A Safari Bug?
My pet rat Max jumped down off of my shoulder to my keyboard numeric key pad, and sat there with the keys depressed. Safari crashed wanting to send an error report.
LOL
June 20, 2007
April 23, 2007
3rd gen iPod battery replacement
After being frustrated with my 15gb iPod's battery life (only lasting an hour). I said lets purchase the battery replacement kit, which will give you longer use time. I'd like to note that in the process of replacing the battery I fixed a screen issue that I was having just by replacing the battery. My screen would periodically look like it had old film lines in it, and the contrast was bad.
Here are the photos. Taken without a flash. I didn't have enough good light, and the flash was creating too much of a reflection bleaching out the pictures.
open 3rd gen ipod with hard drive in the upper right, and the original battery lower right. 
closeup of ipod 3rd gen without harddrive and original battery.
here it is with the new battery in it all hooked up
here it is after putting the harddrive back in
ipod put back together with new battery replacement... mmmmm... apple logo...
It is now charging.
May 30, 2006
My iBook Update...
It seems to be doing ok, so far. I'm going to run it tomorrow on battery alone to see if there are any further issues. I've done it once already, but want to do it again to make sure.
May 24, 2006
iBook - Apple Repair
Apple... *sighs and shakes my head*
Instead of me sending my laptop back in for yet another repair they are sending me a new battery. When I get that I'm suppose to send back my old one. They somehow think this is the fix. I hope they are right.
Prior:
May 23, 2006
My iBook came back...
I got my laptop back today from Apple Repair. I loathe getting a repaired laptop back from them now. It never goes right. Anyway... They fixed the laptop assembly battery (CMOS battery), but the laptop still dies when you unplug it from the power adaptor. It will not start up again unless it is plugged back in to the power adaptor. After startup it is now holding the date and time correctly, and remembering my network settings. BUT... It's still shutting off after you unplug it from the power adaptor. So, my assumption is that said laptop has an issue with the battery, and or charging board. The reason the laptop lasts as long as it does when you unplug it from power is that the new CMOS battery is trying to keep it up and running. This is why the CMOS battery was drained completely in the first place. Now on the phone with Apple Repair again. Wondering why they did not check to see if replacing the CMOS / laptop assembly battery fixed the issue.
Prior post...
May 18, 2006
My New iBook G4 is screwed now...
The issue started while I was away for vacation at Block Island. I would unplug the power cord, and in the middle of doing something it was just shut off. No warning. Just blackness. I plug it back in, boot up, and the date & my network settings are whiped. It does this whenever I unplug it from the power adaptor now.
Symptoms:
- unplugging power adaptor shuts off laptop.
- after booting up my date & network settings are whiped.
a. date reset to December 1969 in iCal... And in my system bar it says it's reset to 2001, and I should change it.
b. network settings gone.
Time to call Apple. I just got this thing November 23, 2005.
This is the iBook G4 1.33GHz, 512k level 2 cache, 512MB of DDR SDRAM, 40GB Ultra ATA hard drive.
P.S. - Resetting the PRAM did not fix it.
Update: Now I wait for the delivery of my box to send back my laptop for repair.
November 15, 2005
My iBook is back...
From Apple repair. New drive installed, and I'm disappointed that they didn't do what they said they were going to do. They installed Jaguar back on my iBook. When they specifically said that Tiger would be installed instead, since I already own it. They replaced the other drive with an IBM model.
I wiped and reinstalled Tiger OS. The new IBM drive is periodically making a HECK of a lot of noise (the same damn clicking the other drive made, except louder) through the install. The machine will not boot, and I'm getting the same issues I was having with the previous bad drive.
As I said before... Apple Repair is problematic.
Issues:
1. Innitial repair... It was sent in to have the power managment replaced/fixed. It was dead as a door nail. No boot. $300+ repair cost for that. Fine.
2. I get it back... Missing my battery, and a huge scratch on the inside of the bottom of the laptop case. It goes back in for repair to replace the bottom of the case, and for a new battery.
3. I get it back again... Apple replaced my working drive (the Toshiba) when last sent in when it didn't need to be replaced. The rapair? Replace the bottom of the case they badly scratched. That was it, but somehow my good hard drive gets replaced.
4. I send it back in to have this lemon (Toshiba) drive replaced. I get it back today.. What do I get? Another lemon drive (IBM) this time. Doing the same thing the previous lemon drive did. Here is the sound it makes. Yummy, aye? OS will not boot.
Apple Tech classifies my laptop as a looper. A looper? It is Apple Tech's unofficial term for a machine that constantly comes back in for repairs. The fault of Apple Repair, really. I kept getting botched repairs. That being said... Now waiting on papers to come in the mail to sign/fill out for an exchange. They are sending me (supposedly) a new laptop after I send this bad lemon back. This total process is going to take like three weeks. I just hope the time is shorter, because I miss my iBook.
Edit: Will give updates as this progresses.
October 19, 2005
My OS X Desktop...
My new Bryce design looks good on my OS X iBook... Mmmm... I love blue...
October 13, 2005
200GB iPod Nano?
How to modify the iPod nano for 200GB of storage. *lol*
WARNING - It's a HUGE IDE drive. *haha* Not impressive, but still cool.
via Slashdot
September 23, 2005
iBook Back From Repair
Yah! It's back! Wooooo!
My bottom is replaced, and I have a new battery. I'm a happy camper again.
September 21, 2005
Apple, iBook Repair?
My iBook went back to Apple Repair again. They are suppose to replace the bottom of my laptop (since they scratched it), and put back in MY BATTERY. All I know is... If it comes back without my battery in it, or a battery replacement, I'm going to be so pissed.
September 16, 2005
iBook Back From Repair?
So, I get my iBook back from repair today. I open the box. And to my surprise I have NO BATTERY, and a HUGE FUCKING GASH in it! WTF Apple? I just paid you over $300 for this SHITTY repair? Have you gone completely fucking insane to even THINK about sending my laptop back in this condition?
I have two issues now:
1. You neglected to give me my battery back. Theft?
2. You have significantly reduced the resale value of my machine.
*sniff sniff* What's that I smell? I wonder...
Update: My lappy goes back to Apple Repair on Monday. Replacement of the bottom, and to have my battery put back in. Back to my daily grind on my PC. ACK!
August 2, 2005
Apple Introduces...
Mighty Mouse New Multi-Button Mouse Features Innovative Scroll Ball. Ooooo... Ahhhhhh!
July 30, 2005
Apple iPod Headphones
Apple iPod headphones dangling in a glass of diet root beer all night long...
Then rinsed with water... Let dry...
Headphones still work...
Priceless...
:D
July 4, 2005
4th Of July...
What am I doing right now... I'm patching an XP2 system, Updating software (ie: Firefox, Thunderbird, iTunes, Spyware Blaster, Spybot S&D, etc.) And While doing that I'm listening to 2600: The Hacker Quarterly. Fireworks? Who needs fireworks when one has Estes Model Rockets?
Note for Kim.... The D engine rocket I have only goes up to 200 FT or so. Has to do with the weight of the rocket, and design. *nods* So, I could shoot it off at home. ;)
June 29, 2005
Modem Resets... Comcast Cable
Date(s) - # Of Modem Resets & Modem Shutting Down
(Not counting what's been happening over the past two weeks)
6/28/2005 - 3
6/29/2005 - 1
6/30/2005 - 1, but the throughput is horrible. I feel like I'm on a modem. The Comcast Escalated Tech is suppose to be here around 5 p.m. or 6 p.m. *sighs* Update: The higher level tech was here did some testing, and said that there is an issue with our line. He thinks it's outside of the house with their equipment. Hmmm... I hope this gets fixed soon. Next tech due out is tomorrow, but we don't need to be here.
7/1/2005 - 3, I'm hoping this will be fixed by the time we get back. *sighs*
7/2 - 7/4 - Away for July 4th weekend. I posted from the in-laws.
7/5/2005 - 13, And the tech that was suppose to come out while we were gone has not come out yet. Called Comcast and there is another tech coming out again tomorrow morning.
7/6/2005 - No service, and the tech is late. Was suppose to be here at 9 a.m. It's 9:46 a.m. right now, and we have not received a call from Comcast. (Their policy is that they call before showing up at your door.) They showed up finally, and tested further, then just replaced our modem with one of theirs (temporary). We will be going out today to buy another modem.
Can anyone say... Shitty Service?
Note: Speeds are below ISDN speeds to modem speeds. Most of the time there is no bandwidth at all.
June 28, 2005
Comcast Cable Issues...
So, the tech came out again to check further to see what our bandwidth issue is. He said that he has called for a Senior Technician to come out to test our connection further, which will include hooking our modem up to his laptop and testing it. Then taking our modem and driving up the street to a different point (node or address), and testing the modem and speeds there. This will tell us where the issue is hopefully. Yeah riiiight... Today the modem has gone out and reset 3 times after the technician left. This is truly annoying.
OS X Update...
With iTunes 4.9, you can now browse and subscribe to podcasts from within the iTunes Music Store. Podcasts are frequently updated radio-style shows downloadable over the Internet. You can also transfer podcasts to iPod, for listening on the go.
AND...
iPod software update 2005-06-26 delivers iPod Software 1.2 for iPod with color display, iPod mini Software 1.4 for iPod mini and iPod Software 3.1 for iPod with Click Wheel
Integration with iTunes 4.9 for downloading and listening to podcasts
June 15, 2005
Our Cable Modem... And Arrow
So, we call Comcast Cable today to put in a tech call for our network here. We think the modem is dying or Comcast has some other network issue in our area that they are not admitting to. Seeing as the modem is sitting here in Ranging mode - I think it's the modem. It's well over two years old now, maybe three. The tech will not be here till Friday morning to debug any issues. It's back up for now.
Oh well. No work for me for the rest of the day. Time to work on finishing my DVD videos, listening to music, and reading. Maybe work on a new design.
Arrow last night late was playing with a ping pong ball in the bathtub. Yep! That's right! A ping pong ball in the bathtub. Just use the bathtub stopper to plug it up and let the ball rip. He was entertained for a VERY long time. And right now I hear the ping pong ball swirling around the tub as I type. Hahaha! It's equivalent to watching a good game of footy.
June 13, 2005
XP, Piece of Crap
Ok. So after buying a DVD burner for my PC (XP) system I find out the XP can not handle file sizes over 4GB in size. I'm guessing this has to do with XP and the FAT32 files system only seeing partition sizes smaller than 4GB, or is this a virtual memory cap? Guess I'll be purchasing an external case and using my iBOOK to burn DVDs.
May 8, 2005
PVR-H140
This looks cool.
April 16, 2005
TCF 2005
The 30th Annual Trenton Computer Festival held at the College of New Jersey.
Outside there was a long line for tickets. It was a chilly day, so we stood in line for a while freezing our asses off getting tickets. Ladies and Gents! This was one FREAKY festival! Geeks, nerds, dweebs, and dorks came from all over for this BIG event. I was taken aback upon entering with my cheesey wristband showing membership to the geek-fest. There was no one to hide behind.
So, we headed over to the outdoor flea market to see what was what. Here at THIS flea market you can find used SPARC stations, used CISCO equipment, used switches, used monitors, and old shit that you?d just as soon throw into the neighbors yard when he wasn?t looking. You can even find CRACK. No CRACK for sale though! But I?m sure this particular flea market shopper would have given it up for free.
There was even a room for old computer systems. It was cool.
Inside the recreation center there the real exhibits sit. Where the venders scream at you, ?I make you sweet deal! I give you cheap!? As you walk by. After tolerating this banter you are looking for a couple of pints, and maybe a soothing shoulder to cry on. (For those of you that don?t drink you will want to scratch your eyes/ears out upon leaving.) The neatest thing was the New Jersey Antique Radio Club. I have some short little videos of some of the old radio and TV there. I will get those up in a day or two.
What did we walk away purchasing?
1 512MB USB (thumb drive)
1 External USB laptop hard drive case
1 Camera tripod
2 Small thumb knives
2 Chilly nipples
An Ok day out... :D
April 12, 2005
Too Cool...
March 22, 2005
XMOD 1967 Camaro
I took this out to the parking area here. We have a nice big black top circle. The car ran for about 15 minutes before the batteries gave out. I'm thinking of upgrades already. *chuckles* Oh, geez. New motor (Stage 2 - 5.33:1-geared), and metal bearings to start with. This car screams drag setup, so I'm going to go with that. This should give me quite a performance upgrade.
I'd like to add that the neighbors loved it. A few watched me run it around for a bit. I have to admit though they were guys. *laughs* They wanted my little XMOD. No! You can't have my XMOD boyos!
March 18, 2005
XMODS
I wound up getting the 1967 Chevrolet Camaro today. :D I can't wait to start putting it together. But first I must finish my work load for the day.
Update: This little bugger is pretty fast.
March 15, 2005
PlusTech Walker
OMG! This is so fucking cool.
March 14, 2005
iPod Shuffle Knockoff
Apparently Apple has persuaded LuxPro to remove the page. Here is the article at iPodlounge.com.
March 13, 2005
XMODS
Me want. :D
February 15, 2005
Pro95 Scanner Accessories
A few things I want for my handheld scanner:
My stock antenna is Ok, but I need something a bit better. I'm not sure which of these would be the better buy... hmmm...
Deluxe Antenna for Handheld Scanner $19.99 Brand: RadioShack Catalog #: 20-034 Model: 20-034
Center-Loaded Telescoping Whip Antenna $14.49 Brand: RadioShack Catalog #: 20-006 Model: 20-006
AND...
Scanner/PC Interface Cable $24.99 Brand: RadioShack Catalog #: 20-289
Update: Looks like I'm going to be going with the "Deluxe Antenna for Handheld Scanner". Adding it to my "wanted list". *hehe*
February 14, 2005
Drools
Real Music Store, Real Bullshit!
Real doesn't want my money, because I use a MAC?! Has anyone been able to buy from a unix/linux based system that is not powered by Apple? I'm curious. Real wants a deal with Apple/iTunes... All your bitching and whining, yet you don't support the MAC? *just laughs* That, and you get your music in their proprietary .rax format (their protected file format). So, good luck converting them to your portable players. Goes back to iTunes.
This Platform Is Not SupportedDownloads are only available on PCs running Windows 98 and up and with:
* Internet Explorer 5.5, or newer
* Netscape 7.0, or newer
February 12, 2005
Musicplasma.com
Music Plasma A cool way to search for music and movies. It's a bit slow though, so it is not for the impatient. I found this via Metafilter
February 11, 2005
My 3rd Gen Penguin Pod
Fear the Penguin! This is so cool. When I reset and boot into linux I can do a few things like; listen to my music, and do voice memos in 8-96kHz using my Apple iPod ear buds. I leave one in my ear, and use the other as a mic. And I can listen to that voice memo. How F*cking cool is that?! I can manage my voice memos also after rebooting back into my iPod OS. I can play or delete them.
Edit: Here is the URL for ipodlinux.
February 2, 2005
From Slashdot...
"iPod Most Popular Music Player on Microsoft Campus" - This is such a good article... haha... Hide Your IPod, Here Comes Bill
January 26, 2005
My Motorola V551, Ring Tone
*chuckles* I added "GIR's Doom Song" to my ring tones on my phone. Whenever someone calls me now I have it set to play. Oh, how lame of me. I'm sure I will get tired of hearing it sooner or later.
January 20, 2005
Motorola V551
I just got my Motorola V551 delivered today, and it's all charged. Mmmm... I can't wait to sit and dig into it. *drools*
Update: I had to purchase a third party application called Onsync to sync my address book on my MAC to my new phone. iSync (from Apple) doesn't recognise the newer phones. Hmmmm... Please, Apple, get your shit together!
Things still to do... Setup my voice mail.
Update2: Voice mail setup complete. :D
November 5, 2004
ibook Caching Old DNS
My iBook was caching old DNS information for my somewhat static IP for comcast.net for my home web server. Even rebooting wouldn't clear it. I finally had to use a terminal window to just clear the DNS cache. Don't mess with a unix geek girl, bastard!
lookupd -flushcache
October 14, 2004
Replay Radio
I've been playing around with the current version of Replay Radio demo. The audio recordings so far from streaming URLs on my PC machine, aren't as clear as what I would get from Audio Hijack that I use on my iBook. Also, the add to my iTunes Library function hasn't worked flawlessly yet.
UPDATE: I am really NOT happy with the audio quality of Replay Radio at all. It's got this added noise in it that you usually hear with Real Media files.
July 2, 2004
New Portable Players
iPod Competition?! We shall see...
Sony unveils HDD Walkman - "The NW-HD1 is a "credit card-sized" 8.9 x 6.2 x 1.4cm unit fitted with a 20GB 1.8in hard drive. There's enough RAM on board to provide 25 minutes of skip-free playback. There's a seven-line LCD for track information and player status data."
Commadore's New eVic - "Commodore presents the new portable jukebox with 20 GB of storage space for all your favorite music tracks. The Commodore eVIC musicbox is one of the most complete jukeboxes around, including high quality headphones and a small dockingstation to connect for example speakers or a digital camera. Just connect the camera to the docking, drag the made photos to the storage device and you can make new photos again!"
June 24, 2004
iPod Your BMW
"Now, thanks to a new adapter co-developed by Apple and BMW, you can enjoy the ultimate sound experience while tooling around in the Ultimate Driving Machine.
Available immediately for late-model BMW autos, the iPod, and iPod mini, the new adapter lets you use the control functions on your steering wheel to adjust volume, skip tracks, fast forward/rewind a song, or switch to random shuffle. What's that playing now? Just check your audio display. And in addition to delivering 100% of iPod's audio quality to your car's speakers, the adapter (tucked neatly away in your glove compartment) also recharges iPod as you drive and keeps messy wires out of sight. Like to hear more?"
http://www.apple.com/ipod/bmw/
What if I don't want a BMW? What if I want it in my Saturn? *LOL*
June 22, 2004
Soldier Nanotechnologies
Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies
"The Army solicits proposals from U.S. universities to host the "Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies". The intent of the Army is to create a University Affiliated Research Center (UARC), with industry partners, to develop nanometer-scale science and technology solutions for the soldier. The announcement was posted in CBDNet and published in Commerce Business Daily on October 4, 2001 (Solicitation Notice #50Z9Z9, SUBJECT: U.S. Army Research Office Broad Agency Announcement for the Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies). The solicitation is available below."
MIT's Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies (ISN)
"The ISN was founded in March 2002 by a $50 million contract from the U.S. Army. Our charge is to pursue a long-range vision for how technology can make soldiers less vulnerable to enemy and environmental threats. The ultimate goal is to create a 21st century battlesuit that combines high-tech capabilities with light weight and comfort."
June 16, 2004
400GB Seagate SATA Drives
"The new Barracuda 7200.8 disc drive offers PC makers and consumers the industry's highest areal density with 400GB on a three-disc platform, a new cache size up to 16 Mbytes, a choice of an Ultra ATA interface or the industry's first native Serial ATA (SATA) interface with native command queuing (NCQ), and remains the quietest PC hard drive on the market. Seagate will also offer the new 400GB capacity in its award-winning desktop Seagate External Hard Drive, which is perfect for using less desktop space and travels well with notebook PCs while still offering a 100GB capacity. The new Seagate USB2 Pocket Hard Drive is the first tiny USB-compatible 5GB drive consumers can pop in their pocket or backpack to carry data wherever they go, thanks to its tough-but-cute hard case."
Vrooom Vrooom!!!!
June 3, 2004
PCI TV Card
I installed my new PCI TV card today, and added a mod light in the bottom of the case to brighten things up. I have to say it looks cool. I am enjoying my new TV/FM card. It's turned out to be a great buy! And I can schedule and record all my TV shows, as soon as I install my new 150GB hard drive. Not looking forward to that update though. It's going to replace my main hard drive. I have to partion it, format it, then use Norton Ghost to copy everything over. I will let you know how that goes.
What's New And Cool?!
"Nokia unveils mid-air messaging"
"Nokia is making a mobile that lets you write short text messages in mid-air."
"The messages are written using a row of LEDs fitted on the rear cover of Nokia's forthcoming 3220 phone."
"A motion sensor in the phone makes the lights blink in a sequence that spells out letters when the handset is waved in the air."
This is kind of geeky cool. LOL
Cool Tech Stuff
I went to Best Buy today... Purchased a Body Glove zip up case that will hold my palm in it's metal protective case with all my SD cards (SD & SD BlueTooth). I finally got my PCI TV card in the mail today. "Video Mate TV Gold+". I purchased it on sale at "NewEgg". Good buy at $56. I have to say I'm technically happy. LOL Oh well. Now to make the time to install my TV card in my PC.
May 31, 2004
Video Cards
I saw these two cards reviewed on G4/TechTV, and they look awesome. Although they will put a pretty good drain on your pocket. The ATI card appears to be sold out as of today.
February 1, 2004
New CD-R CD-RW Burner
WooHoo!!!
I purchased a new CD-R/CD-RW burning for my pc yesterday, and installed it today. Got it for $44 at CompUSA. Here are the stats... 52x24x42x. I am a happy camper now. Doing backups will be much faster. Now to update a web page or two, and start working on a new graphic for K.D. for February.
January 27, 2004
Power Outage
Had a power outage last night. Turns out some poor shlub (hope he/she is ok) hit a phone pole, and knocked out power in two areas that I know of. Power was out for about 50 minutes. The only computer that didn't work after that was my home linux server that hosts some of our personal domains. Anyway, after fsck'ing the server it came back up fine. BUT... Networking was out. So, I began testing to see if my NIC card had been damaged for some odd reason due to this outage. (yeah yeah I know get a UPC backup) Strangely the machine could ping itself, but not the router. So, I typed into the console "/sbin/ifconfig" It told me my card was correctly configured, and up and running. It looked good. To make sure I typed on the command line, "cat /proc/dev/net" to make sure that my system was loading my card correctly. It is. Everything looks good, I just couldn't reach the router. I move on to testing the HUB with my S.O. (Significant Other). After testing with a laptop, ethernet cable, and the specific HUB, it turns out to be bad. We yank it, and hook the home web server up to the main switch. We are now up and running. WooHoo!!!
January 6, 2004
graphic card upgrade
I'm upgrading my graphics card today for my pc system for a better gaming experience. It's an ATI 9200 128MB graphics card. I received this for Christmas this year. WooHoo! Popped in the card, and it booted to XP, and I installed drivers without a hitch. Restarted to make sure everything is working like it's suppose to. I loaded up Americas Army game 1.9, and the detail is unbelievable!!! Instead of running this at 800x600 I am now running at 1024x768.
December 24, 2003
Updating my Mom's PC Christmas 2003
Updating my Mom's PC Christmas 2003...
I updated her to XP, which went well. I am having issues installed Norton AntiVirus 2004. For some reason it errors out, quits, and uninstalls itself. Purchased the software online for $55. I am now looking through the Knowledge base to try and fix the issue, but no luck yet. Everything suggested so far is not working.
What bothers me; That I purchased NAV2004 software for my Mom at $55. I need technical support to help me fix the issue. They expect me to pay another $30 for phone support for software that I just purchased?! Come on guys! BTW, they do not give email support unless it's NON technical related.
Due to the OVER ABUNDANCE of registry entries that Norton-Symantec makes upon installation, and the fact that Microsoft does not give them enough information to uninstall their software, it made BAD registry entries relating to the recycle bin that were not uninstalling. Thus causing the install to fail.
Now that, that is installed...
I am moving on to Firewall and new CD-R/CD-RW/CD-RG writer installs, and seeing if I can get her DVD drive working again.
November 4, 2003
My PC System Setup
Intel Celeron Processor 1GHz
512MB RAM
nVidia GForce/2 AGP 32MB (hoping to update this soon)
P90F ViewSonic Monitor
DVD drive
CD-ROM drive
Maxtor 93073U6 (hard drive)
WDC WD300BB-32AUA1 (hard drive)
5 1/4 floppy
33.6 Modem - Smart One
Logitech-compatible Mouse PS/2 (trackball)
Aiptek Tablet (It's a small one)
Not bad for something that is slowly updated yearly...
A little pc repair
Got my new P90F monitor replacement from ViewSonic. I'm typing from it now. Wow... It's nice to see things all crisp again. I also took the liberty of replacing my agp video card fan to something more heavy duty. I'm hoping it will keep the card cooler, and I won't see any video resizing problems like I've been seing with desktop sizes larger than 1152x768. Right now I'm running 1280x1024. And it appears to be stable, and more reliable. I won't know till the computer has been on most of the day though. I stuck in another 256MB memory, which should help with my 3D designing & gaming. Have to make sure I can at least do my hobbies. Right now my memory is at 512MB, and things are a little snappier.
October 15, 2003
Sony CD-RW CRX820E Combo Drive - iBook 800
iBook 800MHz using Sony CD-RW CRX820E Combo Drive Issue...
My "Sony CD-RW CRX820E" combo drive burned at 16x upon receiving with the apple supplied "Verbatim" 32x rated cd-r. After a while it stopped burning at that speed and went down to 4x. I returned my iBook to apple for repair. They returned it saying nothing was wrong with the burner.
After A LOT of time testing, buying different speed cd-r disks, I found that this particular drive would not burn above 16x on any cd-r disk rated above the speed of 32x. I now have "Sony", and "Digital Research" cd-r disks rated for 32x that are burning at my 16x speed.
I believe this burning issue has to do with the burner / cd-r becoming unstable at speeds above the 32x rated disks. A limitation of the combo drive. For instance, if you stick a 48x cd-r in the drive you will notice that the drive spin up is more noisey, or unstable. The drive and machine will vibrate much more. I think the drive, or disk becomes unstable when trying to spin up the disk on the 48x rated speed cd-r. Therefore the auto detect part of the burner picks up an anomaly, and changing the burn setting to 4x only.
If anyone can get ANY 40x or higher disks to burn consistantly at 16x please let me know.
PowerBook G4, iBook: Combo Drive Does Not Write CD-R Media at Maximum Speed