I don't see it yet, so I guess I will make it my own personal challenge for the month of January 2025.
Here we go...
Day 1
I have 3 iBook G3 500MHz 12" laptops. All are in some state of dysfunction. One came from FreeGeek and two were from a lot of 4 "for parts" from eBay.
500MHz machines are all tray load.
I started by doing some troubleshooting and then some disassembly.
Keep your screws organized. I should have a magnetic pad for this.
Some issues:
1. Surprised that this thing booted and somewhat ran... all that corrosion dust inside. Was this sunk with the Titanic?
So I disassembled down to the frame.
Hit it with a poly-brush on a drill.
It removed most of the dust, but the surface is really pitted. Too much work to put this ugly frame into the spare parts machine (mentioned later), so its in one of the functional ones now.
2. Satan's Kiss? Can't be an arse-crack. Maybe it got left next to a mirror that went across the screen as the sun set? Just surface damage.
3. Ripped off trackpad socket.
I was able to solder it back on. Bad focus.
4. Black dots? Deteriorating speaker foam? No, they are plastic cones, I checked.
5. Nuts! Darn aged plastic. From the top shell/keyboard area.
Fixed it with some JB Weld, not the plastic type but it should work. Letting it dry a couple days before I insert the screws.
6. All hinges were tight/stressful. I removed each panel, dropped IPA in and flexed them to clean out a little, then put 3-in-1 oil in and flexed again. Wiped up afterwards and they are all much smoother.
7. Panel swaps. 1 panel worked with the surface damage, one panel clearly cracked, one panel did not light up on its original computer. After swapping around, it was determined that the unlit panel worked fine. I had a spare panel so I replaced the cracked one. Two machines function fine, the third one is intermittent booting, so that will be a later project or parts machine.
So for 3 flawed machines, I have two fully functional and one iffy. Not bad for a day's work.
Here we go...
Day 1
I have 3 iBook G3 500MHz 12" laptops. All are in some state of dysfunction. One came from FreeGeek and two were from a lot of 4 "for parts" from eBay.
500MHz machines are all tray load.
I started by doing some troubleshooting and then some disassembly.
Keep your screws organized. I should have a magnetic pad for this.
Some issues:
1. Surprised that this thing booted and somewhat ran... all that corrosion dust inside. Was this sunk with the Titanic?
So I disassembled down to the frame.
Hit it with a poly-brush on a drill.
It removed most of the dust, but the surface is really pitted. Too much work to put this ugly frame into the spare parts machine (mentioned later), so its in one of the functional ones now.
2. Satan's Kiss? Can't be an arse-crack. Maybe it got left next to a mirror that went across the screen as the sun set? Just surface damage.
3. Ripped off trackpad socket.
I was able to solder it back on. Bad focus.
4. Black dots? Deteriorating speaker foam? No, they are plastic cones, I checked.
5. Nuts! Darn aged plastic. From the top shell/keyboard area.
Fixed it with some JB Weld, not the plastic type but it should work. Letting it dry a couple days before I insert the screws.
6. All hinges were tight/stressful. I removed each panel, dropped IPA in and flexed them to clean out a little, then put 3-in-1 oil in and flexed again. Wiped up afterwards and they are all much smoother.
7. Panel swaps. 1 panel worked with the surface damage, one panel clearly cracked, one panel did not light up on its original computer. After swapping around, it was determined that the unlit panel worked fine. I had a spare panel so I replaced the cracked one. Two machines function fine, the third one is intermittent booting, so that will be a later project or parts machine.
So for 3 flawed machines, I have two fully functional and one iffy. Not bad for a day's work.
