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PowerBook Upgrade and Repair Guides
kwiens writes "We had such a positive response from Slashdot with our Free-As-In-Beer Mac disassembly instructions last time around, we decided to do it again: We've made six more FixIt Guides, perfect for those intrepid road-warriors who refuse to trust anyone else to work on their 'Book. Now there's nothing stopping you from trying that LNO2 overclock on your PowerBook-- or just a hard drive upgrade. The new Guides have professional photos, a new GUI design, and screw guides (no, not this). Guides are now available for all iBook G3, PowerBook G3, and PowerBook G4 models (including the oft-requested 12, 15, and 17 Aluminum 'Books)."
When my fan kicks in (playing a movie or similar), it sounds like a small jet. Anyone hear about ways to reduce the noise level of the fan?
Unable to read configuration file '/bigassraid/htdig//conf/14229.conf'
Geocrawler error message.
Those who want to upgrade or repair their Macs don't understand what liberal Apple is - a company that manufactures computers whose workings are impenetrable and hidden (i.e. information hiding), like parts themselves are in other PCs.
That's a good point, even though your other sentence is a little weird. It also makes me wonder what enthusiasts (like those here on Slashdot) see in Apple. Sure, OS X is a great OS, but Macs as hardware disempower the hobbyist compared to equivalent devices. Same goes for the iPod, whose HDD is deliberately inconvenient to move files from. While their quality is unquestionable, Apple's products perform functions not only without the user needing to understand how they work but where understanding how they work does not extend the user any extra power. That might be considered very good design, but to geeks, who get a kick out of the power of knowing how things work, you wouldn't think it would be so attractive.
I bought an iBook G4 fairly recently, and I'd like to upgrade the hard disk. I note that my laptop isn't included in the list on pbfixit.com. Does anyone know if it's feasible to do home upgrades on a recent-model iBook? Or if not, is there anywhere (in the UK) that will do it for me? :)
I've replaced the case on my aging rev-a 400mhz (hacked to 500) tiBook
You 'new-skool' alBook (HATE that moniker, and the new PB case) don't know how good you got it
I keep 'wanting' to upgrade (as if I could afford it) to a new powerbook, but then I keep 'wanting' some x86-mfr to take the design bait and lure me back to cheap territory with even sexier case specs, too
; -- the corruption of government starts with its secrets. a truly free people keep no secrets. --
It also makes me wonder what enthusiasts (like those here on Slashdot) see in Apple [equipment].
It's well designed, stylistically pleasing, functional and high performing.
Sure, OS X is a great OS, but Macs as hardware disempower the hobbyist compared to equivalent devices.
Mainly if you're a hobbyist modder who goes in for xenon lights on their fans. There's nothing wrong with doing so but is everyone meant to hobby around building their computers from parts?
I speak from experience when I say some hobbyists like to (eventually) spend time doing stuff other than bolting together cases, power supplys, and mainboards, and then ducting cables through paths to miss the fans, then spend a few days monitoring temperatures to make sure they've got it right.
I've built a few PCs in my time but am now a bit bored with it all and prefer instead to get quality machines straight from the factory floor instead of the work room, and devote the time saved to actually working on the machine rather than for it.
But anyway there's tons of modding going on in the Mac world - look at the cult of "Cube modding" which has seen 1.x GHz chips put into Cubes that only ever went up 500 MHz when Apple sold them.
Same goes for the iPod, whose HDD is deliberately inconvenient to move files from.
Doesn't make sense - FireWire mode is a breeze. Unless you're talking about ripping out the CF drive to use in a digital camera. Er, so?
While their quality is unquestionable, Apple's products perform functions not only without the user needing to understand how they work but where understanding how they work does not extend the user any extra power.
Yes, it does. I put a 10,000 rpm SATA Raptor drive in a mirrored door PowerMac G4 that was only ever designed for IDE drives, and by doing so cut many intensive disk operations times in half. My understanding of SATA-to-IDE interfacing extended directly to extra power, even on a Mac.
That might be considered very good design, but to geeks, who get a kick out of the power of knowing how things work, you wouldn't think it would be so attractive.
A lot of geeks also appreciate good design, and knowing how difficult it can be to come up with one, appreciate it even more.
This is quite cool.. when I bought my clamshell iBook (used) years ago, it was very cheap because of a damaged DC-in power jack. The soldering had come loose on the inside, and you have to apply pressure to the plug to make it charge (I use rubber bands to charge it - very ghetto). Apple wanted hundreds of dollars to fix the jack, as the computer was out of warranty when I obtained it.
Rubber-banding it all this time, I'd been planning on a hack to solve the jack problem - but this site has complete instructions for replacing the DC-in jack, as well as where to buy a new jack! Perfect.
I've done HD replacements in a PowerBook that was still under warranty at the time. It was even a thicker HD than the ones Apple uses (12mm instead of 9.5mm 2.5" drives) so it was pretty obvious that it wasn't the default drive. Drives are not part of the CIPs for PowerBooks, so technically, it may have been something I shouldn't have done. The FireWire port (on the motherboard) was fried about a year later (just shy of the 3-year warranty period), and Apple gladly replaced the entire motherboard free of charge with fast turnaround (through an Apple Reseller). Apparently, if your upgrades don't break something through your ignorance, Apple doesn't really care what you do. The take-home lesson here: go ahead and tinker all you want, just make sure you don't break something where you're not supposed to be. Warranty shouldn't be negatively impacted.
"I like systems, their application excepted", George Sand (French)
Considering how Apple treats it's customers that did not shell out the several hundred bucks for Apple care those guides are badly needed.
My PowerBook (a 550) had several dead pixels, and I reported this to my local apple reseller after 18 months. They told me to call apple support, so I did.
I talked for 5 minutes to a lovely girl on Ireland, she mailed me an "extended warranty" something paper, and then Apple (through my local store) replaced my screen for free. The warranty had expired 6 months ago, and they still did it for free.
The lovely irish girl only asked one question, "Were there any dead pixels on the screen before the warranty expired", and i (truthfully) answered yes. End of discussion.
Apple does take good care of non-Apple-care customers as well.
Probable impossibilities are to be preferred to improbable possibilities.
Aristotele
You're supposed to get in there from the bottom... it's really not hard.
It never ceases to amaze me how someone posting a helpful link on /. turns into a bunch of self-professed "experts" commenting on something with which they obviously have absolutely no experience.
I would like to point out not a single one of the "it will void your warranty" people relay an account of being denied warranty service on an Apple computer. It's all just a bunch of hypothetical neck-talk.
What we do see in the realm of actual experience is that cracking the case in fact did not void Apple's warranty. I would like to add my actual experience here.
With my old TiPB, I actually followed the instructions in the manual for replacing my hard drive. I installed a non-factory 7200 RPM drive (not even offered on the PB I had), without an Apple sticker on it. While I was in there, I completely disassembled the unit, just to feed that kid inside me that wants to take everything apart. Put it back together, no screws left over, btw.
Months later, I sent it DIRECTLY to Apple for a warranty repair. It was repaired and sent back to me. In less than 3 days, I might add (that was a jab at all the other "experts" that say Apple doesn't repair quickly). Not once did they mention the user-servicing of my system. Oh, and they did throw in a new battery because the foot had come off the battery.
cat
That is customer service. Note that this is also the only time ever that I had any problem with the Apple customer service, and it ended beautifully.