That could have been me saying that! It's happened several times here too. Not that I particularly mind taking home another 'lost orphan', but once back home and realising that it's not handicapped and ready to play almost out-of-the-box, Mme. CooperB starts wondering if she's not living in a digital orphanage.Sadly, it never works out for me. After a few hours I usually get them up and running, leaving me with an added member of the family and still in search of spare parts.
Where do you get all these from?Hmm.. I've taken in 3 strays this past week...
With another three on their way...
- PowerBook G4 12" 1.33Ghz - dead DC-DC board. Good battery.
- iBook G4 12" 1.33Ghz - A OK, but pretty scuffed on the outside and a mostly expired battery.
- MacBook Pro 15.4" 1.83Ghz - A OK, except a dead battery.
In my repair pile is also a PowerBook G4 15" DLSD 1.67Ghz with a dead LCD. The replacement CCFL tubes I have on order should be arriving soon for the repair.
- iBook G4 12" unknown spec.. possibly a 2004 model.
- PowerBook G4 15" unknown spec.. possibly a 2005 model (hopefully another DLSD)
- PowerBook G4 12" unknown spec. Could be any model. I am actually hoping it is an original 867 with the Geforce4 420 just for the sake of hardware diversity
I've been lucky with the three units already in my possession this week. All were covertly delivered or collected... My better half didn't notice them as new additions, even the MBP looks like just another PowerBook G4
Where do you get all these from?
- PowerBook G4 12" 1.33Ghz - dead DC-DC board. Good battery.
Hmm.. I've taken in 3 strays this past week...
With another three on their way...
- PowerBook G4 12" 1.33Ghz - dead DC-DC board. Good battery.
- iBook G4 12" 1.33Ghz - A OK, but pretty scuffed on the outside and a mostly expired battery.
- MacBook Pro 15.4" 1.83Ghz - A OK, except a dead battery.
In my repair pile is also a PowerBook G4 15" DLSD 1.67Ghz with a dead LCD. The replacement CCFL tubes I have on order should be arriving soon for the repair.
- iBook G4 12" unknown spec.. possibly a 2004 model.
- PowerBook G4 15" unknown spec.. possibly a 2005 model (hopefully another DLSD)
- PowerBook G4 12" unknown spec. Could be any model. I am actually hoping it is an original 867 with the Geforce4 420 just for the sake of hardware diversity
I've been lucky with the three units already in my possession this week. All were covertly delivered or collected... My better half didn't notice them as new additions, even the MBP looks like just another PowerBook G4
C’mon, it’s not that bad. it’s just the key cap removal that instills fear in me. The rest of it is just screws and plugs.
I was lucky with my 1.33 to visually see a blow out on the DC-DC board, combined with a brown burn stain on the underside of the trackpad.
However... it was still capable of charging the battery (amber light). But that’s not to say that a different blown component would prevent the charger from switching from green to amber
When it comes to a non-boot scenario, the only real option is to dissect. It could be either the DC-DC board, the DC-in connection (or wiring) or the logic board.
If you have a similar unit (1.0 - 1.5ghz) then you can try using a known working DC-DC board pulled from one of your other machines before removing the heatsink, logic board and DC-in connector and wiring.
It only takes 10 minutes or so to dismantle to the point of removing the keyboard and top case. Just take your time with the F-keys
The tear-down of the 12" PBook referred to above in post #32 is now complete. Not without incident as I found the main two 'spring' heat-sink retaining screws, just turned without any resistance, which I realised immediately meant that their anchor posts had detached from the logic board. This I can fix, which is probably best shown in a new thread when all is completed.
Well done @CooperBox! You faced your fears head on
The same thing happened to me on the 1.33Ghz machine. It was difficult to remove the screw from the post which was spinning on itself. I eventually got it out and then used a 2 part clear epoxy to glue the anchor post / standoff back to the logic board and let it set for a few hours before reassembling.