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TiBook 1Ghz repairs

Vinpolar

Vinpolar

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 11, 2022
8
9
Hello fellow PowerPC Macs fans.

Sometime ago I acquired this beauty:
1649663908982.jpeg


It's TiBook 1Ghz, in pretty good shape aesthetically, with battery that holds charge (!!!) that I got for really cheap - lucky me, especially considering that collecting older Macs in Poland is pretty hard hobby to have. Thing is, not too long after my purchase, the screen as you can see started to "spill" (I'm not sure on the correct terminology).

IMG_8628.png

Now, I want to get this TiBook to best condition as I can with what I have and I got couple questions. I have two more TiBooks at hand - 2x 667 Mhz, one DVI and one VGA one.

I would like to swap LCD from one of these to the 1GHz one. Here comes my question - is this possible? I know I'd have a bit of downgrade in terms of resolution as the 667MHz ones have 1152x768 instead of 1280x854, but as it stands it still would be better than this screen that is degrading.
Second question - if it is possible, which would be easier? I must say I'd prefer taking screen from the VGA one, as it's in better condition I think, with a lot less scuffs from the keyboard, but I've heard that disassembly is a lot more convoluted on the VGA one vs the DVI one. Also, I don't know if it makes difference in terms of compatibility with the 1GHz TiBook.

Other issue:
What can be done with loose frame? Was it originally using some adhesive and it's just a matter of gluing it back together? What would you recommend?
1649664794808.jpeg


And last but not least:
I'd like to put a SSD into that TiBook (and one AlBook too) - any recommendations?

Thanks in advance to all of you folks that care to answer and have a nice day :)
 
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It's much easier to swap out an entire display assembly on these models than it is to take apart the display assembly and replace the LCD panel. This is the reason why so many TiBooks with broken hinges stay that way, because replacing the hinges also requires taking apart the display assembly. Anyway, whichever way you go, you'll find useful information in these places:
  • To swap an entire display assembly, check out these iFixit repair guides. Choose the one that corresponds to your model or models, and dive in. I've used these guides to perform repairs many times, they're awesome and have always worked for me.
  • To swap out the LCD panel inside a display assembly, our own @galgot posted a thread on replacing his TiBook's hinges. In it he references this webpage where you'll find further information and photos. You'll face similar challenges in replacing an LCD panel. I've never tried to do this (but will one day!) and once you read about it you'll probably understand why.
As for whether the VGA model's display will work in a DVI model - I don't know, never tried that. But the connectors, and the places they connect on their respective logic boards, look remarkably similar. I think "DVI" and "VGA" in this context only refers to the video-out capabilities of the respective models, not necessarily their internal display capabilities. If using a VGA model's display is the best solution for you, might as well try it. I'd be interested to see if it works.

As for the "frame separation" you refer to, what you're showing in that photo is NOT something you want to glue down. Unless I'm mistaken about what I'm seeing there, that's the bottom case you're pulling out with your finger. It's supposed to be held by screws, are you missing some? Because if you glue that down, you won't be able to get inside your TiBook to work on it.

Anyway, there you go, hope that helps. Maybe someone more knowledgeable on TiBooks will chime in, there are plenty here. Good luck!
 
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Yep, I'm aware LCD change is harder. I may decide to swap entire display assembly after all, but for vanity reasons I'd prefer to retain that modern PowerBook G4 logo - that and I think the top of the case is actually in best shape in the 1Ghz one out of all three.

It doesn't seem like I'm missing any screws, but it seems that between that metal frame and the plastic frame that actually has some snap-ins, there used to be some substance between - seems like maybe it was some sort of adhesive? That's why I asked for glue. I've had now couple of TiBooks gone through my hands and I think all of them exhibited similar issue more or less
1649705566471.jpeg


Thanks for the advice!
 
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the part he is pulling with his finger is the glued inner frame on the bottom panel. my tibook did the exact same thing, i tried glueing and taping mine, but in the end i just got a replacement bottom panel. as for the screen, as long as the lvds cable is in the same position, you should be fine at replacing the screen. and as for the ssd, i used an msata ssd in a pata ide enclosure and it booted up and formatted just fine.
 
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Project Alice said:
I also have a 1GHz TiBook. I am pretty sure it does not have this logo. I didn’t know any TiBook ever did. I could also be absolutely nuts and now as soon as I get home I’m going to check.
Click to expand...
I'm pretty sure the last models had this newer logo - both 1Ghz and 867Mhz :)
 
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Amethyst1 said:
You could probably have sold that one for a million bucks by calling it a unique prototype :) Oh, wait…
Click to expand...
OK. I was looking around and finally found these a different way. I think the 1Ghz DVI purchase was pre-me signing up here. Anyway…

2015-08-01 16.01.34.jpg2015-08-01 16.01.39.jpg

This was part of my post on the fact that I had got a PC Wireless card for this Mac so my son could continue to use the Mac at Starbucks. So…there's the TiBook 400 screen attached to his 1Ghz DVI.

forums.macrumors.com

Titanium 1.0Ghz DVI with Airport Extreme

Me: 1. Starbucks: 0. My son is surfing the net at Starbucks once again without Internet Sharing.
forums.macrumors.com forums.macrumors.com
 
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The Ti400 had some sort of serif font for "PowerBook G4". The screen that came with the DVI I got my son used a san-serif font. I remember, because the difference to me seemed odd.
 
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That is a bit odd. My 1.0 has the Myriad wordmark, and doing some research seems to indicate that the introduction of Myriad to replace Garamond was the same day the 667/800 Ti was introduced, along with the higher resolution display.

I wonder what the resolution of that display on your 1.0 is.
 
Amethyst1 said:
Intriguing. Is the lid/frame/LCD original?
Click to expand...

Doq said:
That is a bit odd. My 1.0 has the Myriad wordmark, and doing some research seems to indicate that the introduction of Myriad to replace Garamond was the same day the 667/800 Ti was introduced, along with the higher resolution display.

I wonder what the resolution of that display on your 1.0 is.
Click to expand...
It’s original as far as I’m concerned. The resolution is the correct 1280x854. If someone ever replaced it or it’s bezel I couldn’t say as I’ve only owned it a few years.

Edit: I will add though this particular PowerBook has probably one of the brightest, and best looking displays in my PPC collection. It is brighter than any AlBook I have. The only one that’s brighter is my MBP. Maybe my iBook G4 but I haven’t had them on side by side. Maybe a previous owner did some frankinsteining??‍♂️
 
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Vinpolar said:
Yep, I'm aware LCD change is harder. I may decide to swap entire display assembly after all, but for vanity reasons I'd prefer to retain that modern PowerBook G4 logo - that and I think the top of the case is actually in best shape in the 1Ghz one out of all three.

It doesn't seem like I'm missing any screws, but it seems that between that metal frame and the plastic frame that actually has some snap-ins, there used to be some substance between - seems like maybe it was some sort of adhesive? That's why I asked for glue. I've had now couple of TiBooks gone through my hands and I think all of them exhibited similar issue more or less
View attachment 1989950

Thanks for the advice!
Click to expand...

Hi,
Yes the plastic frame is glued to the bottom case. But the glueing often fails at the battery corner.
You can carefully remove the plastic frame from inside the metal bottom, then re-glue it with epoxy glue.
Check for one that is good for fixing plastic to metal. Did that on one of mines. no need to put a lot of glue, let it fully dry 24h all fixed with pliers, and you're good to go.

I fact , I think the Ti is the PowerBook in which they used the most glue for assembly :D

Project Alice said:
It’s original as far as I’m concerned. The resolution is the correct 1280x854. If someone ever replaced it or it’s bezel I couldn’t say as I’ve only owned it a few years.

Edit: I will add though this particular PowerBook has probably one of the brightest, and best looking displays in my PPC collection. It is brighter than any AlBook I have. The only one that’s brighter is my MBP. Maybe my iBook G4 but I haven’t had them on side by side. Maybe a previous owner did some frankinsteining??‍♂️
Click to expand...

I was pretty sure the 867Mhz and 1Ghz all had the Myriad fonts names... that is interesting.
Hey maybe you have a very rare 1Ghz one :)
 
Last edited:
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Project Alice said:
It’s original as far as I’m concerned. The resolution is the correct 1280x854. If someone ever replaced it or it’s bezel I couldn’t say as I’ve only owned it a few years.
Click to expand...
When was your 1.0 GHz 'Book made according to its serial number? And when was its display made (export and check its EDID using SwitchResX)? It's possible the font changed during the last Titanium model's production run I guess...
 
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All three of mine have the newer font. I wonder whether the old logo is due to a repair at some time where an older display lid was used (maybe broken hinges etc) and a new panel put in commensurate with the 1GHz.
 
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Amethyst1 said:
When was your 1.0 GHz 'Book made according to its serial number? And when was its display made (export and check its EDID using SwitchResX)? It's possible the font changed during the last Titanium model's production run I guess...
Click to expand...
According to the serial number it was manufactured in Dec of 2002 which would make it one of the last ones built wouldn't it?
Serial number: QT2502CMNWL
Nice Name:
Machine Model: PowerBook3,5
Please visit our facebook page
Family name: A1025
Model Number: M8859
Group1: PowerBook
Group2: G4
Generation:
EMC number: 1931
CPU speed: 1.0GHz
CMIzapper for Mac repair tools.
Screen size: 15 inch
Screen resolution: 1280x854 pixels
Production year : 2002
Production week : 50 (December)
Production number: 2741 (within this week)
Model introduced: 2002
Memory - flavour: PC133-S-133
Memory - number of slots: 2
Memory - maximum total: 1GB
Memory - largest module: 512MB
Factory: QT (Quanta, Taiwan)
EDID report generated by SwitchResX Version 4.3.6 (PowerPC - 32-bit) for display Color LCD


-----------------------------------------------------
------------------- RAW DATA ------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F
-----------------------------------------------------
0 | 00 FF FF FF FF FF FF 00 06 10 20 9C 01 01 01 01
1 | 05 0C 01 03 80 20 16 78 0A A7 A2 99 59 4F 8C 26
2 | 1D 52 54 00 00 00 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01
3 | 01 01 01 01 01 01 2D 1F 00 00 51 56 0C 30 10 70
4 | 13 00 41 D6 10 00 00 18 00 00 00 FE 00 4C 54 4E
5 | 31 35 32 57 33 00 00 00 0A 20 00 00 00 FE 00 4C
6 | 54 4E 31 35 32 57 33 00 00 00 0A 20 00 00 00 FC
7 | 00 43 6F 6C 6F 72 20 4C 43 44 0A 20 20 20 00 0B

-----------------------------------------------------
< 00FFFFFF FFFFFF00 0610209C 01010101 050C0103 80201678 0AA7A299 594F8C26 1D525400 00000101 01010101 01010101 01010101 01012D1F 00005156 0C301070 130041D6 10000018 000000FE 004C544E 31353257 33000000 0A200000 00FE004C 544E3135 32573300 00000A20 000000FC 00436F6C 6F72204C 43440A20 2020000B >

-----------------------------------------------------
{ 0x00, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0x00, 0x06, 0x10, 0x20, 0x9C, 0x01, 0x01, 0x01, 0x01, 0x05, 0x0C, 0x01, 0x03, 0x80, 0x20, 0x16, 0x78, 0x0A, 0xA7, 0xA2, 0x99, 0x59, 0x4F, 0x8C, 0x26, 0x1D, 0x52, 0x54, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x01, 0x01, 0x01, 0x01, 0x01, 0x01, 0x01, 0x01, 0x01, 0x01, 0x01, 0x01, 0x01, 0x01, 0x01, 0x01, 0x2D, 0x1F, 0x00, 0x00, 0x51, 0x56, 0x0C, 0x30, 0x10, 0x70, 0x13, 0x00, 0x41, 0xD6, 0x10, 0x00, 0x00, 0x18, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0xFE, 0x00, 0x4C, 0x54, 0x4E, 0x31, 0x35, 0x32, 0x57, 0x33, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x0A, 0x20, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0xFE, 0x00, 0x4C, 0x54, 0x4E, 0x31, 0x35, 0x32, 0x57, 0x33, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x0A, 0x20, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0xFC, 0x00, 0x43, 0x6F, 0x6C, 0x6F, 0x72, 0x20, 0x4C, 0x43, 0x44, 0x0A, 0x20, 0x20, 0x20, 0x00, 0x0B, }

-----------------------------------------------------
Valid EDID block: checksum passed

-----------------------------------------------------
------------------- MAIN EDID BLOCK -----------------
-----------------------------------------------------

EDID Version........1.3
Manufacturer........APP
Product Code........8348 (209C) (9C20)
Serial Number.......01010101

Manufactured........Week 5 of year 2002
Max H Size..........32 cm
Max V Size..........22 cm
Gamma...............2.20

Display Supported Features:
---------------------------


Display type:
-------------
RGB 4:4:4 & YCrCb 4:4:4 Color Encoding Formats
Display is non continuous frequency
Default color space is not sRGB standard
Preferred timing mode includes Native Pixel Format


Input signal & sync:
--------------------
Digital Input
Color Bit Depth is undefined
Digital Interface is not defined


Color info:
-----------
Red x = 0.600 Green x = 0.310 Blue x = 0.150 White x = 0.320
Red y = 0.350 Green y = 0.550 Blue y = 0.115 White y = 0.330

Established Timings:
--------------------

Manufacturer Reserved Timings:
------------------------------

Standard Timing Identification:
-------------------------------

Monitor Description blocks:
---------------------------
Descriptor #0 - Timing definition:
Mode = 1280 x 854 @ 60.000Hz
Pixel Clock............. 79.81 MHz Non-Interlaced

Horizontal Vertical
Active.................. 1280 pixels 854 lines
Front Porch............. 16 pixels 1 lines
Sync Width.............. 112 pixels 3 lines
Back Porch.............. 128 pixels 8 lines
Blanking................ 256 pixels 12 lines
Total................... 1536 pixels 866 lines
Scan Rate............... 51.960 kHz 60.000 Hz

Image Size.............. 321 mm 214 mm
Border.................. 0 pixels 0 lines

Sync: Digital separate with
* Negative vertical polarity
* Negative horizontal polarity

Descriptor #1 - ASCII data:
LTN152W3

Descriptor #2 - ASCII data:
LTN152W3

Descriptor #3 - Monitor name:
Color LCD
So the PB was made in week 50, and the display in week 5.
 
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I wonder if the lower resolution would mean the graphics chip has to work that much slightly less. If so, if I ever do get my own Titanium (I lost out on the 1GHz I was going to get), I'd definitely do it 90% just because I prefer the old wordmark, I have a thing for Apple Garamond (and serifs in general).​
 
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