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Keepin' it going…

eyoungren

eyoungren

macrumors Nehalem
Original poster
Aug 31, 2011
30,404
30,173
Well…came home tonight and grabbed my PowerBook. Opened it and nothing. That's happened before so I futzed with it because I didn't want to force shut it down and then start it back up again if I could get the screensaver login screen to come back up. No go.

So rebooted it. Went to put a disk in and the drive won't take the disk. No noises, nothing. Mechanically I can only get this disk in so far and it stops, like something is preventing it from going in farther.

So, tried a reset of the drive (hold down mouse and boot, release at the login screen). No noises, same issue. It's made mechanical sounds before and I've had this Mac since 2009 so I figure the drive has died.

Found one on eBay for $13.12 with free shipping! I love eBay!

So for this Mac that now makes…
1 LCVD cable.
1 Sound ribbon cable (like an idiot I ripped the socket off the cable!
1 LCD
4 DC Inverter boards
1 Sound board
1 complete set of case screws (the Mac came without most of the case screws)
1 set of rubber feet

I'm keeping her alive as a point of pride because the seller declared she was on her "last legs" when I bought her four years ago. I'll be damned if this Mac is going to die on me! :D

On another note, I think I'm on borrowed time with my 1.67Ghz PowerBook. Think the logiboard is going to go soon. Doesn't surprise me though as I bought that Mac after it had been dropped.
 
eyoungren said:
So for this Mac that now makes…
1 LCVD cable.
1 Sound ribbon cable (like an idiot I ripped the socket off the cable!
1 LCD
4 DC Inverter boards
1 Sound board
1 complete set of case screws (the Mac came without most of the case screws)
1 set of rubber feet

I'm keeping her alive as a point of pride because the seller declared she was on her "last legs" when I bought her four years ago. I'll be damned if this Mac is going to die on me! :D...
Click to expand...

Probably a philosophical question, but at what point does it actually become a different Mac? Let's say that over time, you eventually replace everything but the keyboard. Is it still the same Mac? If not, at what point did that change?
 
Swampus said:
Probably a philosophical question, but at what point does it actually become a different Mac? Let's say that over time, you eventually replace everything but the keyboard. Is it still the same Mac? If not, at what point did that change?
Click to expand...
I hear you. The answer to your question for me would be the logicboard.

I can replace everything around that, but once the logicboard goes, it's a new Mac. To me at least.

Honestly, most people would have given up on this Mac when it needed a new LCD. But it was a point of pride for me, finding low cost parts and keeping it going. Someday, the logicboard will go. But not today! :D
 
My previous post probably would have been a good place to insert a winkyface emoticon to let you know that I'm being silly. Sorry. I forget to do that sometimes. ;)

I've got one that I've kept going for a while too. As you know, some are just worth it.
 
Swampus said:
My previous post probably would have been a good place to insert a winkyface emoticon to let you know that I'm being silly. Sorry. I forget to do that sometimes. ;)

I've got one that I've kept going for a while too. As you know, some are just worth it.
Click to expand...
LOL! ;)

Yeah, this one is worth it to me because it was the very first Mac I ever saw and actually WANTED!

Back in 2003 when the first 17" PowerBooks came out I was just a casual Mac user because my job used Macs. But when I saw the 17" I started drooling. One guy at school had one and it looked even better in person. So, when I found this Mac on eBay it was a realization of all of that.

As long as I can keep her alive it's a great satisfaction to me. :)
 
Also, the task itself can actually be a bit of a joy. I get just as much satisfaction maintaining my old G4 as I do maintaining my 23 year old NA Miata. They're just things that I really like.

Edit: Funny that we both used the word "satisfaction" when posting at the same time.
 
Well, cars and I are a different story, lol! But, yeah, I seriously enjoy working on the inside of these Macs and making "broken" things work again.

Hearing that chime and seeing the Apple logo come up after your hard work is one of the more gratifying things I've experienced.

----------
Swampus said:
Edit: Funny that we both used the word "satisfaction" when posting at the same time.
Click to expand...
Just means we see things the same way! :)
 
I was in a similar situation last year with my PB. The hard drive had been making noises so I figured it was going. Well, it was, but amazingly the logic board decided to die at the same time. I know this because I tried multiple drives and also tried booting another Mac from the bad drive.

Anyway, I hear you on the pride aspect. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing because I had never worked on a Mac but after much frustration and anguish I brought her back to life! I've owned this machine 9 years and I still love the thing.
 
Could not agree more!

The first time I saw a 15" PB G4, I was working the tech bench at CompUSA. One of the 2 "macheads" there brought his in every night for his personal stuffs. I drooled over that rig. And went home every night to my ThinkPad T23. I wanted a computer like that so bad I could taste it! I have now had mine for almost 3 years, and I love this computer! I have had to replace the battery, HD, Ram and really, that is about it. So I think I have been lucky so far.
I need to have a go at sourcing some more ram to see it if it is either a bad ram bank (as these sometimes suffer) or crappy ram that I bought. But to be honest? With 1GB of ram installed and 10.4.11, she really does all that I ask of her. But getting to 2 gig and 10.5.8 would be pretty freakin shweet! Keep it up man!

~Drake
 
There's just something there that is more than the sum of it's parts. Unlike the Intel Macs.
 
eyoungren said:
There's just something there that is more than the sum of it's parts. Unlike the Intel Macs.
Click to expand...

Heh. It seems that some Intel Macs may actually be less than the sum of their parts. There are some epic 100+ page threads on the Apple forums spanning more than a year dedicated to discussion about how to disable the discreet GPU in order to get their machines to work at all. They're talking about the 2011 model with the AMD chips. Each day brings several new people starting to experience these problems. It's starting to look like the Nvidia fiasco from a few years back.

The only Intel Mac that I really like is the Mac Pro. The classic one, not the new one. I have an old one that I might try to upgrade. Or maybe get a refurbished 12 core from Apple next year. They really are pretty nice. But that will probably be my last Mac unless Apple changes direction. I really don't like this new philosophy of non-serviceable disposable products. I can't imagine owning a computer that I would have to open with a heatgun! Or maybe I'm just getting old and these damn kids need to get off my lawn! ;)

I'm glad that I've got some of the best things they've ever made.
 
eyoungren said:
There's just something there that is more than the sum of it's parts. Unlike the Intel Macs.
Click to expand...

I completely agree. Multiple times I've tried & tried to move on to Intel MacBooks as it's a straight up logical option to me - especially given the price of these older MBPs now. But be it a newer unibody model or even the near idential '06 MacBook Pro's, they just don't have that personality or character that the PowerBooks have - even the early MBP's. They just seem 'cold'. And for that reason & that reason alone I keep on crawling back to these incredible little machines. My little guy goes everywhere with me on a daily basis & chugs through anything I throw at him.
 
I'm on my way doing much the same thing to my 17". Now it's going it's either a fuse on the board or an LCD.
 
Good to see I'm in company that sees things much the same way I do. As long as there are parts available I plan to keep fixing my Macs, provided I can get those parts at a good price of course! :D
 
Because I'm a "genius" I let my Mac fall off my desk a few months ago. (pre time-out)

DC Board--8.99 BIN ebay
Superdrive--68.00 BIN for BluRay ROM ebay
Bluetooth module--3.99--BIN ebay
HD--I have them in great quantity
DVS Cable --18.00 BIN ebay
Matte screen bezel--35.00 BIN ebay
and now the screen issue--100-600 ebay


17" MBP irreplaceable and priceless


The cool part is if it's a screen I can make the change to matte..


While my 17" not PowerPC it is C2d and would be considered "low end" and "unbearable" by most new Mac users because it'll take them an extra 15 min to render the sick youtube video. :rolleyes:
 
GermanyChris said:
Because I'm a "genius" I let my Mac fall off my desk a few months ago. (pre time-out)

DC Board--8.99 BIN ebay
Superdrive--68.00 BIN for BluRay ROM ebay
Bluetooth module--3.99--BIN ebay
HD--I have them in great quantity
DVS Cable --18.00 BIN ebay
Matte screen bezel--35.00 BIN ebay
and now the screen issue--100-600 ebay


17" MBP irreplaceable and priceless


The cool part is if it's a screen I can make the change to matte..


While my 17" not PowerPC it is C2d and would be considered "low end" and "unbearable" by most new Mac users because it'll take them an extra 15 min to render the sick youtube video. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

You're banned man and I dunno why but you speak the truth. The MacBook Pro section is decidedly not pro.
 
Yay Me – NOT!

So…got the drive today. I know it works because it took my disk. But, stupid me!

Ripped part of the socket off the ribbon cable for the optical drive connector when I tried to pry it off. I had hoped it was cosmetic, but nope, the Mac does not see the drive at all.

Back to eBay! Hopefully a new cable won't cost me that much.
 
Got the flex cable today and put it in. Drive works perfect now and everything is back to normal.

Move along folks, nothing new to read here! :D
 
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