Help my iBook get whole again! [help with trackpad and optical drive]

[ravenvii]

Well, I got an iBook. Except it's in like, 50 pieces. Has marker markings all over it and sticky stuff.

Today, I got around to getting it back together. With the help of iFixIt and Mr. Clean's Magic Eraser, I got it to a very decent looking shape. So I plugged in the power adapter, crossed my fingers and hit the power button.

And to my sheer shock, it worked! Started up in Mac OS 9.1! Amazing!

But there's now only two things wrong with it. The trackpad and the optical drive.

The easy one first; the trackpad. I think it's because I connected it wrong. How do you connect the trackpad? I can't figure it out.

And now the hard one... the optical drive. It wouldn't open. I think it's jammed. Any way I can open it and test it or something without taking it all back apart *cringe*?

 

[SnowBunny]

What model of iBook is it?

 

[ravenvii]

What model of iBook is it?

Oh oops, I was so excited I forgot to mention what kind!

It's a 500 MHz G3 iBook.

I managed to open the optical drive. It's b0rked all right. Maybe I'll treat the iBook like an MacBook Air! Just gotta get myself a firewire cable so I can boot it in target disk mode so I can install OS X on it.

Still gotta get that trackpad fixed though...

 

[alphaod]

So why was it in pieces in the first place?

 

[ravenvii]

So why was it in pieces in the first place?

Dunno. I bought it as is for $30. I think the guy took it apart to put in a new harddrive, but never bothered to put it back together.

 

[Auzburner]

Thats not a bad price, those things were great machines. Wish I bough one a couple years ago... My MacBook will do for now.

 

[ravenvii]

I just took the little guy to the Genius Bar at the Apple Store, and the guy there got the connector in correctly. The trackpad works perfectly now!

Now I just gotta up the RAM and add an AirPort, and it'll be a very functional notebook! (Sane the optical drive )