[Duo2400] What does "cardbus upgrade" mean to you, concerning the pb 2400?

[Fabian Fang]

If the seller had written "cardbus upgraded," then it might be ambiguous.  But if the seller wrote "cardbus upgraded by MCE," then  it must mean that he had sent the PowerBook to MCE, and got it back after paying $99, and he should be able to prove it.

My three PoweerBook 3400c's had worked with a MacAlly USB card without upgrade, although somewhat inconsistently.  I sent one to MCE for their "upgrade," just to compare the effect.  When it came back, it still worked only inconsistently with USB amd FireWire devices.  I called MCE technical support.  They sent me by e-mail some apparently proprietary extensions, after which it works well.  If the seller truly went through the MCE upgrade, you can ask him to contact MCE, and possibly straighten things out for you.


On Tuesday, June 15, 2004, at 09:39PM, Sid Barras <sbarris at earthlink.net> wrote:

>Hi gang,
>I recently bought a pb 2400 on ebay; the unit is nice, everything is 
>working... except...
>The seller advertised it as "carbus upgraded by MCE." When it arrived, 
>I find it is either:
>NOT upgraded to true cardbus enablement as I understand it, meaning it 
>can now accept USB devices
>or,
>the seller did not know what they were talking about when they 
>mentioned "cardbus upgraded."(or does, but claims that a cardbus 
>upgrade means something different..)
>
>When I discovered that the machine does not seem to be upgraded for 
>USB, I contacted the seller, and they said "Yes it was upgraded to 
>accept modem and ethernet cards in the cardbus slot"
>
>I wrote back and said that I was pretty sure the pb 2400 could do this 
>right out of the box in stock condition...
>They wrote back and said basically "well, that's what I meant-- the 
>upgrade means it can handle type I, II or III PCMCIA cards."
>
>That's where it stands now. Am I wrong in thinking that a claim of 
>"cardbus upgrade by MCE" means what I think it means? (and hopefully, 
>what a majority of list members would confirm) That it should now 
>accept USB cards? (and don't quote me on this, but firewire, too?)
>ESPECIALLY given the fact that the name "MCE" was slipped into the text 
>too...
>
>I don't wish to be an ass, or nitpicking; but I bought this machine 
>with the idea it was going to play nice with my USB printer, and I hope 
>I am reasonable in thinking anyone else here with any knowledge at all 
>with the pb 2400 would think the same thing--
>So, I leave it to the list members to either tell me to lay off, and 
>stop whining, or say "You wuz robbed!!!"
>(I think I paid about $50 or so more dollars than what a stock unit is 
>going for these days... It did come with a couple of power supplies and 
>a cute wetsuit, but.... it's that USB thing that's itching right now, 
>and I just can't get a good scratch going, ya' know?)
>
>Greetings from CajunLand USA South Louisiana
>Sid Barras