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A Tale of Two Laptops

Gamer9430

Gamer9430

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Apr 22, 2014
2,248
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USA
So I acquired two more laptops (bringing my total to 30 machines, 20 of which are macs!) yesterday from another user on here. I got a PowerBook G3 Pismo and a pre-unibody first gen MacBook Pro with a Core 2 Duo processor. As I usually do with all my machines, I clean them out. However, this is particularly going to be a challenging restoration project. The G3 on the two side panels has giant stickers of glitter that cover up the entire panels. I removed the stickers, but it's left behind extremely sticky glitter all over it

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1446809779.338724.jpg


So far I have tried to use Clorox wipes, (this is what I usually use for everything) which did nothing, a screwdriver, which has worked the best so far, and some nail polish remover, which removed a little, but made my room and the entire house stink.

The G3 is also missing an HDD which I'll supply. I have yet to test it out, let alone plug it in, so not sure if it's working yet.

The MBP doesn't need as much work, however there are some things that it definitely needs. On the outside, the machine is in really nice condition with a few dings in it here and there. Upon opening the lid, it looked pretty nice in there as well, so not much exterior work other than wiping it down. On the inside, I have to find a HDD (which I have for once), a ODD (which I have already put in), and the HDD Interface/IR/Status Light cable is missing too.

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1446810355.682928.jpg


I have yet to turn it on, mostly because I had to wait for the battery to charge with my 65w charger, and I had it charging overnight and it definitely charged up, so I'll have to test it when I get back home later.

Other than that, both computers smell like cigarettes, so I'm going to be trying a few remedies to alleviate the smell from them. For the low low price of free and $11 for shipping, I'd say I did pretty well. Once the restorations are done, I can't wait to mess around with these machines. Thanks again to the user, who I hope is reading this, for sending them to me!

Now all I need is a slightly newer pre-unibody 15in and a pre-unibody 17in and I'll be really happy, being that I love those sizes on my PBs. I'd think El Capitan would look really nice on a big 17in laptop :D
 
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Gamer9430 said:
So I acquired two more laptops (bringing my total to 30 machines, 20 of which are macs!) yesterday from another user on here. I got a PowerBook G3 Pismo and a pre-unibody first gen MacBook Pro with a Core 2 Duo processor. As I usually do with all my machines, I clean them out. However, this is particularly going to be a challenging restoration project. The G3 on the two side panels has giant stickers of glitter that cover up the entire panels. I removed the stickers, but it's left behind extremely sticky glitter all over it

View attachment 598394

So far I have tried to use Clorox wipes, (this is what I usually use for everything) which did nothing, a screwdriver, which has worked the best so far, and some nail polish remover, which removed a little, but made my room and the entire house stink.

The G3 is also missing an HDD which I'll supply. I have yet to test it out, let alone plug it in, so not sure if it's working yet.

The MBP doesn't need as much work, however there are some things that it definitely needs. On the outside, the machine is in really nice condition with a few dings in it here and there. Upon opening the lid, it looked pretty nice in there as well, so not much exterior work other than wiping it down. On the inside, I have to find a HDD (which I have for once), a ODD (which I have already put in), and the HDD Interface/IR/Status Light cable is missing too.

View attachment 598395

I have yet to turn it on, mostly because I had to wait for the battery to charge with my 65w charger, and I had it charging overnight and it definitely charged up, so I'll have to test it when I get back home later.

Other than that, both computers smell like cigarettes, so I'm going to be trying a few remedies to alleviate the smell from them. For the low low price of free and $11 for shipping, I'd say I did pretty well. Once the restorations are done, I can't wait to mess around with these machines. Thanks again to the user, who I hope is reading this, for sending them to me!

Now all I need is a slightly newer pre-unibody 15in and a pre-unibody 17in and I'll be really happy, being that I love those sizes on my PBs. I'd think El Capitan would look really nice on a big 17in laptop :D
Click to expand...
Sticky label remover should help to clear the gunk but check that it doesn't otherwise harm the surface.
 
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Depends if it's hard plastic or soft touch. Solvents and sticker remover have a nasty habit of damaging soft touch. Suspect you'll be putting some elbow grease into this one!
 
The easiest manual way would be to use gaffer tape to remove old residue but if it has in any way hardened onto the lid you will need to scrape it off very carefully
 
Acry-sol or paint prep. It's used by body shops to remove oils and residues before painting. I've used it for years and have yet to find a surface it doesn't work on. Still test it first but it works very well on adhesives. You can get it at any place that sells body shop supplies. Some auto parts stores carry it.
 
Alright so here's an update on both of them... The MacBook seems to be dead. The battery is fully charged, and upon trying To turn it on, the power button doesn't do anything, and doing an SMC reset causes the fans to run at full speed and keyboard to light up the second I put the battery and MagSafe back in. Once again the power button does nothing.

The Pismo has two lines (one red, one green), running down the screen vertically near the center. Because of that and combined with the glitter issue, I think it would just be easier for me to buy a new screen for $40 or so.

As for the MBP, I'm very crushed about it. I've wanted a pre-unibody MBP since I fell in love with all 3 sizes of PowerBook G4s that I have. So I guess that quest will continue sadly. I have no clue how to fix it, and I've asked several of my good friends from here if they could figure out what's wrong with it to no prevail.
 
Gamer9430 said:
Alright so here's an update on both of them... The MacBook seems to be dead. The battery is fully charged, and upon trying To turn it on, the power button doesn't do anything, and doing an SMC reset causes the fans to run at full speed and keyboard to light up the second I put the battery and MagSafe back in. Once again the power button does nothing.

The Pismo has two lines (one red, one green), running down the screen vertically near the center. Because of that and combined with the glitter issue, I think it would just be easier for me to buy a new screen for $40 or so.

As for the MBP, I'm very crushed about it. I've wanted a pre-unibody MBP since I fell in love with all 3 sizes of PowerBook G4s that I have. So I guess that quest will continue sadly. I have no clue how to fix it, and I've asked several of my good friends from here if they could figure out what's wrong with it to no prevail.
Click to expand...

Just realized you're a Portal fan and from central nj. I am both of those as well.
 
Gamer9430 said:
The Pismo has two lines (one red, one green), running down the screen vertically near the center. Because of that and combined with the glitter issue, I think it would just be easier for me to buy a new screen for $40 or so.

As for the MBP, I'm very crushed about it. I've wanted a pre-unibody MBP since I fell in love with all 3 sizes of PowerBook G4s that I have. So I guess that quest will continue sadly. I have no clue how to fix it, and I've asked several of my good friends from here if they could figure out what's wrong with it to no prevail.
Click to expand...

$40 is a bit much for a display unit/lid but that depends on your location, I suppose. The dead MBP is almost certainly nVidiagate. Once the graphic chip circuits break, the unit won't bong or power on but you will get charging and fans. Plenty of these dead units on eBay/Craiglist with faux-naive descriptions from the owners hoping to offload them.
 
weckart said:
$40 is a bit much for a display unit/lid but that depends on your location, I suppose. The dead MBP is almost certainly nVidiagate. Once the graphic chip circuits break, the unit won't bong or power on but you will get charging and fans. Plenty of these dead units on eBay/Craiglist with faux-naive descriptions from the owners hoping to offload them.
Click to expand...

The display is only $20, but shipping is another $20... I have to check around on different sources to see how cheap I can get one.

And that's one thing I never even though of considering about the MBP. Well I guess that's that then unless I buy a new logic board which I'm not really inclined towards doing at the prices I'm seeing...
 
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