Installation

The installation movie on the DVD disc is excellent. It covers each and every operation, possibly except for one, and may be paused at any place. We ran it on our PowerBook G4. Unfortunately, this was the first time that we've used X's DVD Player and we couldn't figure out how to back up just a few frames to rerun a passage. Going back to the beginning was no problem but a pain for rerunning the later passages. If one doesn't have a extra computer with DVD drive or a TV DVD player, the instruction sheet is also very complete. We had no problem following the directions. But we believe that the DVD movie missed the reinstallation of one screw, the longer skinny one on the motherboard at the left side of the ports. We write "believe" because when we finished reinstalling the motherboard following the directions, the screw was left over. But we forgot to go back and rerun the movie just to be sure before shipping Dana's Cube back to Maine.

Installation was a bit harder than we expected based on our extensive poking around inside Macs, as well as the Cube, over the years. It took us about 90 minutes to watch the DVD carefully at each step, look at the instruction sheet and then do the step. The next installation should take only 20-30 minutes since disassembly, installation and reassembly are pretty straight forward. [Update: The second Cube upgrade took 22 minutes--ed.] Here are some tips:

1. We could not get the connector for the bundle of white wires off the video riser board. We worked on it a lot but it was stuck on tightly and we didn't want to risk cracking the riser board. So we removed the graphics card and just hung the riser over the edge of the case. The next time we're going to remove the graphics card and let the riser hang loose without removing the three cables.
2. Prying up the heat plate on the original CPU board is a bit difficult because of a sealant used by Apple between the plate and the large finned heat sink. We used a large and wide flat-bladed screwdriver in a twisting motion at the corners of the plate to lift it until it popped loose.
3. The hard drive and DVD drive cables have to be removed from their sockets under the motherboard before sliding the motherboard out. It's not difficult but be VERY careful with the smaller clear cable. They can rip easily and unexpectedly.
4. On reassembly, we had difficulty getting the hard drive cable back into its socket once the motherboard was back in position. We were afraid that we might damage the clear cable so we placed the dark gray cable with the blue connector in its socket before setting the motherboard back into position. Replacing the motherboard put a little pressure on the hard drive cable but not too much. Then, with the motherboard back in position, we slid the clear cable connector around with our finger until it matched up with its socket and clicked in.
5. The core would not stick when we first replaced it in the lucite shell. The core kept falling down despite the core's handle being locked down. At first we thought we had the same problem noted by Mike Breeden in his review of a pre-retail unit, i.e. the core would not fit all the way back into the shell. But we pressed the core in as hard as we could and it clicked, locking in. Dana said his core has been very tight in the shell. It is possible that disassembly and reassembly caused the tolerance to change slightly and make it even harder for the core to click in. We will be installing another 1 GHz CPU later this week. [Update: The second Cube's core locked normally.]

When finished, one has to hook up to the internet and download the cache enabling software from PowerLogix's web site. We downloaded b4 of Cache Control X and used it to enable the L3 cache at 250 MHz. If one wants to boot into OS 9, one needs to also get the OS 9 version.

PowerLogix did a great job with their installation instructions. Installation is not too difficult for those used to dealing with boards and connectors in a computer. Working inside a PowerBook 2400c is more complex and difficult but many people do it. However, inexperienced people or those not too handy with electronics probably ought to let a tech do the job.

Recommendation: The DVD movie is very helpful during installation but not everyone will have a separate computer with DVD drive or a DVD player attached to their TV. A DVD is also hard to rewind a just a bit. We suggest including a CD with the QuickTime installation movie for the QT Player, which is easy to move back and forward as well as pause, and the cache control software. Doing so might also be less confusing for some than trying to select the right software from PowerLogix's page.