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

Comments

DAVID VILLAVERA 11 years ago	THANK YOU!
Powerbook Medic 11 years ago	@tony - if the light is on solid, that is usually a logic board issue, but I would try resetting the pram first. Best way is to unplug the machine, remove the battery, and hold down the power button for 10 seconds, then plug it in and try to turn it on.
tony 11 years ago	my laptop did not want to on. though button has been pressed. but the indicator light is on. any suggest??
Powerbook Medic 12 years ago	@ed - that is usually an issue with a corrupt hard drive. you can boot up with your OS disk and go into disk utility and repair disk permissions.
ed 12 years ago	my power book turns on and shows the apple symbol and shows the loading circle but never makes it to actual start up anyone have any ideas?
Powerbook Medic 12 years ago	@Mick - the 12-inch machine does not have a separate PRAM. It is built into the main battery.
Mick 12 years ago	Very informative videos, I found but am unable to get back to the breakdown picture with information links displaying the part name. Is there a memory retention battery in the g4 aluminum?
Chris 12 years ago	That seems to have done it. Thanks so much for being available. Cheers
Powerbook Medic 12 years ago	@Chris - it is hard to say.. make sure you have removed the airport card, the hard drive (there are screws underneath the drive), and the DC-DC board.
Chris 12 years ago	I'm trying to remove the logic board on a powerbook G4 (12" aluminum. all screws have been removed, but it doesn't just lift up and out. There's something underneath, down towards where the keyboard would sit that refuses to let it come out. I'm afraid to force it for fear of breakeing something. Any suggestions?
Bob 13 years ago	I should of read Michael's comments, I cracked my logic board and busted the connectors from not removing the airport card!
Chris 13 years ago	I am working on replacing the Inverter board because my screen no longer lights up. I have removed everything including the inverter board. where does the "airoport" connect to when I am placing everything back together? or does it just go under the black thing it came out from? Confused as this is my first time reassembling a computer. Thanks!
Powerbook Medic 13 years ago	@Allesandro - you have to at least loosen up the logic board to get enough space to lift the optical drive out. You are technically supposed to remove the hard drive and logic board to get to the optical drive.
Alessandro 13 years ago	Hi, very nice and complete guide! I only have to change my combo drive. Have i got to remove the HD, the heat sink as well? Or i can proceed removing only the Optical Drive? Thanks a lot!!!
Powerbook Medic 13 years ago	@Magnus - you should be able to just screw it back in with the springs. One major design flaw with these machines is the pegs they screw into easily break which will cause a loose heatsink. There isn't a good fix for this once they break as they are attached to the logic board.
Magnus 13 years ago	Excellent guide. I was just wondering if there are any additional steps to follow when remounting the heat sink. Is it just done by screwing it back into place or is there something more to know about it in order to have perfectly seated?
K Grant 13 years ago	Do you have a video on how to apply the thermal compound to CPU and other chips under the heatsink? And what is the temp range for powerbook G4 12' aluminum 867 mhz?
Michael 13 years ago	Figured it out. Had to pull out the airport extreme. I was following the steps (I'm not a mac hardware person) and it did not cover that aspect.
Michael 13 years ago	So I'm trying to remove the Logic Board, but it feels like it is still connected at the bottom right, where the DC-DC board is located. It looks as though it is still attached to something in the "black tape" area below the DC-DC board. Watching your video, it pops out with no resistance. I don't think there are any additional screws either. Did I miss something somewhere?
laptop-barian 14 years ago	Love the video. This is my first time to take apart a computer and I pulled the connector off the logic board that held the sound plug in place (I am screaming in frustration in the background...ignore that). I am pretty good with building/rebuilding little things, so, is there any way for me to salvage my mistake? I was thinking a wicked tiny/precise soldering iron, but would appreciate any input. On the other hand, the hard drive was a breeze to replace.
Joel 14 years ago	Hi guys, Got the parts for the powerbook g4 but when removing the fan cable some of the cables came out of the plastic connector, they don't appear broken so I just pushed them back in. Do you think this will still work, for testing can you just plug back the essentials (no kboard/trackpad to test powerup or is there a chassis intrusion feature to stop powerup? I am partly to blame but I'm sure the previous mac engineer put some cables in places that made it almost impossible to access the fan cable. Some screws were missing too. Cheers
Powerbook Medic 14 years ago	@Joel - We typically recommend Carbon Copy Cloner for that.
Joel Spencer 14 years ago	Many thanks for that. What's the best software to recover files from a mac hard drive. Ideally something that could clone from the older smaller drive and expand that partition to fill the new drive's maximum capacity. The drive has sector problems if that is relevant.
Powerbook Medic 14 years ago	@joel - there is no limitation on size for the aluminums only the early titaniums. You can put a 320gb drive in this model.
Joel Spencer 14 years ago	Hey guys, great guide. I'm replacing a hard drive in a 12" powerbook g4 model a1010, it had a 60gb ide drive in it but I'm looking to replace it with something bigger. I notice you sell larger drives but I understood that the maximum partition size for this model was 128gb so would larger drives show up and what's the max size this machine can take.
boss302beav 14 years ago	any chance that the entire display with lcd / and casing all intact is interchangeable between a powerbook g4 867mhz 12 inch and a 1.33Ghz model? I have a 867mhz model purchased locally and it runs great - but needs some cosmetic help with the case and I got a 1.33ghz model of ebay for parts and it has the entire display lcd casing and bezel all intact and working - just wondering if I could disconnect my old one and swap it for this one on my 867 mhz? please let me know - thanks for any help as I am just getting in to doing all of this.
Deaf_Tech 14 years ago	Spot on video tutorial! 1+ for providing closed captioning for the deaf and hard of hearing audience! Helped me install a new HDD for a customer for a MPB G4. Kudos for having a good PowerBook website!
Powerbook Medic 14 years ago	@Ken - Yes, the logic boards should be interchangeable.
Ken 14 years ago	Any chance that the 1.33 GHz logic board will fit in the 1.0 GHz chassis? I need to replace the logic board, and I thought I might as well upgrade to a faster speed if possible.
Glenn J. Forte 15 years ago	Video is great when it runs. It constantly stopped and re-started. Very frustrating and time consuming.
heng 15 years ago	i can know why my power book g4 can"t reinstall
Maaz SaFi 15 years ago	Hello! Dears, is there a way to just to make a Broken LCD Display Screen Of Macbook A1185 Model
masa m. 15 years ago	Thank you very much for this usefull video.
Powerbook Medic 15 years ago	@Tom - It is a common problem and is just a poor design on Apple's part. Just make sure you are putting a lot of downward pressure while you try to unscrew it. After that, you'll need to get some pliers and try to hold onto the bottom so it doesn't turn.
Tom 15 years ago	I got as far as removing the Heat Sync, the two larger phillips head screws would not come out. They weren't strippet or anything, they would just spin endlessly without coming out. Anyone else experience this problem? Thanks.
Jason G 15 years ago	I tried pressing F7 and nothing. So you think the logic board? That stinks! Well I guess its time to make a trip to the apple store to buy a Macbook Pro. Thanks for the help.
Powerbook Medic 15 years ago	@Jason - did you try hitting the F7 key a few times when the external monitor was hooked up? If so and it still does not come on, it is probably the logic board.
Jason G 15 years ago	Well here's the deal. It will turn on and everything is work but the screen doesn't come on and when I plug in an external screen it doesn't come on either. I was told it was my graphics card but if you can think of anything else I'd sure appreciate it.
Powerbook Medic 15 years ago	@Jason - No, the video card is just a chip on the main logic board.
Jason G 15 years ago	is there a way to just replace the graphics card?
Powerbook Medic 15 years ago	@dean - You can try holding down Apple-Option-P-R on boot to reset. Otherwise, it is probably a cable you forgot to reconnect. If there is no backlight, it is the inverter, if there is no picture but backlight, it is the display cable.
dean 15 years ago	Fantastic help in replacing my dc-dc but now my display does not work any ideas where I may have gone wrong putting it back together.All the cables and plugs are in and seem intact.......would it be some sort of software reset.powerbook 12 dvi.Cheers
Powerbook Medic 15 years ago	@Nancy - if you are talking about the small black ones, they can be a pain. You just have to apply a lot of downward pressure and unscrew them with a small screwdriver. Once those screws get stripped, it can become impossible to get them out properly.
Nancy 15 years ago	The video is good for me up to the point where it tells me to use a phillips head screw driver to remove the two screws holding the hard drive in place. In the video, the screws move easily, but the screws in my laptop won't budge. I've tried three different sizes of phillips head screw drivers but the screws are stuck so tightly it's like they're glued in. Any ideas how I can get the screws to move?
Powerbook Medic 15 years ago	@Robert - It is most likely the LCD itself, but it could be the display cable.
Robert Foster 15 years ago	Hi, This is an amazing collection of how-to videos! I just came upon them this AM. My G4 12" monitor is showing a ribbon of about 2" on the left side where the colors are not right. the whites are blue, and the blacks are red. Any ideas of this is fixable or if I need to remove the LCD and find a replacement? this G4 has been a work horse for over 5 years and I cant imagine parting with it
Powerbook Medic 15 years ago	@David - Generally that issue is going to be caused by bad thermal paste, a bad temp sensor, or a bad logic board.
David 15 years ago	Dear Medic, I recently toredown my son's aluminum 12" G4 and removed the heatsink to apply new cpu/video heatsink paste and the laptop still starts with the fans blasting away without any video. Is there a way to find if it is the DC-DC or the logic board that is causing this event? Once in awhile, it starts OK, but will not stay active.
Jeff Gaddy 15 years ago	When the DC-in board on my 12" Powerbook G4 went out, my local Mac genius told me that replacing it would involve my shelling out hundreds of dollars. Using your take-apart videos (and the one from Apple) it cost me less than $100 (including parts and tools)! Just pay attention to that Airport card, mind your screw sizes and be careful when removing the keyboard ribbon connector, power connector and track pad connectors.
Powerbook Medic 15 years ago	@Debora - once you have the logic board out and the screws in the back right corner and the two screws inside the holes on the front of the drive (right side of the machine), it should come out easily.
Debora Palindrome 15 years ago	Thanks! I only need to remove the optical drive, but i couldn't have gotten this far without you! I'm having difficulty trying to remove the optical drive. I can't lift it "up and out".
Joe 15 years ago	Very good information. I did G4 12" optical drive, 3-4 hours but I went very slow and carefully. Played each video on my iPod as well as referenced PDF for more specific screw sizing information. 12" is tough but with the help of these guides - works perfectly! Nice to have a working optical drive again! Thanks PM...
John Pedersen 15 years ago	I found out the hard way that the airport card has to be removed from the battery bay before the logic board can be removed. Other than that, the video was great and I stripped down and re-assembled the G4 and it works!