Boris Vlajcic writes about some problems using a US-localized version of Mac OS on his PowerBook bought in Japan:

I live in Tokyo, and just bought the sleek Titanium PB G4-500. First thing, like I did with my previous PB G3, I wanted to change from Japanese MacOS 9.1. to the English version. Not possible . My G4 PB just tells me that it does not accept this program. I did initialize the hard disk ,and then tried to boot from 9.1 CD, my PB G4 , does not want to boot from English Mac OS 9,1, Well I tried all the tricks , no way. Maybe G4 PB sold in Japan have a chip inside accepting only Japanese? All my sofware is in English. Can enyone help me out ? The shop where I bought my G4 is ignorant and cannot help. Apple customer support does not accept e-mail. There must be something Apple did in Japan on their new PB, my old G3 had no problem with accepting the change from Japanese version to English version.

[follow-up] "This has nothing to do with the fact that it's a Japanese TiBook. The version of OS 9.1 that comes with it is newer than the Retail OS 9.1 US version. I had the same problem with a PowerMac G4/733. It had a Dutch 9.1 version on it and wouldn't accept either OS 9.1 US Retail or the OS 9.1 version that comes along with MacOS X v10.0. Solution: get OS 9.2.1 US as fast as you can (comes along with OS X v10.1). Trust me, it'll work."

[follow-up: Chris Whittier] "There isn't any chip that Apple is or anyone else is putting in there. The ONLY thing it can be is the New World ROM in the Powerbook. Logic dictates that Apple has its own Japanese ROM. Likely by (re)installing the latest Powerbook ENGLISH G4 ROM updater, it should fix the problem for Boris..."

by MacNN Staff