What started out as a 'your mama is slower than my mama' PowerBook G4 867MHz with 512MB of RAM, broken hinges, bent bottom plate, and tired battery, is now a PowerBook G4 1GHz with a whopping 1 GB of RAM and hinges tougher than a Russian grand ma-ma. Here is the story.
Recently, another forum user, @eyoungren, purchased his son an Aluminum PowerBook G4. Before this purchase, his son used a 1GHz TiBook, which Erik commonly said, it was a 'rocket mac'
. This was quite special. Before this, I believe either the hinges or the screen broke on the 1GHz. And even before this, Erik owned a 400MHz (which I now have a selection of the parts) that literally deteriorated, (erik, do you still have that pic with the binder clip?) and broke, except the hinges, those, for whatever reason, broke before the 'strong, titanium' frame did. Armed with a 400MHz (low-res, with the Garamond font) Erik installed that screen onto the 1GHz (if any of this is wrong, please correct me. Thus, inducting FrankenBook ver 1.0.
This Mac has presumably worked well for a bit, until the DC board decided to go on benefits, and cause all sorts of issues with the PowerBook, which was what prompted Erik to get the AlumBook. Me and Erik struck a deal, which involved him FedExing me a box containing the PowerBook and various parts from other failed experiments caused my Apple's failure to make a decently strong, thin, laptop in 2003.
I've received the box, and set out to work. I removed the screens and boards from both laptops. I used a heat gun to remove the 'Terminator' hinges from the 400MHz screen (sadly damaging the polarizer, oops) and installed them on the 867MHz screen. I swapped logic boards, and carefully began reassembling the laptop. Thus, inducting FrankenBook ver 2.0, the prequel, into the world. Some say the original is better
On first boot, I noticed the L3 Cache wasn't present, bummer. @LightBulbFun did a lot of impromptu troubleshooting to help determine the issue, which turned out to just be a failure of the cache. However, I was told, since the L3 cache is BGA soldered to the Logic Board, it may be as simple as reflowing. The case was very dusty inside, no doubt a side-effect of living in Arizona.
Lastly, since I violated the glue with a heat gun, the hinge no longer sticks to the sides, causing it to pivot and push the bezel out. I need to get some JB-Weld SteelStik to remedy this. I'd use hot glue, but that isn't a lasting solution. Maybe Apple should have used JB-Weld instead of Titanium.
Right now, this laptop is rocking a 128GB SSD, 1GB of RAM, and 10.5.8. With the package, I also received a very nice battery, along with a Belkin card compatible with OS X. The lack of L3 cache does show occasionally, but it feels very snappy over all, but that might be the RAM. Some might ask why, I ask, why not.
Recently, another forum user, @eyoungren, purchased his son an Aluminum PowerBook G4. Before this purchase, his son used a 1GHz TiBook, which Erik commonly said, it was a 'rocket mac'
. This was quite special. Before this, I believe either the hinges or the screen broke on the 1GHz. And even before this, Erik owned a 400MHz (which I now have a selection of the parts) that literally deteriorated, (erik, do you still have that pic with the binder clip?) and broke, except the hinges, those, for whatever reason, broke before the 'strong, titanium' frame did. Armed with a 400MHz (low-res, with the Garamond font) Erik installed that screen onto the 1GHz (if any of this is wrong, please correct me. Thus, inducting FrankenBook ver 1.0. This Mac has presumably worked well for a bit, until the DC board decided to go on benefits, and cause all sorts of issues with the PowerBook, which was what prompted Erik to get the AlumBook. Me and Erik struck a deal, which involved him FedExing me a box containing the PowerBook and various parts from other failed experiments caused my Apple's failure to make a decently strong, thin, laptop in 2003.
I've received the box, and set out to work. I removed the screens and boards from both laptops. I used a heat gun to remove the 'Terminator' hinges from the 400MHz screen (sadly damaging the polarizer, oops) and installed them on the 867MHz screen. I swapped logic boards, and carefully began reassembling the laptop. Thus, inducting FrankenBook ver 2.0, the prequel, into the world. Some say the original is better
On first boot, I noticed the L3 Cache wasn't present, bummer. @LightBulbFun did a lot of impromptu troubleshooting to help determine the issue, which turned out to just be a failure of the cache. However, I was told, since the L3 cache is BGA soldered to the Logic Board, it may be as simple as reflowing. The case was very dusty inside, no doubt a side-effect of living in Arizona.
Lastly, since I violated the glue with a heat gun, the hinge no longer sticks to the sides, causing it to pivot and push the bezel out. I need to get some JB-Weld SteelStik to remedy this. I'd use hot glue, but that isn't a lasting solution. Maybe Apple should have used JB-Weld instead of Titanium.
Right now, this laptop is rocking a 128GB SSD, 1GB of RAM, and 10.5.8. With the package, I also received a very nice battery, along with a Belkin card compatible with OS X. The lack of L3 cache does show occasionally, but it feels very snappy over all, but that might be the RAM. Some might ask why, I ask, why not.
