Parts of PowerBook G4 Aluminium display missing

[paardenkapper]

My apologies for creating that many posts lately.

I had 2 PowerBook G4 Titanium - both in less than mediocre condition. The first one was just smashed and only good for parts, the second one was dirty beyond comparison and would give a boot chime but never show a picture.

My guess was that the second had a bad GPU so I took the motherboard out of the smashed one and transplanted into the dirty one.
To my joy and surprise the transplanted PowerBook G4 came to life but the lower part of the screen was just missing.

When I connected an external display through DVI it was recognized w/o problems - so it is probably not the GPU.

My guess is that some part of the display is broken, maybe the data cable?
I'd be delighted to salvage more parts from the Hulk smash PowerBook so that I can merge 2 into one. How do you assess the situation?
Also this is the screen from the smashed one:

Also: Is it possible to reflux/reball the GPU on the broken board by using a heat gun or baking oven?

Thanks in advance.

 

[mac72]

the lower right part of the screen on your last photo shows a bowed/ opened back, did you open it or did the previous owner do a repair attempt? does not look good..
check the cables for breaks
if you plan to open it, I disassembled the display of a PB G4 12" this week, I noticed that the back is glued on.. after unscrewing the lower two Torx screws I was able to get the back of by gently sticking in a guitar pick and parting it slowly.

 

[paardenkapper]

the lower right part of the screen on your last photo shows a bowed/ opened back, did you open it or did the previous owner do a repair attempt? does not look good..
check the cables for breaks
if you plan to open it, I disassembled the display of a PB G4 12" this week, I noticed that the back is glued on.. after unscrewing the lower two Torx screws I was able to get the back of by gently sticking in a guitar pick and parting it slowly.

Mind that the upper image does not show the display on the lower image - I have two - the second one is mangled.

I was just curious if anyone ever had parts of the display missing and if it could be due to a bad video cable?
The screen itself lights up and shows shadowy stuff.

 

[AphoticD]

the lower right part of the screen on your last photo shows a bowed/ opened back, did you open it or did the previous owner do a repair attempt? does not look good..
check the cables for breaks
if you plan to open it, I disassembled the display of a PB G4 12" this week, I noticed that the back is glued on.. after unscrewing the lower two Torx screws I was able to get the back of by gently sticking in a guitar pick and parting it slowly.

You’ll find on the Aluminum PowerBooks, the gray plastic display frame is glued to the top lid, but it is not necessary to break the glue.

Work that pick around the display, keeping the gray plastic frame attached to the (rear) top lid and it will simply unclip from the (front) display assembly. Note this is reversed for a 17” models as the plastic frame remains attached to the display assembly IIRC.

I was just curious if anyone ever had parts of the display missing and if it could be due to a bad video cable?

I have seen this on one of my DLSD’s. It looked like your photo, but would intermittently come and go. Replacing the LVDS didn’t resolve it in my case, so I ended up replacing the LCD panel.

 

[paardenkapper]

i have salvaged the inverter board and display cable from the mangled PowerBook. They look good at first glance and I think I will go ahead with this.

 

[eyoungren]

My money is on the LCD itself being bad. I've replaced a couple of displays on the Ti and the Alu books before and not once were my issues bad inverters or LVCD cables.

 

[paardenkapper]

My money is on the LCD itself being bad. I've replaced a couple of displays on the Ti and the Alu books before and not once were my issues bad inverters or LVCD cables.

I think you were right.
After the painstaking effort in transplanting the antenna board, LVDS cable and inverter from one display assembly to the other it booted up to the same old situation.

Well - you never know if you never try. Maybe I can find a used working screen somewhere.

 

[paardenkapper]

Just a quick update - I ordered a second hand replacement screen and just dropped it in. Works like a charm!

 

[paardenkapper]

This weekend I finally had the time to tinker around some more and unfortunately there is still one thing:
The keyboard is not fully working - three keys are absolutely dead.

Could it be the connector or the keyboard itself? I'd guess it's the keyboard otherwise there'd be a whole other dead keys, right?

 

[retta283]

This weekend I finally had the time to tinker around some more and unfortunately there is still one thing:
The keyboard is not fully working - three keys are absolutely dead.

Could it be the connector or the keyboard itself? I'd guess it's the keyboard otherwise there'd be a whole other dead keys, right?

Probably is the keyboard. It's easy for something like that to happen with these types of keyboards, whether it be liquids or debris. I seldom find these machines in the wild with every key working.

As an aside, when I first read the title of this thread I thought that it was meant that parts of the screen were physically missing, mostly because it reminded me of a time I found one of these PowerBooks that had seemingly melted and chunks of the LCD were simply gone. It was one of the craziest things I've ever seen.

 

[paardenkapper]

Probably is the keyboard. It's easy for something like that to happen with these types of keyboards, whether it be liquids or debris. I seldom find these machines in the wild with every key working.

I still have another C-cover with keyboard from the donor PowerBook but it's missing several keycaps.
Gotta try that out. Is there any way the rubber caps could be cleaned?

As an aside, when I first read the title of this thread I thought that it was meant that parts of the screen were physically missing, mostly because it reminded me of a time I found one of these PowerBooks that had seemingly melted and chunks of the LCD were simply gone. It was one of the craziest things I've ever seen.

Thank god no - how is that even possible?

 

[retta283]

I still have another C-cover with keyboard from the donor PowerBook but it's missing several keycaps.
Gotta try that out. Is there any way the rubber caps could be cleaned?

Maybe try a bit of rubbing alcohol, on a q-tip or whatever you have. I like 99% isopropyl alcohol but anything above 70% is good.

 

[weckart]

This weekend I finally had the time to tinker around some more and unfortunately there is still one thing:
The keyboard is not fully working - three keys are absolutely dead.

Could it be the connector or the keyboard itself? I'd guess it's the keyboard otherwise there'd be a whole other dead keys, right?

The good news is that you can swap out the keyboard. You aren't forced to replace the entire top lid. As long as both your Alu PB G4s are of the same generation, the keyboards will be compatible. I think there were three generations of keyboards in the Alu PB G4 range, early, middle and DLSD.

 

[paardenkapper]

Thanks! I swapped the keyboard yesterday because the one from the mangled seemed to be in better condition than the other one. I kind of like transferring the scissor mechanism from one keyboard to the other.

Unfortunately I'm left with one dead key still: C
And I don't want to use an external keyboard wi

I'll try the rubbing alcohol method but I'll be on the lookout for other PowerBooks which are sold as "for parts" or damaged in the meantime. This is gonna be one FrankenBook G4