Mac Repair Guides for Apple Macbook, iPad, Powerbook iPhone & iPod

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Aaron 5 years ago	What Tools Do You Need For A Full Teardown?
Kenneth 5 years ago	Hi. The video is great. Does anyone know exactly what toolkit to buy for disassembling the A1095 and where to find it for sale. Thanks
Katie Cadet 9 years ago	Thanks for the instructions! I was hoping to repair my aluminum PowerBook G4's optical drive that was donated by an individual from Alberta, Canada last August. We bought it from your site and everything works as normal again. Again, Thanks a ton!
Asa 10 years ago	My aluminum powerbook G4's battery died about a year ago, and I've put off getting another one. Just bought one from you, it said it charged up and had full battery, but the minute I unplugged the poweradapter, it said no low battery and then went to sleep. No matter how long I charge the battery, it still does this. Am I looking at a dead PRAM battery, or a dead Logic board? No other problems with the computer, despite it being a nine year old laptop!
joseph 11 years ago	Hello I have a problem powerbook g4 lights into the system but the black screen all the time gets ..
Sheldon 11 years ago	Do you sale dc in board for 15"power bookg4
Powerbook Medic 11 years ago	@Lizzie - check the color of your power adapter when you plug it in. If it doesn't light up, it is either a power adapter or dc-in board issue. If it does light up, take out the battery and see if the adapter is lit up green. If not, it may be the logic board.
Lizzie 11 years ago	Hi there, my PowerBook G4 seems to have died completely. I've tried rebooting after removing the PRAM battery with the power cable attached - nothing, I've tried doing a PMU reset - also nothing, not sure what to try? Do you think the PRAM battery just needs to be replaced?
Powerbook Medic 11 years ago	@Lisa - typically if it was a disconnected hard drive you'd get a blinking folder icon on the screen, but if you aren't getting anything except a lit up screen, that is usually going to be something with the LCD display cable either on the logic board side or on the back of the LCD panel itself.
Lisa 11 years ago	I replaced the inverter in my g4. After reassembling the laptop (I did take the logic board because I thought I needed to then figured out I didn't) it comes on but the drive isn't coming on. Just a blank gray screen. I double checked all connections and everything is hooked up right. What could it be? By the way, I love the videos. Very helpful.
Skalbatross 12 years ago	You guys are the best! My PowerBook fell off the counter and the screen broke. After hearing what it would cost at the Mac store I put in a box for almost a year. I stumbled across you website and saw I could get a screen for 39.99! And your videos are great. I just fixed my computer. Amazing! My super drive is making noise, I may be making another purchase. I can't say thank you enough.
Powerbook Medic 12 years ago	@kingsley - depending on your model, you can remove it earlier with a little work.
kingsley 12 years ago	is the dc inboard last to remove?
Powerbook Medic 12 years ago	@bernie - not necessarily. sometimes you can get it out almost directly, but sometime you may need to at least loosen the left side of the logic board.
bernie 12 years ago	i have powerbook g4 15" aluminum A1046 1ghz. i am about to replace the dc-in and sound board. do i need to remove everything to get at the dc-in board?
LG 12 years ago	Wonderfull!!! Congratulation for your videos! I think I cannot trust in anyone more than you to fix the problems with my computer. Very professional and the most important is didatic.
djraffy@hotmail.com 13 years ago	"Excellent" easy instructions to follow up.THANK YOU.
Eno-Master 13 years ago	Great step-by-step. For an added benefit, one should explain what each cable is as it be being removed. That would add a lot to everyone's knowledge.
Powerbook Medic 13 years ago	@Steve - its very easy. Just take the top case off and you are there.
Steve 13 years ago	Is it that easy to replace a hardrive?
Powerbook Medic 13 years ago	@Gary - Your airport is going to require taking off the top case. It is built inside the machine.
Gary 13 years ago	The Airport card on my wife's Powerbook A1138 is fading. Your video shows it should be accessed from inside the battery compartment. Mine is not. What is Plan B? Also, do you have the replacement card for that model?
Gregg 13 years ago	Thanks...will do.
Powerbook Medic 13 years ago	@Gregg - you'll need to contact customer support by phone, live support, or the customer support section on our site.
Gregg 13 years ago	Hey...any chance I can send these hinges back for a refund? I cannot get the Powerbook to come back to life, and the cost of sending this off for repair is getting into the "diminishing returns" zone. Any help?
Gregg 13 years ago	Still nothing...I think I will need to move up to another computer. This one has been past its prime for some time now. Can I return these hinges for a refund? ge
Powerbook Medic 13 years ago	@Gregg - you may want to check all your connections inside including the airport card, hard drive, and optical drive. You may also want to reset the pram, best way is to take out the battery, leave it unplugged, and hold down the power button for a solid 10 seconds.
Gregg 13 years ago	Well, I re-seated the RAM twice, and still I get the 3 beeps. Anything else I can try? ge
Powerbook Medic 13 years ago	@Gregg - three beeps is generally a RAM issue, make sure your RAM is inserted and seated well. reseat it if needed.
Gregg 13 years ago	Help...I got it all back together, but now when I start up all I get is 3 short beeps, and the little LED on the front edge blinks intermittently. Nothing else comes to life. What did I do? ge
Powerbook Medic 13 years ago	@gregg - just to the point you can remove the display from the base.
gregg 13 years ago	okay...how many of the prior steps must I do in order to remove the display? Is it required that I do all of them, including pulling the logic board? ge
Powerbook Medic 13 years ago	@Gregg - you'll need to follow the LCD removal video and after that you'll need to remove the clutch cover that covers the hinges. There will be several screws attaching it to the bezel. After that you should be able to unscrew the hinges and remove them.
Gregg 13 years ago	Hey! I purchased the 2 hinges for my Aluminum Powerbook 15, but can't find the replacement guide here. Which ones will get me there? ge
Powerbook Medic 13 years ago	@Madison - they are very similar but there are slight differences but you should be able to figure it out.
Madison 13 years ago	Does this work with the powerbook g4 a1106?
Powerbook Medic 13 years ago	@Denise - We don't have one for your particular model, but this one is extremely close. You should be able to follow it.
Denise 13 years ago	I have a Powerbook G4 1.25 15",model A1046. The screen displays a very colorful plaid pattern, which also appears when connected to my 2nd screen. Looking for help, I found a person that fixed this with a video cable from your site, and said that you have a self-help video to help install it. Can you point me in the right direction on your site to find this info. Thank you!
Powerbook Medic 13 years ago	@JB - it's not too awful. Our video shows replacing the DC-IN Board.
JB 13 years ago	Dropped the G4 on the power connector. Power cord bent and connector bent. Now it wont charge. I've tried replacing the battery and the cord. Can a reasonably handy guy replace the power connector inside of the computer?
Yo 13 years ago	I have a 1.5ghz G4, lately the screen has been flickering but would stop after a while. Now it continues flickering. Is it the optical drive thats going out?
Powerbook Medic 13 years ago	@Fraser - you'll just need a new DC-IN Board. It'll be in the list to the right.
Fraser 13 years ago	The power socket in my wife's PowerBook G4 has been damaged (bent?). It's definitely the socket in the computer and not the power supply as we have changed that out. She has to sit holding the plug in the side of the laptop to keep power and battery charge. It it a simple / affordable fix to get a new power socket or us it integral to the motherboard and are we are looking at a new laptop?
James 13 years ago	I have a problem with my G4 Powerbook. It has an 80G hd that is an IDE PATA. One night the battery heated up more than usual and the next day the computer woul boot up only to show a blinking file and a question mark. I read the hd with a reader and found it to be working and all the info was available. Could I have burned out something on say the ribbon from the hd to the motherboard?
Powerbook Medic 14 years ago	@Frank - it depends which specific model you have. Some Aluminums you can get to it very easily while others you'll have to at least loosen the logic board and the left fan.
Frank 14 years ago	Looking at the DC-IN board instructions: does everything have to be removed before changing out the DC-IN board? The video shows everything except the board out of the case.
stefano 14 years ago	do you have a video on how to change the hardware on powerbook g4 to a ssd? thanks
Powerbook Medic 14 years ago	@Joe - it should be pretty easy to figure out once you get the logic board out.
Joe 14 years ago	Great videos and easy instructions! Do you have any video instructions how to replace left and right fan for Powerbook G4 15" (A1095)?
Emery 14 years ago	Thanks for the great video. Getting it apart is one thing - putting it back together is another. Is there a trick to getting the clutch cover to snap back onto the clips. I can't seem to get mine to seat correctly. I made sure everything is clear and the little clips are not caught.
Powerbook Medic 14 years ago	@mpat - we have a separate manual that goes over keycap replacements.
mpat 14 years ago	hi out there,,,,Any advise in replacing the "U" key back onto the keyboard of a Powerbook G4? (It popped off!) thank you
Frank 14 years ago	You guys rock, I'm a student at ITT and these videos added value to my skills. If I can be of any help to you guys. Just send me an email at franklinwilliams36@gmail.com
Powerbook Medic 14 years ago	@Kevin - we won't be able to make a video at this time. If it is welded, it definitely didn't come that way from Apple.
Kevin 14 years ago	Well Mine seems to be welded. Would it be possible for a video to be made?
Powerbook Medic 14 years ago	@Kevin - there are some metal hooks at the top underneath. These needs to be twisted 90 degrees. Besides that, there is a little adhesive, but not much.
Kevin 14 years ago	I tried that, but I was still unable to remove it.
Powerbook Medic 14 years ago	@Kevin - once you have the top case off, flip it over and there will typically be some black adhesive on the bottom side. Peel this off and you'll see all the screws holding the keyboard in.
Kevin 14 years ago	How do I remove the keyboard?
Powerbook Medic 14 years ago	@ Vicki - I'd take the key off first and see if the key works without the key on...just press the rubber nub. If it doesn't then you'll need to replace the keyboard. To replace, just follow the top case replacement instructions to remove the top case and that will give you access to the keyboard.
Vicki 14 years ago	I have a 15" G4 Aluminum Powerbook (model 1106) and the period key has stopped working after working intermittently--An external keyboard works well--should I first try removing the period key and clean it--or should I assume that the keyboard needs to be replaced? I noticed you don't have a repair guide online for replacing the keyboard--is one available? Thanks!
Powerbook Medic 14 years ago	@Tavis - You likely have two problems. However, just to be sure I'd start by replacing your PRAM battery. We carry the PRAM batteries. Just search the service parts on the right hand side for it. That will fix the date and time problems you have. We carry the battery cable as well. You can do a part request for it and we'll get it added to the site for you.
Tavis 14 years ago	new info. I took the battery out and left the power plug in to "charge the internal battery" as I read somewhere. Later I tried to use it PB with the battery out and it lost the time and date. I reset that and shutdown as a test. It lost it again. It also did not want to "wake from sleep mode" with the external battery out. I put in back in and it run fine again. Could all my issues be with the PRAM battery?
Tavis 14 years ago	new info. I took the battery out and left the power plug in to "charge the internal battery" as I read somewhere. Later I tried to use it PB with the battery out and it lost the time and date. I reset that and shutdown as a test. It lost it again. It also did not want to "wake from sleep mode" with the external battery out. I put in back in and it run fine again. Could all my issues be with the PRAM battery?
Tavis 14 years ago	Do you guys sell the battery cable? I did not see one when I looked. (Model A1106) What are my options if it is the logic board? Thank you for your help, BTW
Powerbook Medic 14 years ago	@ Tavis - I'd first try replacing the battery cable, and if that doesn't fix the issue, you likely have a logic board problem.
Tavis 14 years ago	I have a powerbook(5,6) g4 1.67 15" I have a new battery. The machine works great when the wall adapter is in, but when powered up on battery only the fan comes on (loudly). I have dne the PMU reset (per apple site). any ideas?
Powerbook Medic 14 years ago	@Trevor - Make sure you are formatting the drive using Disk Utility prior to installing the operating system.
Trevor Mohammed 14 years ago	I have a Power Book G4 And I get a 320GB Hardrive To Read on my system can u all tell me why?
Rob 14 years ago	Thanks for your free videos, manuals, and blog advice! Simply outstanding!
Powerbook Medic 14 years ago	@Eric - that will usually be the inverter board.
Eric 14 years ago	I have a powerbook 15" G4 1.25 - The screen makes a high pitch sound then will flicker and most of the time turn very dim (almost black). If I play with the brightness, it will come back temporarily and then black out or make a flickering and high pitch almost crackling sound at times. The external monitor works fine. What is the problem most likely?
Powerbook Medic 14 years ago	@scotty - generally if you tilt the display back and forth and the lines get better or worse, it will be a display cable issue. Otherwise it is probably the LCD.
scotty 14 years ago	great site! I have a PB 15" that had intermittent vertical lines in the centre of the screen which gradually went to cover the whole screen - in the beginning I could move around the trackpad and operate ok, but now moving around the trackpad just alters the lines slightly. Chafed cables? or bad LCD?
Powerbook Medic 14 years ago	@ darel - You likely need to replace the trackpad and keyboard.
Powerbook Medic 14 years ago	@Jose - That is typically going to be a corrupt hard drive. You'll want to boot up from your install cd, and repair permissions using Disk Utility.
Jose 14 years ago	I picked up a Logic Board, it had a 1.5 but picked up a 1.6 and installed it but now it loads up and all it does is stay at the load screen. The screen I get is the picture of the Apple and the rotating small circle show that it's loading. Any ideas on where I should start looking first?
darel 14 years ago	hello i have a g4 powerbook 15" and the trackpad is very slow, and at one time it was not working at all.now the trackpad is work some times but some for my "comm" is not working on my key pad can anyone help me?? thanks!
Powerbook Medic 14 years ago	@Jim - That's a classic LCD failure called banding. You'll have to replace the LCD to fix the issue.
Jim 14 years ago	I have PB 15" where the bottom 1/3 of the screen winks out. Is this a replacement cable issue? Or is it related to the LCD?
Powerbook Medic 14 years ago	@Kyle - You can go directly into the display on this model as long as you don't need to take off the hinges for changing out cables.
Kyle 14 years ago	Just found your site - it is amazing! Anyway, my display (15" Aluminum Powerbook G4) has been gradually dying - and today it did - so I will be ordering a new one from you. But, do I need to go in the order of the videos and disassemble everything? Or do I just need to perform some of the disassembly videos to replace the LCD? Could you tell me the particular order of videos for disassembly I will need to go through to replace just the LCD? Again - GREAT site!!
Powerbook Medic 14 years ago	@John - If you removed the disk, and put it back together, the drive should unlock itself as soon as it gets power. If the drive is not getting power it is typically the cable or the drive itself. If you are sure the cable is ok and plugged in correctly, speak to customer support about replacing the drive.
John 14 years ago	I have already manually removed the disk that was in the drive. This is the new Superdrive that I got from you. If you think it is defective, I will swap it for another.
Powerbook Medic 14 years ago	@ John - You'll likely need to either replace your drive or go in and manually remove the disc from the drive. If the drive just won't accept cds, it's either got a disc stuck in the drive or is defective.
John 14 years ago	The Superdrive is not opening to let the disk in. I wonder if I didn't get it plugged in correctly. Neither the trackpad button or the eject button are doing anything.
Powerbook Medic 14 years ago	@John - you should be able to hold down the eject button or the trackpad button on startup to eject any disk in there.
John 14 years ago	OK, I pulled the hard drive but the superdrive is blocked and won't take the disk in. Any ideas? It still goes to the gray screen with the alternating question mark and system folder.
Powerbook Medic 14 years ago	@John - sometimes if the hard drive is bad and getting stuck, it can cause the optical drive to have reading problems as well. You'd really have to go in and disconnect the hard drive to see if the cd could then be read properly.
John 14 years ago	I have a Tiger disk in the drive that it won't recognize or eject. On startup, I get a chime and a grey screen and then hear a metallic scraping about every 3 seconds that I think is the hard drive. Then after about three minutes, the screen goes black momentarily, and then goes grey again with the alternating system folder icon and question mark. I have tried holding down the C and Option keys and that makes no change. Shouldn't it start up from the CD even if the hard drive is toast?
Powerbook Medic 14 years ago	@John - it really depends how far it is getting. If it starts booting and then gets stuck, it may be a problem with the operating system or drive. Boot up from your install cd, and then test it with Disk Utility from the Tools menu.
John 14 years ago	My G4 PB won't start up from disk. I just replaced the Superdrive with your drive and video. That went great but still won't start up from disk. Could a bad hard drive prevent a start up?
Powerbook Medic 14 years ago	@Josh - we don't really sell the tools to do component level repair. You need professional grade equipment to do that type of thing.
Josh 14 years ago	Do y'all offer repairs that would solve this problem? How much are we talking?
Powerbook Medic 14 years ago	@ jonathan - Unfortunately, with an issue like that there could be a number of different causes of the problem. I'd recommend getting the unit professionally diagnosed. We do offer free diagnosis with our send in service.
Powerbook Medic 14 years ago	@Josh - You can try to do that, but it is an extremely difficult procedure, so you'll need to be very skilled. It can be quite expensive though.
Josh 14 years ago	I am having a problem with my gpu on my 15" PowerBook G4 1.67 Ghz. Is replacing the logic board the only solution? I read you can re-solder the connection and it works sometimes. Is this possible?
jonathan 14 years ago	i have a powerbook g4 and it doesnt turn on for nothing i have removed all the componets and still nothing not even the battery gets any charge.
Powerbook Medic 14 years ago	@ryan - some Powerbook models it is required to remove other components first. If you do have the A1095, you won't necessarily have to remove everything in the video before removing the DC-IN.
ryan 14 years ago	When removing the dc in board, is it necessary to remove the other components of the Powerbook before removing the board, or can I simply take out the dc in board?
Larry Ryan 14 years ago	You guys are fantastic I cant thank you enough! You all ROCK!!! Video is very explicit!!!
Powerbook Medic 15 years ago	@Vince - it is a very common problem. You can try the compressed air, but the slot is most likely a goner.
Vince M. 15 years ago	I just bought a 15" Powerbook G4 (cheap!) and dimm slot 0 won't recognize memory modules. Is this common? There appears to be fine dirt particles in the connector slot, can i lightly use canned air on the connector?
Powerbook Medic 15 years ago	@Evan Paul - These are hard to come by now since everything is Intel. You'll have to try to find an old retail copy of Tiger.
Evan Paul 15 years ago	I seem to have lost my install cd. where can i get a new one?
Powerbook Medic 15 years ago	@Evan - You can get to disk utility from your install cd from the Tools menu.
Evan 15 years ago	Medic-When I put the disk utility in i get the broken folder icon. Blinking ?
Powerbook Medic 15 years ago	@Evan - The drive comes unformatted and blank. You'll need to use disk utility to erase the drive to create a partition and then you'll need to install your operating system from cd.
Evan Paul 15 years ago	I bought the hard drive from this website. Does it come plug and play? thanks for your help
Evan Paul 15 years ago	I connected everything and it powers up great, but it goes to a screen the has a blinking folder and question mark. What do i need to do?
Powerbook Medic 15 years ago	@Hugo Heriz-Smith - If I understand correctly, you're referring to the ground cable. That cable is "fed" through a screw and connected to the display frame.
Hugo Heriz-Smith 15 years ago	Hi - thanks for these helpful videos. I wonder if you can tell me where I reconnect the black cable with the ring connector that comes out of the cable going from the diversity board to the inverter board? I neglected to note this when I was replacing the LVDS cable... thanks!
Powerbook Medic 15 years ago	@Jean - There are two sets of screws, one that connects it to the base of the machine and another inside the display. If the display seems connected well to the base, but wobbles, you'll have to go into the display.
jean Laporte 15 years ago	thanks for the video , if hinges are loose how far do i have to go to get to the screws
Powerbook Medic 15 years ago	@rmgman - the hard drive video is now online.
rmgman 15 years ago	Is there a video showing how to replace the hard drive for this model powerbook?
Rod 15 years ago	Thanks for posting these cool videos. it would be helpful to know that the screws should be put in an ice tray as they are removed and labeled with the location they were removed from since most of the screws are different sizes. And be very careful with the top case/trackpad assembly cables since the connectors (especially the black square one) are very delicate. Also, never use the logic board for a leverage point. That is, never remove a connector by twisting the screwdriver against the logic board. You may accidently break off tiny components from the board that cannot easily be soldered back on. Good luck.
Scott Webber 15 years ago	Greetings, Your videos are wonderful, but for this one, I was wondering if you are setting a good example by using a magnetized screwdriver to tap memory modules & point out objects on the motherboard...? Instead, you might go the other direction and actually warn viewers about the danger of static electricity, grounding first, and grabbing RAM by the sides, rather than the chips themselves? Kind regards, ~Scott
Powerbook Medic 15 years ago	The procedure is basically the same for the A1106 with only very slight differences.
Don 15 years ago	Is the the same as an 1106?
Doug 15 years ago	Is this just an untypical day? I like the helpful videos, but they take forever to load on a high-speed connection.