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Merzie

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 2, 2009
52
0
I spilled coffee on my 15" 1.5Ghz powerbook and ruined the display, the keyboard, and possibly my ram (showing intermittently as 512 + 256 and sometimes 256 + 256 when it's really 512 + 512). I am stripping it and using it as a jukebox in a retro stereo receiver, and hooking up a 7-10" touch screen lcd for control.

My questions are:

-How do I force the computer to think that it's always in clamshell mode on boot?

-How do I test the ram problem without buying more ram?

-Can I disconnect the backup battery if all I'm going to do is use the computer for front row and itunes? (I lost the little cable that ocnnectes it to logic board)

Thanks everyone
 
I was thinking maybe if I tear apart the old monitor and fix the top part of the display in the receiver enclosure just above the latch that it might work.. or just some plain magnets.
 
You can try Screen spanning Doctor. It allows to enable clamshell mode until next PRAM reset. See Readme file located on its dmg.
 
Oh cool! I'll try that for sure. However, is there a way of triggering sleep mode without the inverter board (which i believe is connected to the clamshell sensor) connected, or must I do target disk mode to log in and make changes? (I crippled the inverter cable and need to directly solder it to the logic board or get a new cable).


When I boot it up it is in extended mode.
 
edit: it appears to be the reed switch tha tI need to trigger, and it's in the trackpad. Only problem is that my trackpad that I yanked off the enclosure appears to be broken. So target disk mode is the only answer.

update: also, can I use this program if I don't have the pram battery board connected?
 
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ACtually, after I booted up the powerbook hd with my mac mini and then booted normally, it is now automatically going into single display mode on boot without screen spanning doctor. This is of course with the original pb display disconnected from logic board. edit: it seems to be caused by remembering mirrored mode.

I'm running leopard so I would have to downgrade to install tiger (kernel panic when I booted mac mini tiger on powerbook as well :confused:)


Now I'm having issues getting airport connected automatically on boot and auto-login... goodbye all keychains I guess..
 
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