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Two iBook clamshells- no success!

ScreenSavers

ScreenSavers

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Feb 26, 2016
2,125
1,677
Bloomingdale, GA
Ok- I just picked up two graphite 466mhz clamshells. They don’t have batteries but are otherwise complete.

Number one: plugged in, it chimes, and I can hear it reading data from the hard disk. It sounds like it is running but nothing on the screen. It is not a backlight issue because I can’t see anything with a flashlight either. Tried all the typical resets but still no video. Also tried without RAM but it’s the same.

Number two: no light by the charger, no power at all.

I have disassembled both of them but can’t find anything obvious.

Anybody have any experience with these old things?

Thanks,
Luke
 
Another update: I tried the dc in board from the “running” one on the “no power” board and it still has no light. Is it looking like I have two bad boards? One with bad video and one with no dc power?
 
Have you tried an external monitor? I know it sounds tedious at this point but it's one of the first things you should try. I found out my "non working" wallstreet was perfectly functional this way.
 
Hrududu said:
Sure they do. It’s the jack that does audio output. They give you composite video out along with audio.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Apple-AV-C...282837?hash=item3b0c3b4ad5:g:ZrUAAOSwKWha8GD0
Click to expand...

I wasn’t aware of that. Good to know. Do you think it’s worth buying one of those though, considering that even if it does work on an external display, it doesn’t prove anything? Obviously this logic board isn’t outputting any video to the internal display at all since I tried two of them.


Thanks
 
ScreenSavers said:
I wasn’t aware of that. Good to know. Do you think it’s worth buying one of those though, considering that even if it does work on an external display, it doesn’t prove anything? Obviously this logic board isn’t outputting any video to the internal display at all since I tried two of them.
Thanks
Click to expand...

They only mirror out. Not sure if it will work if the internal screen is fubar. I could never get video out to work on my graphite SE even with an Apple cable.
 
weckart said:
They only mirror out. Not sure if it will work if the internal screen is fubar. I could never get video out to work on my graphite SE even with an Apple cable.
Click to expand...
Firewire SE or original SE? The video output is only on the FireWire models.
 
ScreenSavers said:
Just tried switching the display assemblies from the no power one to the first one with no video. Still no display on it.
Click to expand...

And you're seeing neither backlight nor (when shining a torch or flashlight directly at the LCD) image, or just no backlight?

It would be exceptionally unusual (though not impossible) for both the LVDS data and the backlight to have failed simultaneously. If it's just the backlight, it's possible something shorted out a circuit on the board, but without readily available schematics (I'm still looking), it would be challenging to know which relevant circuits to test and what their nominal readings should be.

As for the other board being unusable as a working board, I think you may be right.


Editing to add:

With the board that is responding to power and seemingly powering up, have you held the SMC reset button for at least 10 seconds, optimally, after powering up, to flush any previously applied Open Firmware configs? It's a very long shot, but one worth verifying in a process of troubleshooting elimination.
 
Last edited:
B S Magnet said:
With the board that is responding to power and seemingly powering up, have you held the SMC reset button for at least 10 seconds, optimally, after powering up, to flush any previously applied Open Firmware configs? It's a very long shot, but one worth verifying in a process of troubleshooting elimination.
Click to expand...
I assume you mean PRAM? SMC is a strictly Intel Mac thing.
 
B S Magnet said:
And you're seeing neither backlight nor (when shining a torch or flashlight directly at the LCD) image, or just no backlight?

It would be exceptionally unusual (though not impossible) for both the LVDS data and the backlight to have failed simultaneously. If it's just the backlight, it's possible something shorted out a circuit on the board, but without readily available schematics (I'm still looking), it would be challenging to know which relevant circuits to test and what their nominal readings should be.

As for the other board being unusable as a working board, I think you may be right.


Editing to add:

With the board that is responding to power and seemingly powering up, have you held the SMC reset button for at least 10 seconds, optimally, after powering up, to flush any previously applied Open Firmware configs? It's a very long shot, but one worth verifying in a process of troubleshooting elimination.
Click to expand...



Yes I reset the PRAM/NVRAM. There doesn’t seem to be image or backlight. I pulled the hard drive and put it in a powerbook. The OS X install was fine, although I installed 9.2 on it. The non powering board I can keep for parts- it like to get the semi running run going but who knows...
 
d-oost said:
I assume you mean PRAM? SMC is a strictly Intel Mac thing.
Click to expand...

Sorry, my bad. I meant the PMU reset button, as described and shown in this image.

My hypothesis is that the PMU is also responsible for resetting the backlight, but it sounds like @ScreenSavers gave that a go with no success.

upload_2019-3-12_15-44-56.png
 
It is booting Into the OS. When I change the volume I can hear the beeping indictator. Just nothing on the screen. No picture or backlight.
 
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OK, in doing a troubleshooting list, I'm left with the following. We know:

  • the backlight cable and the LVDS/data cables are not defective (tested with multiple display assemblies, ergo different cables)
  • the logic board "works" (inasmuch as it sounds like it is going through the routine boot-up sequence, based on the HDD activity)
  • the POST passes, in that there isn't the beep indicating bad memory
  • the LCDs themselves don't have failed inverters or CCFL tubes (which supports item #1, in addition to the test of shining a flashlight at the LCD [or putting the display outside under bright sunlight] during boot-up and nothing appearing on screen
  • the PMU was reset; nothing different
  • the PRAM was reset; nothing different, and
  • there is no indication of anything which looks burnt/burnt-out on the logic board

The very last thing I can think of, however unlikely, is that one or more connection pins on the logic board for each of the display and the backlight are either bent or broke off sometime in the past. Which would truly be a heartbreaker.

Beyond that, and shy of a multimeter to verify that the board is supplying current to those tiny pins, I cannot think of anything else beyond using the mirroring feature with a TRRRS mini-jack-to-composite AV cable (which was supplied with these models when new) and sending that output to an external monitor.

You're also welcome to provide any photos of anything relevant about the iBook, but I'm not sure how that may help.
 
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