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Treasure Trove of Apple Service Manuals

dbdjre0143

dbdjre0143

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Nov 11, 2017
361
382
West Virginia
While working on a 2011 iMac which shows no power, I stumbled across this website with a ton of service manuals for various computers. Among them is a huge list of official Apple Service manuals from 2010 on back. Thought I would share as this could be a valuable resource for future projects. ;)

http://www.tim.id.au/blog/tims-laptop-service-manuals/#toc-apple

On a side-note, I never have figured out why the iMac I was targeting doesn't power up. The trickle voltage from the PSU is working, and diagnostic LED 1 lights up accordingly, but no signs of life other than that. Any ideas on how to proceed with that are much appreciated, though probably should try not to sidetrack the thread too far. :p (EDIT: If anyone happens to have any ideas, I went ahead and made a separate thread for that over on the iMac forum: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/mid-2011-imac-with-no-power.2128578/)
 
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I'm glad you posted this!

It's the same site I got the manual from for a G5 I was working on in 2013. I lost track of the site, but now you've posted it.

So thanks!!!
 
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eyoungren said:
So thanks!!!
Click to expand...

No problem! We should probably download the Mac ones and host them somewhere in case that site goes away at some point. I'll be glad to throw them on my OwnCloud if I ever get that thing up and running. (Work has been limiting my play-time lately :p). Until then though, if anyone wants to volunteer....
 
Yep, I downloaded all of the 68k and PPC ones a fair while back just in case, Apple used to get sites hosting to take them down (on copyright grounds given that these should only be distributed to authorised service providers, though the more cynical among us might think they didn't want knowledge of how to repair/upgrade their computers being out there...). Although this site and Mac Garden (sites hosting old software/OSes also used to get shut down) have been online for years now and it would be surprising if just no-one at Apple knows about them (if that is the case then let's hope there aren't spies here :D), so perhaps they don't care so much about the old stuff these days.
 
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It's hard to believe there was a time when Apple published all the information about their computers. Schematics, ROM source code, slot pinouts, etc. Everything. I have a broken Apple //c for which I intend to repair (waiting for Oscilloscope to arrive). The service manual Apple provided is very detailed.

Ah, the good old days. Now you have Apple doing everything they can to prevent self repair of their products.
 
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pl1984 said:
It's hard to believe there was a time when Apple published all the information about their computers.
Click to expand...

I’m not sure any of these service manuals were ever intended for public consumption so I don’t think publish is quite the right word here. Even back then, after a few perfunctory tests in the troubleshooting section the repair solution was all too often replace logic board.
 
weckart said:
I’m not sure any of these service manuals were ever intended for public consumption so I don’t think publish is quite the right word here. Even back then, after a few perfunctory tests in the troubleshooting section the repair solution was all too often replace logic board.
Click to expand...
I'm not referring to these service manuals. I'm referring to the Apple 1 and 2 series of computers.
 
dbdjre0143 said:
While working on a 2011 iMac which shows no power, I stumbled across this website with a ton of service manuals for various computers. Among them is a huge list of official Apple Service manuals from 2010 on back. Thought I would share as this could be a valuable resource for future projects. ;)

http://www.tim.id.au/blog/tims-laptop-service-manuals/#toc-apple

On a side-note, I never have figured out why the iMac I was targeting doesn't power up. The trickle voltage from the PSU is working, and diagnostic LED 1 lights up accordingly, but no signs of life other than that. Any ideas on how to proceed with that are much appreciated, though probably should try not to sidetrack the thread too far. :p (EDIT: If anyone happens to have any ideas, I went ahead and made a separate thread for that over on the iMac forum: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/mid-2011-imac-with-no-power.2128578/)
Click to expand...

I didn't see 2011 MacBook pro.
 
pl1984 said:
Now you have Apple doing everything they can to prevent self repair of their products.
Click to expand...
That's because Apple has shifted from a company focused on delivering the best to a company that just talks about it while being focused on market share and maximizing profit.

It's easier to do that if you can control your customers by denying them the ability to repair your product. And…at some point Apple realized that a great majority of it's customers (not anyone in this specific forum) are generally stupid and lazy and willing to let others do their thinking for them.

I am of the opinion that because of the latter (willingness to surrender control of your thinking) that Apple is still a success because it's not something most people want to admit to. It's like drugs. You keep coming back for more but you try not to show you're doing them.
 
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This is actually incredibly useful because I lost one of the case screws on my 2006 MBP and I can see what size it was so I can get it replaced.

Also I like this image demonstrating what not to do with a MagSafe connector
sZrD06D.png
 
Covering the contact points on the MagSafe with paper would simply stop it from working... it’s hardly a risk of any doing any damage, but also just a dumb idea if you’re hoping to use the Mac. It’s along the same lines as don’t stick your credit card into the optical drive slot.
 
dbdjre0143 said:
While working on a 2011 iMac which shows no power, I stumbled across this website with a ton of service manuals for various computers. Among them is a huge list of official Apple Service manuals from 2010 on back. Thought I would share as this could be a valuable resource for future projects. ;)

http://www.tim.id.au/blog/tims-laptop-service-manuals/#toc-apple
Click to expand...

Thanks for this, I literally just downloaded every single one of these. Can never hoard too many files if you ask me lol.
 
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