Another nice PPC specimen

[CooperBox]

Already with an excellent example of G4 PowerBook 15" and 17", I started looking around for a 12", but particularly wanted an A1104 1.5GHz model, the last of the breed in that particular size.
And one fell into my lap sooner than I imagined. And great condition too. Seen here perched on a newly acquired G4 iMac.

With my inspector Clouseau hat on, as soon as the package was unwrapped I began wondering if the previous owner was a smoker, and if so probably left-handed too.
Staining on the l/h shift and Apple Command keys - very likely caused by nicotine-stained fingers.



I tried to remove the blemishes with a damp cloth and detergent, but no joy. Whatever stained them was pretty toxic and had removed the coating. They will be changed as soon as I can find replacements.
The computer performed fine, as expected for this top-of the range model, but I'd noted that the fan was not as quiet as I'd expected. Seeing some tell-tale signs on the exhaust outlet almost confirmed my doubts that there was some internal contamination that needed some fairly urgent attention.



And diving well inside, indeed firmly confirmed contamination of the fan exhaust.



Cleaning is now under way, with additional comments to follow.
[doublepost=1489531643][/doublepost]Here's after an in-situ cleaning. Quite an improvement:

I wasn't planning to strip any further, but will if really necessary.
Can anyone please advise me how to get access to put one drop of oil on the fan spindle. If I remove the black sticker over the top of the fan with a blade, will that provide access to the top of the fan spindle? Or must it be done from underneath after removal of the fan assy and motherboard?

 

[jbarley]

Nice find, but I must say that your "newly acquired G4 iMac" sure looks a lot different then the one I just acquired.

 

[bobesch]

Already with an excellent example of G4 PowerBook 15" and 17", I started looking around for a 12", but particularly wanted an A1104 1.5GHz model, the last of the breed in that particular size.
And one fell into my lap sooner than I imagined. And great condition too. Seen here perched on a newly acquired G4 iMac.

View attachment 692285

With my inspector Clouseau hat on, as soon as the package was unwrapped I began wondering if the previous owner was a smoker, and if so probably left-handed too.
Staining on the l/h shift and Apple Command keys - very likely caused by nicotine-stained fingers.

View attachment 692286

I tried to remove the blemishes with a damp cloth and detergent, but no joy. Whatever stained them was pretty toxic and had removed the coating. They will be changed as soon as I can find replacements.
The computer performed fine, as expected for this top-of the range model, but I'd noted that the fan was not as quiet as I'd expected. Seeing some tell-tale signs on the exhaust outlet almost confirmed my doubts that there was some internal contamination that needed some fairly urgent attention.

View attachment 692287

And diving well inside, indeed firmly confirmed contamination of the fan exhaust.

View attachment 692289

Cleaning is now under way, with additional comments to follow.
[doublepost=1489531643][/doublepost]Here's after an in-situ cleaning. Quite an improvement:


View attachment 692298

I wasn't planning to strip any further, but will if really necessary.
Can anyone please advise me how to get access to put one drop of oil on the fan spindle. If I remove the black sticker over the top of the fan with a blade, will that provide access to the top of the fan spindle? Or must it be done from underneath after removal of the fan assy and motherboard?

Oh, you also had the misfortune of breaking one of the screws, that fix the heatsink, off the logic-board.
As a complete novice about prober soldering I was happy that my fellow neighbor did fix it for me.
I'd recommend G4FanControl to reduce overall fan activity to a minimum, so you're not bothered too much.
And - looking at the pictures - you really did a perfect spring clean!
I'd like to hear more about if and where oil is a remedy to sort out any fan-noise.

The 12"PB is my favorite PPC and daily companion. I've upgraded to an mSATA & converter and a gorgeous
Snoopy&Woodstock-Campfire-Sticker. With iPhone, VirtualPC7/WinFundamentals I'm able to connect to my Win2008-office server. It's my favorite fax-machine to send serial-fax. With TaskPaper, Dropbox, iPhone it's my peripheral brain and saved my ass, which tends to be somehow unorganized. And iPhone/iFiles-App combined with the PB's local hotspot connects the PB to nearly everything (a combination with nearly no limits...)

Have a lot of fun!

 

[1042686]

I dont know about this particular model powerbook, but in my older MDD & QS PMg4 desktops, I used a long lasting PTFE lubricant (NOT oil) to lubricate the center spindle (reduce noise) of all the aging 12-17 year old case fans. In these desktop machines, the access was indeed under the sticker.

After the fan was clean, I (very, very carefully) lifted the sticker 3/4 of the way off (used a straight razor to get up and under the sticker's edge) and laid a few drops of PTFE on top of the spindle which took about 40 seconds to a minute to soak in. I did this a couple of times. In all instances, the sticker had enough stickiness remain to just stick it back down without issue.

 

[CooperBox]

Oh, you also had the misfortune of breaking one of the screws, that fix the heatsink, off the logic-board.
As a complete novice about prober soldering I was happy that my fellow neighbor did fix it for me.
I'd recommend G4FanControl to reduce overall fan activity to a minimum, so you're not bothered too much.
And - looking at the pictures - you really did a perfect spring clean!
I'd like to hear more about if and where oil is a remedy to sort out any fan-noise.

The 12"PB is my favorite PPC and daily companion. I've upgraded to an mSATA & converter and a gorgeous
Snoopy&Woodstock-Campfire-Sticker. With iPhone, VirtualPC7/WinFundamentals I'm able to connect to my Win2008-office server. It's my favorite fax-machine to send serial-fax. With TaskPaper, Dropbox, iPhone it's my peripheral brain and saved my ass, which tends to be somehow unorganized. And iPhone/iFiles-App combined with the PB's local hotspot connects the PB to nearly everything (a combination with nearly no limits...)

Have a lot of fun!

That was pretty 'eagle-eyed' to notice the missing heatsink retaining post.
During tear-down of the Powerbook, one of the retaining screws was removed with ease, but the other more troublesome, which resulted in the post coming away. AND I'd read your cautionary note in post #14 about this in another recent thread.
After a thorough clean of both components, I've now re-attached the post using a small drop of Araldite. So I'm certainly "having fun" - as you suggested.
Next task is an attempt at a drop of oil to the fan spindle. There are a number of reviews about how to go about this. Here is one such illustrated review:
http://www.techrepublic.com/article/quiet-noisy-computer-fans-with-a-drop-of-oil/

 

[1042686]

That was pretty 'eagle-eyed' to notice the missing heatsink retaining post.
During tear-down of the Powerbook, one of the retaining screws was removed with ease, but the other more troublesome, which resulted in the post coming away. AND I'd read your cautionary note in post #14 about this in another recent thread.
After a thorough clean of both components, I've now re-attached the post using a small drop of Araldite. So I'm certainly "having fun" - as you suggested.
Next task is an attempt at a drop of oil to the fan spindle. There are a number of reviews about how to go about this. Here is one such illustrated review:
http://www.techrepublic.com/article/quiet-noisy-computer-fans-with-a-drop-of-oil/

If you already have a thin oil on hand then I would use it (use whatcha got, right?) but if you are preparing to purchase a lubricant, I would highly recommend a thin "teflon" lube or PTFE lubricant as it provides long lasting lubrication and corrosion/breakdown protection under extreme temperature, pressure and motion. In other words, the stuff is made for case fan bearings

3in1 makes the kind I like (multi-purpose PTFE lubricant). Then again, I have no idea if that is available in France. Anyhow, best of luck to you

 

[CooperBox]

Nice find, but I must say that your "newly acquired G4 iMac" sure looks a lot different then the one I just acquired.

Just re-read this, and 'Ouch' - I hadn't seen the significance first time around. Of course, my bad, it's an iBook! A review of that new purchase to follow.
[doublepost=1489653766][/doublepost]

If you already have a thin oil on hand then I would use it (use whatcha got, right?) but if you are preparing to purchase a lubricant, I would highly recommend a thin "teflon" lube or PTFE lubricant as it provides long lasting lubrication and corrosion/breakdown protection under extreme temperature, pressure and motion. In other words, the stuff is made for case fan bearings

3in1 makes the kind I like (multi-purpose PTFE lubricant). Then again, I have no idea if that is available in France. Anyhow, best of luck to you

After removing the black sticker from top of fan, I see there's no rubber plug to access a 'well' - as there is on an iMac G4 and some other fans. So after re-applying the sticker I left things as they were.
Yes, I've seen 3in1 PTFE lube here, and will get a can. Could come in handy for other tasks.

 

[MacCubed]

Just re-read this, and 'Ouch' - I hadn't seen the significance first time around. Of course, my bad, it's an iBook! A review of that new purchase to follow.
[doublepost=1489653766][/doublepost]

After removing the black sticker from top of fan, I see there's no rubber plug to access a 'well' - as there is on an iMac G4 and some other fans. So after re-applying the sticker I left things as they were.
Yes, I've seen 3in1 PTFE lube here, and will get a can. Could come in handy for other tasks.

If I'm not mistaken, @128keaton had a similar issue with his fan on his 12"