Thanks Apple..

Co-worker Chey's sister's 14 inch iBook G4 1.42ghz had a broken screen (one of the demux chips down the side had blown or something.. very funky looking, but fatal :P). I have a 14 inch iBook G4 1.2ghz for scrapping (dodgy logic board), so I offered to swap over the LCDs for $cheep$. In theory, this is the easiest thing to swap on an iBook, except the keyboard and battery.

First, the easy way..
- Remove back cover of screen
- Remove 4 screws holding the panel in place
- Unstick EMI sheilding, unplug LVDS cable from LCD
- Swap panels, replug, re screw, all back together in 15 minutes total
- Easy!

Except, that between the 1.2ghz and 1.42ghz models, Apple had gone from using a LCD panel with a 20 pin connector, to a panel with a 30 pin connector.

The hard way..
- Remove iBook top case, bottom case, screen module
- Swap entire screen modules, not just LCD panels
- Reverse activities
- All back together in about 45 minutes to an hour

But, I get to step two, and find that Apple has changed a LOT of things between the 1.2ghz and 1.42ghz models, and so I can't just do that

Apple's stated changes:
- ATi 9550 Graphics

What else they changed:
- As mentioned, 20 pin to 30 pin LCD connector
- Went from Airport card and internal USB Bluetooth wadget, to internal combo bluetooth airport card
- Changed length, connectors of Antenna cables for above (these are part of the screen module too)
- Changed pin count of motherboard to LCD inverter cable
- Changed location of sleep sensing reed switch from screen module to main case, so also a bunch of magnets
- Changed location of modem connector internally,
- Changed location of LVDS data cable connector on logic board

So, we're left with just one way to affect this repair, without ordering in the correct Chi Mei LCD panel.

The Alex way.

- Dis-assemble entire screen module, x 2 (6 tiny thin cables, lots of tape, screws, clips)
- Re-assemble into one new working screen module, despite changes in dimensions and lengths of cables
- Re-model LVDS cable bends to fit around new modem location on logic board
- Re-assemble
- Test
- Done, and it only took 3 and a half hours!

I'm pleased to say that the MacBook is a lot easier to do stuff on than an iBook, because really, they are diabolical.

(no subject)

Mark Twain asked, What is a Man?

An easier question is, What is a MacBook? I recently bought one for a pittance, after it had white wine spilt on it, on the proviso that I would get the data back off it. It seemed quite dead, with a white goo all over the logic board and RAM.

So I parted it out, but just in case, I washed the logic board and RAM with tap water, and gave it a bit of a scrub with an old toothbrush.

And left it to dry for a week.

Because you know, I'm never one to pass up an opportunity for some Mac necromancy.

So the first question, what would you need at a minimum to see if it boots?


Then, some way to turn it on, as the power switch is in the keyboard/top case..

Oh, I wonder what these pads labelled "RST BTN" do? :D

And will it blendwill it boot?


Great Scott! And yes, that is my finger pushing down on the heatsink, as there aren't any screws to hold it in place. If I wanted to do this longer term, I'd grab a piece of acrylic (of which I think I have an offcut of just the right size) and drill holes in it to mount this all in place.

Of course, the keyboard (which includes the power button) had failed, as has optical drive, but it does seem to power up at least.

This is a bit of a study for what the bare minimums to boot a MacBook are. This is pretty much how I started with the Photo frames, elsewhere on my flickr site.

I'm not sure what I'll do with this one.. I don't need a MacBook, and a new keyboard and optical drive and power adapter will set me back almost $500, on top of the money I already paid for the scrap, vs the AUD$1349 for a new one, and there's always the likelyhood this one isn't going to last as long as it should otherwise.

Maybe I'll make a server cube or something. Hmm! I wonder if it will boot without the Internal LCD attached? An experiment for another day, as I don't have any mini-DVI converters to plug an external display in with. I will keep you all posted.