Think I may have killed my clamshell iBook...

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Tokay - 13 Feb 2006 11:06 GMT

It seemed like a simple enough task-- Swap LCD's with an older
blueberry iBook, so I can finally be rid of the line of dead pixels,
and throw that new DVD drive in to my graphite.

It was my first time opening one of these types up, but I wasn't going
to back down. I heard it was a nightmare, and it certainly was a
hassle.... A few hours in, I finally make the swap, and now she won't
power up. I wasn't manhandling the motherboard the whole time, so I
don't understand when I could've fried it. Did I forget to hook
something up? The blueberry one still turns on, I just don't know
what's up.

I can't figure out how I managed to fry it, but I have hopes it's not
dead. IF anybody has experience with this, please help me out?

Thanks,
Chris

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spudnuty - 14 Feb 2006 05:44 GMT

> It seemed like a simple enough task-- Swap LCD's with an older
> blueberry iBook, so I can finally be rid of the line of dead pixels,
[quoted text clipped - 13 lines]
> Thanks,
> Chris

So you verified that these two LCDs are swapable? Not sure about the
Clamshell but there are a lot of Mac service manuals here:
http://home.earthlink.net/~strahm_s/manuals.html
Maybe you can find something close or run the troublshooting guides.

>From personal experience those flex cables are very delicate.

Richard

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morenuf - 14 Feb 2006 23:16 GMT

> > It seemed like a simple enough task-- Swap LCD's with an older
> > blueberry iBook, so I can finally be rid of the line of dead pixels,
[quoted text clipped - 15 lines]
>
> S

Desktop motherboards are VERY sensitive to static & voltage transients.
These can disturb the PMU (power management unit & CUDA on older Macs)
and interfere with boot up & video. I did this once just putting a hard
disk into a desktop G4. Resetting the PMU fixed it promptly.

At least try resetting the PMU (or CUDA) assuming the Clamshell has one.
Unfortunately I don't know how to do that on a Clamshell. If you can
find some reference on how to do it, at least try it before attempting
any other major hardware effort.

Morenuf

Morenuf

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morenuf@nobodyhome.com.invalid

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Tokay - 15 Feb 2006 10:06 GMT

Swappable to a point. The LCD's themselves were different
manufacturers, so the connector cable where it connects to the LCD is
wrong. The motherboard end of the cable is the same though. I had to
swap out the carrying handles (well, didn't HAVE to, it was just
easier) to make it work.

It runs most of the time now. I narrowed it down to some components
causing issues. By itself, with nothing connected, it boots. The
problem seems to be DVD drive related. I can't be sure, but it seemed
like the metal casing w as shorting components on the motherboard,
because whenever I would put it in (not hooked up, just in), it would
fail to start up. I put some tape over where I thought might be the
problem and it's installed OK now.

The irritating thing is that the previous owner of my iBook must;ve
been in and out of it a whole bunch; many screws were almost completely
stripped out. IF anybody knows where I can get replacements, I'd be
much obliged, but no biggie there. I canniblaized some screws from the
other ibook.
I discovered power switch was broken, so the reliability of being able
to turn it on is distinctly in question
Also, installing the modem causes the same no boot problem. I just
skipped installing it; it isn't vital. It's irritating, though.

So, in short, installing the new DVD and LCD cost me the power button,
modem, and I discovered that the DVD drive is a bum unit. It was
expensive too.... This may be well beyond the scope of this board, but
can the guts from any random laptop DVD drive work?

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Mac Forum / General / Hardware / February 2006

Think I may have killed my clamshell iBook...