I was looking in system profiler and I saw my iBook has no serial number. Why would that be?
Here's the product info section of the profiler:
Here's the product info section of the profiler:
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No Serial Number on iBook G3
- Thread starter RogerWilco6502
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According to my somewhat faded memory the serial number is inside the battery compartment on the machine itself. Alternatively in the Apple Menu there is a line in About this Macintosh, I can't remember which but if you double click on it it should display the S/N (I think its the "Version Number" second or fourth line). Lastly try under the keyboard.
Likely had the board replaced at some point. When Apple sent replacement logic boards to repair centers, they have no serial number. The original serial needs to be flashed to the board. Looks like someone forgot to do that. Your serial number is under the keyboard.
One (likely) possibility:
The logic board has been replaced. (Highly likely on almost any iBook G3. I remember reading at the time that maybe 75% of iBook G3 would need replacement. Not sure how accurate that turned out, but I replaced a bunch, probably 30 or more in the little shop where I worked when the iBook G3 was current.)
And, the replacement logic board never had the serial number installed (which uses the "Serializer" utility provided to Apple service.)
Don't think you can add the serial number after the logic board is put into use.
Rodan52 post is accurate, of course, but simply tells you what the serial number should be. If there is no serial number burned to the ROM on the logic board, then you will see what you see now, -0000, or simply blank...
The logic board has been replaced. (Highly likely on almost any iBook G3. I remember reading at the time that maybe 75% of iBook G3 would need replacement. Not sure how accurate that turned out, but I replaced a bunch, probably 30 or more in the little shop where I worked when the iBook G3 was current.)
And, the replacement logic board never had the serial number installed (which uses the "Serializer" utility provided to Apple service.)
Don't think you can add the serial number after the logic board is put into use.
Rodan52 post is accurate, of course, but simply tells you what the serial number should be. If there is no serial number burned to the ROM on the logic board, then you will see what you see now, -0000, or simply blank...
Very interesting to here about your experiences at the time. How did the clamshell hold up in comparison out of curiosity?
in my experience (and if my memory is still any good!) - the clamshell iBook didn't have anything like the wide-reaching logic board problems of the later white iBook G3. I remember two service issues on those clamshell models: The hard drive was a clunky little thing, 3 GB (?), and an adventure to replace that hard drive. I thought of those models as very much like those wooden peg puzzles that I used to play with when I was a kid - all the screws were different lengths, going in to holes that you couldn't determine the depths of the holes easily. Miss one screw, and you might often have to take all of them out, and start over. And the DC-in board seemed pretty fragile, as I replaced quite a few of those.
Yea I’ve heard it’s 40 screws to replace the HDD! I’ll still take that over a glued together monstrosity of modern Apple but I do not look forward to replacing the 3GB 20 year old HDD with anything else.
Same on my iBook. It's probably not as agregious on mine, and 10GB is better than 3GB, but but it isn't a lot when you deal with DV for youtube video filming like I do and I am not looking forward to disassembly.