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| Author | Views Control Panel Settings (Read 26813 times) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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r-ertl
8 MB  Posts: 15 
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on: April 29, 2011, 15:50
I need to know where the settings that are made using the Mac OS 7.6.1 VIEWS control panel are stored. I have a Powerbook 3400c that loses those settings every time it is restarted (even when the AC power adapter is plugged in). The clock settings are NOT lost during these restarts (or during extended shut down periods without the AC power adapter), only the VIEWS control panel settings are lost. Are the VIEWS settings stored in the PRAM? If so, do any of you know where the PRAM is physically located in a Powerbook 3400c and if faulty PRAM can be replaced? |
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dpaanlka
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1024 MB Posts: 1646
Reply #1 on: April 29, 2011, 18:37
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I don't know about the Views-specific stuff you're asking, but... Quote from: "r-ertl" do any of you know where the PRAM is physically located in a Powerbook 3400c Right below the speaker grill above the keyboard. You have to remove the keyboard using three Torx-8 screws at the bottom of the PowerBook. It flips up and out, and then there's another screw holding the speaker grill down. Remove your RAM card first, then remove the screw holding down the speaker grill, remove the grill itself and it comes up as one unit and below it is the PRAM battery. See more: http://bit.ly/iqZ6c5 Quote from: "r-ertl" and if faulty PRAM can be replaced? Yes: http://amzn.to/irCiU0
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r-ertl
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8 MB Posts: 15
Reply #2 on: April 30, 2011, 04:03
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I solved the VIEWS control panel setting problem by re-imaging (restoring) the hard drive using Apples Software Restore (ASR) with a disk image I previously made with Disk Copy. This means that the problem was not hardware related after all. For those who would like to know, here is what I discovered prior to coming up with this solution. Now originally I wondered if the VIEWS control panel settings were stored in the PRAM (Parameter Random Access Memory). If so, I was wondering if the actual PRAM (the actual memory module and not the associated battery) could go bad. (A Powerbook 3400 service manual indicates that the PRAM settings are stored somewhere on the logic board but it never says exactly where.) In any case, it appears that the VIEWS control panel settings are NOT stored in the PRAM because when I reset the PRAM on an identical working computer with the same OS (Mac OS 7.6.1), the custom VIEWS control panel settings were not changed back to the defaults. The problem was also not with the VIEWS control panel itself because it was byte for byte identical to the VIEWS control panel on the working computer. So then I wondered if those settings were stored in a visible preferences file in the Preferences folder inside the System folder on the hard drive. If so, perhaps the file in question was corrupted, which perhaps made it impossible for the VIEWS control panel to save the new settings in that file? So I deleted all of the visible preferences files in the preferences folder (not something you should do unless you have a way to restore them as I do). Then I set the clock ahead one day and used the VIEWS control panel to make some changes. I was hoping the VIEWS control panel would create a new preferences file and stamp it with this unique date. Unfortunately no such file was created in the preferences folder. In fact, no visible file on the entire hard drive was found with this unique date. So I still do not know where the VIEWS control panel settings are stored. Perhaps they are stored in an invisible file somewhere. In any case, at this point I decided to just restore that entire partition on my hard drive as described above. Now about the PRAM battery mentioned in a response to my initial post. This little green battery apparently goes by several names including PRAM battery, CMOS battery, Clock battery, and Back-up battery. In any case, it appears that the only time this battery is of any value is when you remove the main battery at a time when the computer is not powered by an AC adapter. Leaving this little green battery in a vintage laptop creates a major liability, however, as it will eventually leak all over the circuit board beneath it (as it did in one of my Powerbooks) which can cause a variety of problems until you manage to clean all of the residue from that board. If you remove this battery (as I have done) you won’t lose your PRAM & clock settings as long as your main battery holds a change and you plug in an AC adapter whenever you change the main battery.
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dpaanlka
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1024 MB Posts: 1646
Reply #3 on: May 01, 2011, 21:38
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Quote from: "r-ertl" Leaving this little green battery in a vintage laptop creates a major liability, however, as it will eventually leak all over the circuit board beneath it (as it did in one of my Powerbooks) which can cause a variety of problems until you manage to clean all of the residue from that board. If you remove this battery (as I have done) you won’t lose your PRAM & clock settings as long as your main battery holds a change and you plug in an AC adapter whenever you change the main battery. I've never had this battery leak in any of my 18 or so PowerBooks. I've only ever had a PRAM battery leak/explode in one Mac IIsi. This is out of probably 80 Macs I've had at one time, which is now down to around 30.
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r-ertl
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8 MB Posts: 15
Reply #4 on: May 02, 2011, 23:36
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Two of my seven PowerBook 3400c laptops have had this battery leak onto the circuit board beneath, several months after I ignored the fact that they were no longer working. I did not replace them when I first noticed that they were not working for two reasons. (1) the first replacement PRAM battery I bought from eBay never did work (even after letting it charge for a few days) and (2) it did not seem worth it to me to pay from $20 to $40 for a new battery just to keep the clock running and hold the PRAM settings during the rare moments when I might remove the main battery without the AC power adapter plugged in. So now when these batteries fail, I just remove them. As long as the main battery is charged or the computer is plugged in, the clock keeps running and the PRAM settings are safe.
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ovalking
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128 MB Posts: 199
Reply #5 on: May 03, 2011, 10:05
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The question of the Views prefs storage location remains unknown then? I can confirm I found no file with a changed date after changing my Views settings. I looked for invisible files in the Sys folder too.
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r-ertl
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8 MB Posts: 15
Reply #6 on: May 05, 2011, 00:44
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Yes, ovalking, it is true that I was not able to determine the storage location of the Views Control Panel settings. I just now zapped the PRAM on another PowerBook 3400c to again confirm that doing so does not affect any of the settings in the Views control panel that I had previously changed from their default state. I believe that this means that the views settings are not stored in the PRAM. So I do not know where they are stored.
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r-ertl
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8 MB Posts: 15
Reply #7 on: May 05, 2011, 01:44
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Regarding what the PRAM does contain . . . There is a freeware program available from several sites called PRAM Inspector 1.1. I just ran it on a Powerbook 3400c with System 7.6.1. It lists the following PRAM settings: Clock chip validity status, Node ID hint for modem port, Node ID hint for printer port, Serial port use, Modem port configuration, Printer port configuration, Alarm setting, Application font, Auto-key threshold, Auto-key rate, Printer connection, Caret-blink time, Double-click time, Speaker volume, Menu-blink time, Preferred system startup disk, and Mouse scaling.
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