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Pics of iBook Surgery
- Thread starter calyxman
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the exoskeleton
So now I'm basically waiting for my reed switch to come from Small Dog. Also I found out why my track pad is not working. The harness broke off the the main board. It's going to require a lot of patience and fine soldering to get that puppy back on.
I might go ahead and replace the HD and swap the 256mb ram for a 512 stick. Any suggestions on a good 5400 rpm 20 gig HD? Newegg has a seagate drive w/ 5 yr warranty for $65. Any thoughts?
So now I'm basically waiting for my reed switch to come from Small Dog. Also I found out why my track pad is not working. The harness broke off the the main board. It's going to require a lot of patience and fine soldering to get that puppy back on.
I might go ahead and replace the HD and swap the 256mb ram for a 512 stick. Any suggestions on a good 5400 rpm 20 gig HD? Newegg has a seagate drive w/ 5 yr warranty for $65. Any thoughts?
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I think it's been called in some circles the "90-degree to pitch black" problem. Many can mistaken it for a faulty logic board, but with symptoms like this it's actually caused--at least from what I've read from numerous accounts--by a worn out reed switch cable which connects to the logic board. Here is a pic o the part I'm talking about:
(Edit: the portion up top with the black sleeve is the inverter cable which plugs from the inverter board to the logic board from the bottom right plug, and the bottom left is the reed switch which is activated when you close the lid to your desktop by a magnet right below your keyboard on the right hand side. You'll find it with a paper clip under the right arrow key)
![922-5017.gif]()
Symptoms are the screen flickers in dimness as you move it back, sometimes dropping out all light when the notebook is opened all the way. The only way to achieve full brightness is if you open the screen at a 90% or less angle, which is a killer on the neck.
In addition, another problem people have been running into which is caused by this very same switch is when the lid is shut on the notebook, and at random instances the notebook wakes from sleep by itself. I've waken up night to see light seeping through the close lid from the display because the machine had awaken from sleep without anything or anyone touching, just by itself.
Apple had quoted me a price of almost $300 to repair the thing, after bringing the system in one of the store employees insisted it was a logic board problem. I got a call next day about what the problem was, but I told them not to fix it. I'm getting the part from smalldog.com for $20 plus $7 shipping and installing it myself.
Here's the tutorial that I'm using right now. If you have the same problem, this is a great site to check out, but one word of caution: use some common sense when disassembling the machine, because there are some extra steps you need to take which are not mentioned in the tutorial. One of them for instance was disconnecting the ghost light from the stiffening frame.
Pbfixit.com is also a great resource in looking up parts for Apple notebooks. If you wanted to, you could technically swap out the logic board for one with a faster G3 processor, but it will cost anywhere from $300 to $400. Check it out: http://www.pbfixit.com/cart/customer/home.php?cat=50
I will post the status of the repair once I get the part. I might be ordering a 5400 rpm HD from newegg.com while I'm at it.
(Edit: the portion up top with the black sleeve is the inverter cable which plugs from the inverter board to the logic board from the bottom right plug, and the bottom left is the reed switch which is activated when you close the lid to your desktop by a magnet right below your keyboard on the right hand side. You'll find it with a paper clip under the right arrow key)
Symptoms are the screen flickers in dimness as you move it back, sometimes dropping out all light when the notebook is opened all the way. The only way to achieve full brightness is if you open the screen at a 90% or less angle, which is a killer on the neck.
In addition, another problem people have been running into which is caused by this very same switch is when the lid is shut on the notebook, and at random instances the notebook wakes from sleep by itself. I've waken up night to see light seeping through the close lid from the display because the machine had awaken from sleep without anything or anyone touching, just by itself.
Apple had quoted me a price of almost $300 to repair the thing, after bringing the system in one of the store employees insisted it was a logic board problem. I got a call next day about what the problem was, but I told them not to fix it. I'm getting the part from smalldog.com for $20 plus $7 shipping and installing it myself.
Here's the tutorial that I'm using right now. If you have the same problem, this is a great site to check out, but one word of caution: use some common sense when disassembling the machine, because there are some extra steps you need to take which are not mentioned in the tutorial. One of them for instance was disconnecting the ghost light from the stiffening frame.
Pbfixit.com is also a great resource in looking up parts for Apple notebooks. If you wanted to, you could technically swap out the logic board for one with a faster G3 processor, but it will cost anywhere from $300 to $400. Check it out: http://www.pbfixit.com/cart/customer/home.php?cat=50
I will post the status of the repair once I get the part. I might be ordering a 5400 rpm HD from newegg.com while I'm at it.
In case anyone cares, I wanted to provide a little update on my the progress of the "surgery." I still did not receive the reed switch, which should be coming on monday. But today I spent time reparing the plug for the trackpad cable, which broke off the logic board. It took some time soldering it back on, but once it was on, I made sure and tested continuity with an ohm meter and also checked to make sure there were no shorts.
Unfortunately I have no pics, but this task required me to take the logic board off completely. For instructions and tutorial on how that's done, please refer to this page. I had to do so because the stiffening frame gave me no room to work.
So that problem is taken care of.
Unfortunately I have no pics, but this task required me to take the logic board off completely. For instructions and tutorial on how that's done, please refer to this page. I had to do so because the stiffening frame gave me no room to work.
So that problem is taken care of.
I hope you're able to put everything back together again.
I've had 2 white iBooks, a 500Mhz & an 800Mhz. Neither one have had problems (except 1 logic board repair) so I think for the most part the iBooks are pretty sturdy. If I had to solder though, I'd end up ruining the whole machine
I've had 2 white iBooks, a 500Mhz & an 800Mhz. Neither one have had problems (except 1 logic board repair) so I think for the most part the iBooks are pretty sturdy. If I had to solder though, I'd end up ruining the whole machine
5300cs said:I hope you're able to put everything back together again.
I've had 2 white iBooks, a 500Mhz & an 800Mhz. Neither one have had problems (except 1 logic board repair) so I think for the most part the iBooks are pretty sturdy. If I had to solder though, I'd end up ruining the whole machine
Heh, the fun part will be putting the thing back together.
In past 3 1/2 years that I've had the iBook, my HD crashed, trackpad failed, and now the reed switch. It still chugged along like a champ, just tripped over a few hurdles here and there. I'm not inclined to dump the thing because I'm just so attached to it and I love it when I can add another year or two of use to a machine.
The soldering was a pain, though. Took a lot of patience.
I've seen some people mod their iBooks, one person actually painted the inside plastic of the casing red or black. Look pretty cool!
I think I'll keep mine plain white.