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clh333

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 9, 2020
5
1
NE Ohio
Hello all! New member today posting with a question about my IMac G5 iSight machine, running OS 10.4.11, "Tiger". I purchased this machine used about a year ago and have been using it as-is until recently when I tried to create a CD. The drive made a lot of noise, sounding like it was off-balance - and the effort failed. OS issued a dialog to that effect and ejected the disk.

I have a USB external drive that I could plug in but where's the fun in that? Why not replace the internal DVD? So I went on line and looked at various videos. With their help I got as far as getting the display off the top of the motherboard (this is not the earliest or the latest version of the machine, apparently) and now I have a DVD drive that looks like it is mounted in a black plastic snap-in tray having two tabs or "fingers at the inboard end. These snap into the aluminum carriage below (toward the back).

Only thing is: The tabs don't want to release and I don't know for sure that this is the way to disassemble. I'm hoping someone here can advise. Thanks for your replies.

-CH-
 
Thanks for the advice. I found the site, followed the advice and now have the drive removed. Would you advise taking a look at the caps while I'm in here?
 
Thanks for the advice. I found the site, followed the advice and now have the drive removed. Would you advise taking a look at the caps while I'm in here?
That's probably good advice, but that's not really anything I know too much about. Maybe someone else who deals with this sort of thing can chime in.
 
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Usualy dvd diode fail or the mounting/eject mechanism/drive belt fail over time. I presume its a laptop dvd drive so it must use solid cap (less issue). If its a matshita drive they got a lot a reliability problem. Anyway, a lot of words to say that either your drive is dead or you could clean the lens with alcohol and lub the gear with silicone grease (gel). Good luck!
 
I removed the drive, which was a Pioneer DVD RW. Code was DVR-K05PA. I found a used one on eBay and will give that a shot. If it works, great; if not, Plan B.

I also removed the logic board to take a look at the caps, which appeared OK, and to replace the PRAM battery. As long as I was at it I looked at the PSU as well; again, nothing out of place.

This is a sleek design with a lot of intricate engineering, and in that sense it is admirable. But from a maintenance or expand-ability point of view it leaves something to be desired.

To have to go to those lengths to change a PRAM battery must mean that Apple was counting on a lot of people returning to the Apple Store for either expensive repairs or a new machine. Add to that Apple's total abandonment of support for the PPC machines, both hardware and software, and you wind up with a less-than-warm-and-fuzzy feeling.
 
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I removed the drive, which was a Pioneer DVD RW. Code was DVR-K05PA. I found a used one on eBay and will give that a shot. If it works, great; if not, Plan B.

I also removed the logic board to take a look at the caps, which appeared OK, and to replace the PRAM battery. As long as I was at it I looked at the PSU as well; again, nothing out of place.

This is a sleek design with a lot of intricate engineering, and in that sense it is admirable. But from a maintenance or expand-ability point of view it leaves something to be desired.

To have to go to those lengths to change a PRAM battery must mean that Apple was counting on a lot of people returning to the Apple Store for either expensive repairs or a new machine. Add to that Apple's total abandonment of support for the PPC machines, both hardware and software, and you wind up with a less-than-warm-and-fuzzy feeling.
Yeah, it's around that time that Apple began moving to a limited repair model. It's one of the reasons new MBPs come with soldered on RAM and soldered on SSDs. Most people don't have the equipment to replace those parts so Apple gets your return business.

Apple is pretty much anti-right to repair now.
 
And this from the members of the "Homebrew Computer Club". My G3 desktop is easier to work on, thank goodness.
 
Yeah, it's around that time that Apple began moving to a limited repair model. It's one of the reasons new MBPs come with soldered on RAM and soldered on SSDs. Most people don't have the equipment to replace those parts so Apple gets your return business.

Apple is pretty much anti-right to repair now.

Got a Thinkpad recently and older X220...core i5, 8 GB of RAM. It is shocking, absolutely shocking how easy this is to repair and upgrade. The only real skill needed is to be able to use a screwdriver. I can put and run all three major OS's on it easily, pour water on the the keyboard (which is a pleasure to type on) and it will drain. It has a internal roll cage. A roll cage.

I've heard Lenovo is moving away from a repairable model with newer Thinkpads as well, sodering on hard drives and using non replaceable batteries. I think post Covid-19 there will be a huge shake up in the tech industry and things will not be going back to the way they were. Tensions between China and the US may force many big players like Apple and Dell to move production to the US, or more likely to a less hostile Asian work environment. Hopefully in the name of longevity they will also move back to a repairable machine model.
 
Soldered-on components make sense from a manufacturing point of view: faster and cheaper automated assembly; fewer tech support calls about "this won't work with that" 'cause there will be only one option. Plus there won't be any aftermarket products to show the world how Apple SHOULD have done it. So, yeah, it makes sense of a sort.

The problem is it turns the computer into a toaster: "There are no user-servicable parts inside". Jobs' objective of "computer as appliance" will be realized, and maybe that's okay with Apple; they already have realized that model with the iPhone and perhaps they understand how much more money they can make with that model.

I'm pretty sure somebody at Apple is envisioning a day when they abandon keyboards and CPUs entirely.
 
Got a Thinkpad recently and older X220...core i5, 8 GB of RAM. It is shocking, absolutely shocking how easy this is to repair and upgrade. The only real skill needed is to be able to use a screwdriver. I can put and run all three major OS's on it easily, pour water on the the keyboard (which is a pleasure to type on) and it will drain. It has a internal roll cage. A roll cage.

I've heard Lenovo is moving away from a repairable model with newer Thinkpads as well, sodering on hard drives and using non replaceable batteries. I think post Covid-19 there will be a huge shake up in the tech industry and things will not be going back to the way they were. Tensions between China and the US may force many big players like Apple and Dell to move production to the US, or more likely to a less hostile Asian work environment. Hopefully in the name of longevity they will also move back to a repairable machine model.
I would argue that production may move to the US - but it will still be Chinese companies doing the production using Chines parts exported to America.

Foxconn in Wisconsin for instance. If they ever get that plant up and running Apple can say "Made in USA". But who owns the plant? Who is managing it? Where are the parts coming from? A Chinese company and from China.

PS. There are four Thinkpads in our house. Love the design and manufacture. One is mine, one is my wife's (which has gotten her through getting her Bachelors in Education), one is my son's who uses it for his schoolwork and one (a newer model) is my daughter's, who also uses it for her schoolwork.

For 2008-2009 models, these Thinkpads are very capable.
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I'm pretty sure somebody at Apple is envisioning a day when they abandon keyboards and CPUs entirely.
I would imagine the vision is something along the lines of the 'computer' that Tom Cruise was 'using' in the movie Minority Report. Or how you see the characters in Star Trek: Picard interacting with the controls of their star ship.

Alternatively, I also see a time (as has been suggested in sci-fi) where screens are displayed on your retina and you interact with that via thought.

None of this being as far-fetched as it used to be.
 
I would argue that production may move to the US - but it will still be Chinese companies doing the production using Chines parts exported to America.

Foxconn in Wisconsin for instance. If they ever get that plant up and running Apple can say "Made in USA". But who owns the plant? Who is managing it? Where are the parts coming from? A Chinese company and from China.

PS. There are four Thinkpads in our house. Love the design and manufacture. One is mine, one is my wife's (which has gotten her through getting her Bachelors in Education), one is my son's who uses it for his schoolwork and one (a newer model) is my daughter's, who also uses it for her schoolwork.

For 2008-2009 models, these Thinkpads are very capable.
[automerge]1589130022[/automerge]

I would imagine the vision is something along the lines of the 'computer' that Tom Cruise was 'using' in the movie Minority Report. Or how you see the characters in Star Trek: Picard interacting with the controls of their star ship.

Alternatively, I also see a time (as has been suggested in sci-fi) where screens are displayed on your retina and you interact with that via thought.

None of this being as far-fetched as it used to be.

I imagine there will always be a risk with non keyboard interaction as shown in the movie "wild Hogs" when Dudley mentions "alternative specs" and 'Mac' - his voice activated laptop searches accordingly ..in a busy restaurant.
 
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