overall I’m happy that I got at least one working system out of that drunken eBay purchase. Hopefully I’ll be able to resurrect the 3400C as well.

 

[weckart]

Congrats on getting XPostFacto to cooperate with the card drive. Sometimes it's like SCSI Voodoo in what it chooses to play with and when, and I've wasted many an hour in just getting it to do basic supported stuff. Pity you're not closer to me. I got a job lot of 3400s years ago, most of which were battery damaged beyond repair but at least the housing remained intact. Lombards are temperamental like B/W G3 Powermacs - not quite as bad - but they have their moments. You'll have more fun with that, I think.

 

[Amethyst1]

Lo and behold the power button also doesn’t work, luckily I have some early iMac G3/PM G4 USB keyboards that support powering the Mac on.

I didn’t know you could turn on a laptop using one of these, which is pretty neat when it’s in clamshell mode.

I will eventually put in a larger drive, but there was some interesting stuff on the internal disk so, I wanted to find the best way to get an image of it first.

Like what…? 😇

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

I didn’t know you could turn on a laptop using one of these, which is pretty neat when it’s in clamshell mode.


Like what…? 😇

LOL^

I read that and immediately thought "Hey you cant just casually state that there is interesting stuff on the drive and then leave it there

Congrats on getting some function out of your Lombard. Once everything is corrected, that will be one heck of a restore/rebuild story

 

[Project Alice]

Like what…? 😇

LOL^

I read that and immediately thought "Hey you cant just casually state that there is interesting stuff on the drive and then leave it there

It’s an early 2000s time capsule. But the stuff I actually found interesting was a whole bunch of what I think were short stories either for a class or just personal writing.
A few them are dated in the future, like 2046. I just found the whole thing super odd and wanted to keep it lol

There’s also folder full of pictures of celebrities that were big in the late 90s/early 2000s, like Mellissa Joan Hart and Patricia Heaton. Nothing super inappropriate, more like something out of a sports illustrated lmao but it really added to the whole super odd early 2000s vibe that whole thing had going for it.

Now that I’ve got the drive imaged and erased, I’m having a hell of a time getting Tiger installed.

Congrats on getting XPostFacto to cooperate with the card drive. Sometimes it's like SCSI Voodoo in what it chooses to play with and when, and I've wasted many an hour in just getting it to do basic supported stuff.

it’s got a DVD drive (actually I stuck the one from my Pismo in it because the one it had was intermittent)
And, with a fresh install of OS 9, using XPF to boot the Tiger DVD is resulting in the prohibitory symbol.

I’ve just installed Panther and am going to try using XPF from within it instead. But if all else fails I’ll just grab a bigger HDD than the 6GB factory one it has and pre-install it with Tiger and put it in since Lombards don’t actually need patched to run it if it’s installed.

 

[Project Alice]

Also here’s a photo of the internal display. And yes, that is my cooling solution while installing OS X until I get a new fan 😂
It seems to be keeping it cool 🤷🏼‍♂️

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

Ok, I'll ramp up the weirdness factor a bit for everyone. I wonder if the owner is still alive? I enjoy collecting old used things vs new. Part of the interest for me is contemplating the paths these objects have taken through the various lifetimes of others prior to my own. Morbid? kinda, weird? Probably. If the previous owner is passed on, you may have the only copies of the previous owners writings/musings in existence anywhere.

I have a couple Christmas tree ornaments for example that are pre-American Civil War. The number of hands that have been stewards of those objects over the past 160+ years is something I come back to each holiday season as I place them on my own tree. If anything, it is a stark reminder of the fleeting nature of our time here. I hope that maybe at least one or two of my retro computers makes it to a great great grandkiddo or if not that, hopefully someone who will appreciate the unseen humanity in these otherwise old, lifeless objects of ours.

 

[Project Alice]

Ok, I'll ramp up the weirdness factor a bit for everyone. I wonder if the owner is still alive? I enjoy collecting old used things vs new. Part of the interest for me is contemplating the paths these objects have taken through the various lifetimes of others prior to my own. Morbid? kinda, weird? Probably. If the previous owner is passed on, you may have the only copies of the previous owners writings/musings in existence anywhere.

The eBay seller informed me that both machines came from an estate sale. So, at least one of the owners is no longer around.

But, some of the writings and other stuff on it would lead me to believe that it was not used by an elderly person. My guess would be either a son or grandson, and perhaps they left the laptop there when they passed?

I am curious as to what is on the 3400’s drive too. That thing powers on but does not chime or display anything, hence my hope of cleaning the logicboard of corrosion could save it. But that’s a weekend project, maybe for my next full weekend.
I may pull out the HDD though and see if I can’t get it booting in something else for the time being.

 

[Amethyst1]

It’s an early 2000s time capsule.

I’m really ambivalent about matters like these. On the one hand, it’s interesting and fascinating to see whatmay be waiting to see the light of day, on the other hand if I were to get ahold of an used system I would have a nagging feeling that it’s not right to pry into someone else’s files. But, oh, my curiosity rears its head.

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

The eBay seller informed me that both machines came from an estate sale. So, at least one of the owners is no longer around.

But, some of the writings and other stuff on it would lead me to believe that it was not used by an elderly person. My guess would be either a son or grandson, and perhaps they left the laptop there when they passed?

In my own life, four of my closest friends are all dead between 20-30y/o from either suicide, killed by a drunk driver or cancer and I myself have not made it to 50 yet. BS happens and youthful ego is no guarantee, that is for darn sure. Conversely to your point, it could have been a son or daughters Lombard who died and mom n dad kept it as a keep sake. Who knows. Life is crazier than fiction; always.

 

[Project Alice]

I would have a nagging feeling that it’s not right to pry into someone else’s files. But, oh, my curiosity rears its head.

I do understand that. If there’s ever actually sensitive information on these things, I never share that part of it. Most of the time I usually only save things that might not be archived (like specific app versions or something) and the whole thing gets formatted. But sometimes there’s cool stuff, like certificate of excellence said. Maybe it’s a little weird? But I find it cool seeing what some of these things have been through.

That said, I feel if someone chooses to sell a computer, it’s their responsibility to delete the data that might be on it. Estate sales are probably the exception to that.

In my own life, four of my closest friends are all dead between 20-30y/o from either suicide, killed by a drunk driver or cancer and I myself have not made it to 50 yet. BS happens and youthful ego is no guarantee, that is for darn sure. Conversely to your point, it could have been a son or daughters Lombard who died and mom n dad kept it as a keep sake. Who knows. Life is crazier than fiction; always.

Sorry to hear that. You’re of course correct.
I’m 30 for reference. I know a couple people myself that died of young age too.
One of which was a drunk driving accident about 8 years ago, my best friend from middle school. We were still close up to that point too.
To sort of stay on topic, I had given him my Indigo iMac slot loader back in high school because he needed a reliable computer for school and his hobby of making music.
I ended up getting that iMac back obviously, and I saved everything that was on it for sentimental reasons.
Life is wild sometimes for good or bad

 

[mectojic]

If you have the patience to deal with a Lombard's quirks, then you can graduate to Rev A Blue and Whites and try to install OSX onto a Wallstreet G3 without a CD drive, as I foolishly attempted

 

[snak-atak]

The eBay seller informed me that both machines came from an estate sale. So, at least one of the owners is no longer around.

Do you know what the law says when you purchase a device such as this, do you officially own the data stored on the devices as well? Like could you copyright and publish a book of the stories, or legally sell any other data that’s on those hard drives? Nothing illegal but just wondering what the law states about intellectual property and data stored on the drives. Who owns it?

 

[Project Alice]

Do you know what the law says when you purchase a device such as this, do you officially own the data stored on the devices as well? Like could you copyright and publish a book of the stories, or legally sell any other data that’s on those hard drives? Nothing illegal but just wondering what the law states about intellectual property and data stored on the drives. Who owns it?

I have absolutely no idea.

If you have the patience to deal with a Lombard's quirks, then you can graduate to Rev A Blue and Whites and try to install OSX onto a Wallstreet G3 without a CD drive, as I foolishly attempted

I have a Rev 2 B&W that's quirky enough lol. It's a G4 with Leopard, Tiger, and Windows NT 4 😂
I also have a Wallstreet that is very finicky, as well as a Beige G3 (G4) mini tower that will boot almost nothing on its internal bus. It works pretty well with the ATA133 card in it though. Thats what's in my B&W too.

 

[mectojic]

I have absolutely no idea.

I have a Rev 2 B&W that's quirky enough lol. It's a G4 with Leopard, Tiger, and Windows NT 4 😂
I also have a Wallstreet that is very finicky, as well as a Beige G3 (G4) mini tower that will boot almost nothing on its internal bus. It works pretty well with the ATA133 card in it though. Thats what's in my B&W too.

I also have a B&W with a G4, but I've never attempted Leopard on it. I didn't realise it could even work. Is yours Sorbet?

 

[Project Alice]

I also have a B&W with a G4, but I've never attempted Leopard on it. I didn't realise it could even work. Is yours Sorbet?

No, it's actually @LightBulbFun 's image I believe. Leopard is totally possible its just a pain because of the PCI graphics. Also for whatever reason USB doesn't work. So an ADB mouse and keyboard is required.

Might work with a USB 2.0 card but I've never tried.

 

[mectojic]

No, it's actually @LightBulbFun 's image I believe. Leopard is totally possible its just a pain because of the PCI graphics. Also for whatever reason USB doesn't work. So an ADB mouse and keyboard is required.

Might work with a USB 2.0 card but I've never tried.

Interesting, nice to know it's possible, even though Leopard would be crippling a perfectly good machine.
The G4 upgrade handles older OSX nicely.

 

[Project Alice]

Interesting, nice to know it's possible, even though Leopard would be crippling a perfectly good machine.
The G4 upgrade handles older OSX nicely.

I definitely wouldn't say Leopard is crippling whatsoever. Mine dualboots Tiger and Leopard. Leopard enables QE/CI on the GPU when Tiger won't due to the PCI bus. I think it works with the GPU I have in it (Geforce 6200) but IIRC, GPUs that have QE but not CI; QE won't work in Tiger with the PCI bus. But Leopard it just works on that machine.
I actually like running Leopard on the B&W more than I do my Pismo, because the Pismo is stuck with the Rage 128 lol

 

[LightBulbFun]

No, it's actually @LightBulbFun 's image I believe. Leopard is totally possible its just a pain because of the PCI graphics. Also for whatever reason USB doesn't work. So an ADB mouse and keyboard is required.

Might work with a USB 2.0 card but I've never tried.

at SomePointInTime(TM) ill get round to refining that image I only ever intended it to be for @bunnspecial to try it on his G3 Blue and white because I lacked the real hardware at the time, but I had quite a few people asking for it, so I made it public so to speak, but thats why its quite rough around the edges, a USB 2.0 card will indeed work its just the specific USB chip that the G3 blue and white happens to use for onboard USB that Leopard does not like

I definitely wouldn't say Leopard is crippling whatsoever. Mine dualboots Tiger and Leopard. Leopard enables QE/CI on the GPU when Tiger won't due to the PCI bus. I think it works with the GPU I have in it (Geforce 6200) but IIRC, GPUs that have QE but not CI; QE won't work in Tiger with the PCI bus. But Leopard it just works on that machine.
I actually like running Leopard on the B&W more than I do my Pismo, because the Pismo is stuck with the Rage 128 lol

if you have a Core Image capable card installed like a GeForce FX5200 or GeForce 6200 installed in your G3 Blue and white then it will force Core image and Quartz Extreme to work even in Tiger despite the PCI bus, you should see that in system profiler both are supported

 

[Project Alice]

if you have a Core Image capable card installed like a GeForce FX5200 or GeForce 6200 installed in your G3 Blue and white then it will force Core image and Quartz Extreme to work even in Tiger despite the PCI bus, you should see that in system profiler both are supported

Yeah, I thought it did. It's been a minute since I've used it. I have more Macs then I know what to do with anymore lol.
More recently I used my B&W for Windows NT 4, so I actually removed the 6200 and stuck a Rage 128 back in it for better compatibility.
I'll probably un-do that and put the 6200 back in though, since Windows NT works on Uni-North now.