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eyoungren

macrumors Penryn
Original poster
Aug 31, 2011
28,794
26,885
For future reference, if someone reads that, just a clarifiing note: you did swapp it for another, not for the DLSD screen from your 1,67GHz, right? (Because they are not compatible).
Correct, the DLSD has nothing wrong with it's LCD.

Here…
 

eyoungren

macrumors Penryn
Original poster
Aug 31, 2011
28,794
26,885
PowerBook: Salvation!

OK, so my 17" 1.0Ghz PowerBook G4 (A1013) is alive! I am typing this on it.

Swap out of the logicboard took about 30 minutes and was even easier than I thought. My only hitch was getting the old logicboard out. Ended up ripping the graphic chip right out of the socket.

Here's the old (dead) logicboard and a pic of the Mac in operation.

Nice to have my old customized Mac back. Now I just need to relearn everything!
 

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Altemose

macrumors G3
Mar 26, 2013
9,189
487
Elkton, Maryland
OK, so my 17" 1.0Ghz PowerBook G4 (A1013) is alive! I am typing this on it.

Swap out of the logicboard took about 30 minutes and was even easier than I thought. My only hitch was getting the old logicboard out. Ended up ripping the graphic chip right out of the socket.

Here's the old (dead) logicboard and a pic of the Mac in operation.

Nice to have my old customized Mac back. Now I just need to relearn everything!


Glad to hear you got it running!
 

SimonUK5

macrumors 6502
Nov 26, 2010
476
7
Pretty crazy how modified your OS X is running, is it not quicker running stock? Unless in the process of changing it all you strip out the animations and everything else that is a RAM hog.

Love it, really want to get a 17'' Powerbook for my studio i'm building in a month or two, they make great ProTools rigs.
 

eyoungren

macrumors Penryn
Original poster
Aug 31, 2011
28,794
26,885
Glad to hear you got it running!
Me too!

I was sure I had put everything back together right, but you never know if that's true until you press the power button. That chime is the best thing to hear.

----------

Pretty crazy how modified your OS X is running, is it not quicker running stock? Unless in the process of changing it all you strip out the animations and everything else that is a RAM hog.

Love it, really want to get a 17'' Powerbook for my studio i'm building in a month or two, they make great ProTools rigs.
Well, it's just a combination of things really. AquaDock's ML theme, plus an icon pack, plus BlackMac OS X (a CandyBar theme) and a dock I picked up from deviant art.

On my desktop I use a combination of GeekTool and Yahoo Widgets (which still work).

The OS itself has just had the standard customization. Animations disbled, Spotlight disabled, etc. Most of that stuff was because my Mac had a failed external cache with the old logicboard. In any case, I suppose you are right. But I've been working with this Mac since late 2009, always trying to improve it. It does run faster than stock, but only because of the tweaks I've made here and there. Again, all standard stuff.

Technically, you could say it's not the original Mac. Except for a few parts and the case, about 75% of it is not the parts I got in 2009.

But, just like Altemose took offense at iBook G3s being referred to as useless, I took offense at the seller's statement in 2009 that this Mac was on it's last legs. Personal crusade to keep it running I guess. By now, I've paid more than double in replacement parts than it cost me to get it originally! :D
 

Altemose

macrumors G3
Mar 26, 2013
9,189
487
Elkton, Maryland
Me too!

I was sure I had put everything back together right, but you never know if that's true until you press the power button. That chime is the best thing to hear.

----------


Well, it's just a combination of things really. AquaDock's ML theme, plus an icon pack, plus BlackMac OS X (a CandyBar theme) and a dock I picked up from deviant art.

On my desktop I use a combination of GeekTool and Yahoo Widgets (which still work).

The OS itself has just had the standard customization. Animations disbled, Spotlight disabled, etc. Most of that stuff was because my Mac had a failed external cache with the old logicboard. In any case, I suppose you are right. But I've been working with this Mac since late 2009, always trying to improve it. It does run faster than stock, but only because of the tweaks I've made here and there. Again, all standard stuff.

Technically, you could say it's not the original Mac. Except for a few parts and the case, about 75% of it is not the parts I got in 2009.

But, just like Altemose took offense at iBook G3s being referred to as useless, I took offense at the seller's statement in 2009 that this Mac was on it's last legs. Personal crusade to keep it running I guess. By now, I've paid more than double in replacement parts than it cost me to get it originally! :D


But the fun was worth every penny right?
 

eyoungren

macrumors Penryn
Original poster
Aug 31, 2011
28,794
26,885
But the fun was worth every penny right?
It was fun learning, I can say that.

When I ripped the graphic chip off the logicboard it was stuck to the heatsink. So, this is where a hair dryer came in handy!

Fortunately, I had a good amount of Arctic Silver and cleaning compound left from when I redid the QS CPUs. The 17" was surprising. The CPU, video card and one other chip are actually upside down and flat against this hollow metal bar. There are three squares where the chips meet the bar and the bar has holes in it that allow the hot air to escape.

Quite a different design then the heatsink I dealt with on my wife's 12" PB. I've never been inside a 15" Albook, so I don't know if it's like the 12 or 17". In any case, a neat design and very simple on the 17.
 

Altemose

macrumors G3
Mar 26, 2013
9,189
487
Elkton, Maryland
It was fun learning, I can say that.

When I ripped the graphic chip off the logicboard it was stuck to the heatsink. So, this is where a hair dryer came in handy!

Fortunately, I had a good amount of Arctic Silver and cleaning compound left from when I redid the QS CPUs. The 17" was surprising. The CPU, video card and one other chip are actually upside down and flat against this hollow metal bar. There are three squares where the chips meet the bar and the bar has holes in it that allow the hot air to escape.

Quite a different design then the heatsink I dealt with on my wife's 12" PB. I've never been inside a 15" Albook, so I don't know if it's like the 12 or 17". In any case, a neat design and very simple on the 17.


I hate repasting any parts. In fact that's my least favorite part of any repair!
 

jrsx

macrumors 65816
Nov 2, 2013
1,057
18
Tacoma, Washington
I just pulled my 12" PB apart last night... it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, but I did strip a screw or two in the process! The screws were in inconceivably tight. It had never been taken apart before.
ZX3iO5FZ3KJX_WV2YOJQ3KBnFG_ihkIlEL6oqrkEOG0=w702-h395
 

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Altemose

macrumors G3
Mar 26, 2013
9,189
487
Elkton, Maryland
I just pulled my 12" PB apart last night... it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, but I did strip a screw or two in the process! The screws were in inconceivably tight. It had never been taken apart before.
Image

I use a Huskey screwdriver set for all my repairs. It works wonderful except when you have a really deep screw like on a MDD's heat sink where a long screw driver without the T-style grip will fit.
 

jrsx

macrumors 65816
Nov 2, 2013
1,057
18
Tacoma, Washington
I use a Huskey screwdriver set for all my repairs. It works wonderful except when you have a really deep screw like on a MDD's heat sink where a long screw driver without the T-style grip will fit.

One of the stripped screws was a hex/allen screw, and it would just not budge. I was just making it worse, but eventually managed to wedge a flathead screwdriver in and used a wrench to twist the screwdriver under the screw could be pulled out. LOL, sounds crazy but it worked! :D
 

Altemose

macrumors G3
Mar 26, 2013
9,189
487
Elkton, Maryland
One of the stripped screws was a hex/allen screw, and it would just not budge. I was just making it worse, but eventually managed to wedge a flathead screwdriver in and used a wrench to twist the screwdriver under the screw could be pulled out. LOL, sounds crazy but it worked! :D

I have a PowerBook G4 1.67 here that I can't get the screw which secures the back of the LCD cover on to tighten the hinges. They are kind of loose:(
 

eyoungren

macrumors Penryn
Original poster
Aug 31, 2011
28,794
26,885
Damn! That logicboard only lasted a few months! Well, back to eBay. Look for a new logicboard post some time soon. I refuse to let this Mac die!
 

n0cus

macrumors 6502
Jul 16, 2012
340
1
Damn! That logicboard only lasted a few months! Well, back to eBay. Look for a new logicboard post some time soon. I refuse to let this Mac die!

Stay strong my friend. Why do you think your logicboards are dying? I find it kind of strange that two would die within months.
 

2984839

Cancelled
Apr 19, 2014
2,114
2,239
Stay strong my friend. Why do you think your logicboards are dying? I find it kind of strange that two would die within months.
It could just be a matter of the age of the part. Unfortunately, failures like this are going to be more common for PPC owners. The newest logic boards you can buy are nearly a decade old.
 

n0cus

macrumors 6502
Jul 16, 2012
340
1
It could just be a matter of the age of the part. Unfortunately, failures like this are going to be more common for PPC owners. The newest logic boards you can buy are nearly a decade old.

This is true, but even the oldest computers usually don't die randomly.
 

eyoungren

macrumors Penryn
Original poster
Aug 31, 2011
28,794
26,885
Stay strong my friend. Why do you think your logicboards are dying? I find it kind of strange that two would die within months.
Finally getting around to answering this…

Not two. The one that died the first time was the original and had been working since I bought the Mac in December 2009.

It's the replacement that only lasted a few months. It had the same cache failure the original did. So, I guess it was just a matter of time.

----------

What happened? Is it totally dead or just wonky?
No, that logicboard is totally dead. The only power indicator I get is from the plug and the CAPSLOCK key.

Nothing else happens. Stone cold dead.

----------

It could just be a matter of the age of the part. Unfortunately, failures like this are going to be more common for PPC owners. The newest logic boards you can buy are nearly a decade old.
Exactly. And this board had the same cache failure as the old one.

----------

This is true, but even the oldest computers usually don't die randomly.
I had absolutely no idea how old that board was or how hard it had been used or abused when I bought it. I still don't. It was a risk and I got a few months use out of it.

----------

Got some Christmas cash today. So, went looking for a new logicboard.

The prices of new working logicboards for the A1013 are simply unrealistic and the cheap ones are either not working or "as is".

So…I found this. A working unit (bad LCD).

We shall see. I've got options now as both these Macs can probably be combined to get me a Mac with a good bottom pan and a good top case.

The Mac chimes, which is all important because it means it's posting.

I'll update when the Mac gets here and I figure out what I'm gonna do.

*MODS: Not my auction! I am not selling, merely linking to an item I bought!*
 

eyoungren

macrumors Penryn
Original poster
Aug 31, 2011
28,794
26,885
Good luck, I hope it works out for you.
Thanks!

It's just going to be deciding what goes where.

The "new" Mac has a bad LCD (cracked) and the lid won't close. That's no big deal as the issue with my current Mac is just the logicboard.

So it's going to come down to, what parts looks the best. The keyboard on the new Mac seems to have more wear than the keyboard on my old one. So, that suggests I will be using the top case on my old one, unless the top case on the new one is better, in which case I will be transplanting a keyboard.

If the bottom case on the new Mac is better than the one on the old Mac (it might be, the old one has a dent on the bottom around the PC card area) then I may be looking at an LCD transplant and NOT a logicboard transplant.

Guess we will see. Either way though, I've now got parts to give one way or the other.
 

eyoungren

macrumors Penryn
Original poster
Aug 31, 2011
28,794
26,885
Well…

I checked the mailbox at 3:30pm today and the Mac was here. Got it home, and powered it on. Came right up but because of no hard drive and a cracked screen nothing was happening.

So, I decided this would become a LCD replacement.

The new Mac was missing screws and after replacing the LCD and putting my HD in I discovered that there are a few screws I cannot put back in. The bottom of the Mac seems to be bowed so that it's difficult to close the lid.

Not a big deal for me right now, but because the Mac is old, guess what happens? The trackpad connector comes off the logicboard!

After grabbing a spare keyboard and futzing I got it to boot so I'm guessing this was an issue already. I will see if I can work with it. But the Mac is alive – again. Although I guess I can't really call it the "same" Mac now.

I seem to have cache now though, which is cool! For the moment though I will be operating with a keyboard and mouse.
 

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Altemose

macrumors G3
Mar 26, 2013
9,189
487
Elkton, Maryland
Well…

I checked the mailbox at 3:30pm today and the Mac was here. Got it home, and powered it on. Came right up but because of no hard drive and a cracked screen nothing was happening.

So, I decided this would become a LCD replacement.

The new Mac was missing screws and after replacing the LCD and putting my HD in I discovered that there are a few screws I cannot put back in. The bottom of the Mac seems to be bowed so that it's difficult to close the lid.

Not a big deal for me right now, but because the Mac is old, guess what happens? The trackpad connector comes off the logicboard!

After grabbing a spare keyboard and futzing I got it to boot so I'm guessing this was an issue already. I will see if I can work with it. But the Mac is alive – again. Although I guess I can't really call it the "same" Mac now.

I seem to have cache now though, which is cool! For the moment though I will be operating with a keyboard and mouse.


Not bad! That top case has a fair share of wear showing this Mac has been loved for years! Good job on the repairs!
 

eyoungren

macrumors Penryn
Original poster
Aug 31, 2011
28,794
26,885
Not bad! That top case has a fair share of wear showing this Mac has been loved for years! Good job on the repairs!
LOL! Actually, that's my top case! The one hat came with the unit was beat to hell and had missing keys so I used my old one.

Going to mess with this thing tomorrow and see if I can't get the trackpad to work again.
 
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