Thread
Apple iBook G4
Specifications
1.2GHz PowerPC G4 Processor
512mb RAM (Possibly more, considering this also has onboard)
10gb Hard Disk (Came without, I only had a 10GB around)
32mb VRAM
AirPort Extreme
+ Power Adapter
Cost: Free
This machine has quite a history to it. It belonged to the IT manager and assistant principal of the school, where it was used mostly for work and some media projects for his media studies classes.
Then it died. The machine would power up, spin the fans on full blast and nothing else. It remained in a filing cabinet drawer for about 2 years.
Then I showed up. :lol:
He offered it to me if I could get it working, so I tore into it and began trying to diagnose the problem. It was the standard iBook chip heat expansion issue, so 5 minutes later, some glue and a rubber/plastic shim... (I took care here only to use non-conductive material, btw.)
She lives. It's been in testing for ages, a burn in test, heat expansion test and of course a sudden motion test. I wanted to be sure it was really working and I wasn't just dreaming. Indeed, it was really working, and it was mine.
As i'm leaving he reaches into a drawer and says "take this too". He hands me an AirPort Extreme card for it, and a Power Adapter.
Finally, after a decent charge up, the battery still works. In its life it was well looked after, always discharged and recharged fully.
Welcome to the club, iBook. I look forward to many years of service from you.
I think i'll load it up with 10.3.9. Yes, that's exactly what i'll do...
1.2GHz PowerPC G4 Processor
512mb RAM (Possibly more, considering this also has onboard)
10gb Hard Disk (Came without, I only had a 10GB around)
32mb VRAM
AirPort Extreme
+ Power Adapter
Cost: Free
This machine has quite a history to it. It belonged to the IT manager and assistant principal of the school, where it was used mostly for work and some media projects for his media studies classes.
Then it died. The machine would power up, spin the fans on full blast and nothing else. It remained in a filing cabinet drawer for about 2 years.
Then I showed up. :lol:
He offered it to me if I could get it working, so I tore into it and began trying to diagnose the problem. It was the standard iBook chip heat expansion issue, so 5 minutes later, some glue and a rubber/plastic shim... (I took care here only to use non-conductive material, btw.)
She lives. It's been in testing for ages, a burn in test, heat expansion test and of course a sudden motion test. I wanted to be sure it was really working and I wasn't just dreaming. Indeed, it was really working, and it was mine.
As i'm leaving he reaches into a drawer and says "take this too". He hands me an AirPort Extreme card for it, and a Power Adapter.
Finally, after a decent charge up, the battery still works. In its life it was well looked after, always discharged and recharged fully.
Welcome to the club, iBook. I look forward to many years of service from you.
I think i'll load it up with 10.3.9. Yes, that's exactly what i'll do...
Nice one, well done !
(P.S. I hate you) [8D]
(P.S. I hate you) [8D]
I should have seen the standard "I hate you" coming... :lol:
Pics!
iBook Powered Off (taken in IT room post repair)
iBook Started Up (taken on my home "crap desk", no hard disk fitted yet, AirPort Extreme card on the palm rest)
Pics!
iBook Powered Off (taken in IT room post repair)
iBook Started Up (taken on my home "crap desk", no hard disk fitted yet, AirPort Extreme card on the palm rest)
Nice work!
My iBook G3 had the same issue, and I fitted some plastic shims, etc. and it only temporarily fixed the problem. I kept having to add more shims until it was warping the motherboard and the plastic case. Now it sits in the drawer :/
It was a cool little iBook, my first laptop ever. Some day I'll take the motherboard out and send it to this one company who does the actual repairs for $50.
It was a cool little iBook, my first laptop ever. Some day I'll take the motherboard out and send it to this one company who does the actual repairs for $50.
For the record, the chip that had expanded was not the GPU. The G3's had GPU issues, it was a different, smaller chip on the G4. (Not sure which one, I only had a quick look) What I can tell is that unlike the G3 issue, it isn't a ball grid array solder job, just surface mount IC legs.
They look nice though and perform quite well. A bit of a statement, turning up for class with the nice white iBook in the field of Dells and HP's. Stands out.
They look nice though and perform quite well. A bit of a statement, turning up for class with the nice white iBook in the field of Dells and HP's. Stands out.
They use laptops in class now?? Or is this an IT class?
Probably a dumb question, but I thought it was all still books and pens. :
Probably a dumb question, but I thought it was all still books and pens. :
We do use books and pens, but there's an odd few who turn up with laptops just because they can. I'm one of them. :lol: With an iBook like this, I don't see why I shouldn't either.They use laptops in class now?? Or is this an IT class?
Probably a dumb question, but I thought it was all still books and pens. :
For the record, i've been offered a free 40gb hard disk for it by one of my pals at the radio station. It'll be a month before I can get it though, so i'll put the 10gb drive in for now and run Panther.
Spec Update!
I booted it off a firewire drive with Leopard. Official Specs are:
- 1.07GHz PowerPC G4
- 768mb RAM
- ATI Mobility Radeon 9200 32mb
...all others remain unchanged.
They're great computers. Damn shame about the motherboard issues - if not for that, they'd probably survive must of us.
I think you actually see more Lombards and Pismos than later models in use these days (also fantastic machines, mind) because the G3 iBooks and early TiBooks have all given up the ghost due to various design issues.
I think you actually see more Lombards and Pismos than later models in use these days (also fantastic machines, mind) because the G3 iBooks and early TiBooks have all given up the ghost due to various design issues.
alright then if you insist
i hate you
there happy now ?
I really do hate you for getting a G4 laptop for free. Seriously.
But some cash is coming in so hopefully soon I can lift off the G3 world in the line of laptops.
But some cash is coming in so hopefully soon I can lift off the G3 world in the line of laptops.
If you want a tip, and this is my advice... get to know your school/uni IT departments and administrative staff. The broken equipment will be due to throw out and if they know you're keen, they can sometimes let you have some of it.
Fix it, and you're good to go.
These iBooks are a pain to pull apart, but much simpler than comparable PC notebooks i've worked on. The Compaq Armada and IBM ThinkPad are good examples. While they work great, open them up and you'll see a maze. Open up an iBook G4 and you just need to separate the top case from the bottom case, everything else is straightforward.
10.3 is installing on the drive now. I know it has reasonable specs for 10.4 or even 10.5, but I have a soft spot for Mac OS X Panther, plus some legit Panther discs just sitting here going to no use. May as well use them.
Fix it, and you're good to go.
These iBooks are a pain to pull apart, but much simpler than comparable PC notebooks i've worked on. The Compaq Armada and IBM ThinkPad are good examples. While they work great, open them up and you'll see a maze. Open up an iBook G4 and you just need to separate the top case from the bottom case, everything else is straightforward.
10.3 is installing on the drive now. I know it has reasonable specs for 10.4 or even 10.5, but I have a soft spot for Mac OS X Panther, plus some legit Panther discs just sitting here going to no use. May as well use them.
Yes, I will get to know my IT department... Me.......
Its not easy being home schooled.
Do let us know if iTunes 8 runs on Panther.
Its not easy being home schooled.
Do let us know if iTunes 8 runs on Panther.
Well, there are some cases where getting to know the dedicated IT department are impossible... which I can't provide assistance with, sadly.
As for iTunes 8, i'll test, but I hope it doesn't work with Panther. After the iTunes 8 install on my Quicksilver desktop just about everything in iTunes slowed down. If I had the option, i'd roll it back to 7.7 but i've decided to see how the next revision goes...
Seriously - I HATE you......
... kidding - AWESOME score there. What a difference a shim makes!
... kidding - AWESOME score there. What a difference a shim makes!
Indeed, a little bit of compression on there had it running nicely. Also ensured to make sure the shim had decent heat transfer to the heat shield.
It's been up and running for about 8 hours now. We wanted to make sure this was really working, so we conducted a few tests.
- Heat Up & Cool Down
- System Burn-In
- Sudden Motion Test (rapidly swinging the machine to see if the chip could be unseated again)
- Standard Idle Test
- Teardown Test
Now to clarify the teardown test, this is where we put the machine together, let it run in for 30 minutes, then pulled it apart again, checked it over and reassembled. Even with the shim taken off, moved around, flipped over, etc the machine still works. So it's not a sensitive issue.
We did this after the sudden motion test to ensure no components had come loose. All was well.
10.3.9 is up and running on the machine now. It has given me a fairly decent reading of the battery, and the minutes are falling in time (aka. one minute of reported battery life equals an actual 60 seconds). The total life of this battery...
3 Hours, 40 Minutes. 8)
It's been up and running for about 8 hours now. We wanted to make sure this was really working, so we conducted a few tests.
- Heat Up & Cool Down
- System Burn-In
- Sudden Motion Test (rapidly swinging the machine to see if the chip could be unseated again)
- Standard Idle Test
- Teardown Test
Now to clarify the teardown test, this is where we put the machine together, let it run in for 30 minutes, then pulled it apart again, checked it over and reassembled. Even with the shim taken off, moved around, flipped over, etc the machine still works. So it's not a sensitive issue.
We did this after the sudden motion test to ensure no components had come loose. All was well.
10.3.9 is up and running on the machine now. It has given me a fairly decent reading of the battery, and the minutes are falling in time (aka. one minute of reported battery life equals an actual 60 seconds). The total life of this battery...
3 Hours, 40 Minutes. 8)
* STAB STAB STAB STAB STAB*
Totally epic score there, mate! That's kinda like how I got my Pismo; prof that I know had it sitting in a drawer for the last three years, I caught a glance at it, asked him about it, and he just up and handed it to me
But wowzers, iBook G4 for free! And a 12 incher at that! If I were you, I'd totally go for Tiger on that bugger, but that's just me
Totally epic score there, mate! That's kinda like how I got my Pismo; prof that I know had it sitting in a drawer for the last three years, I caught a glance at it, asked him about it, and he just up and handed it to me
But wowzers, iBook G4 for free! And a 12 incher at that! If I were you, I'd totally go for Tiger on that bugger, but that's just me
Really nice machine although I do hate you for getting yours for free and me having to pay over £500 for mine 
Worth upgrading the memory though if it is 512Mb. Mine shipped with 512Mb and was 'OK' - upped it to 1Gb recently and it now flies with 10.4
Worth upgrading the memory though if it is 512Mb. Mine shipped with 512Mb and was 'OK' - upped it to 1Gb recently and it now flies with 10.4
What ThinkPads have you worked with?
It turned out to have 768mb. 256mb onboard with a 512mb DDR stick in the slot.
Paws, mostly older midrange ones. I had the pleasure of working on a ThinkPad 600E and another model (700mhz processor) which i'm not entirely sure of. Can't remember the model number and I never managed to make it boot.
I aks because I've two T20s (one that's my main workhorse) and briefly had two T40s (until I returned them to the seller for a refund I never got - Chris Michael of Coventry, you are a bastard, a liar and no better than a petty thief), and I've found the all to be very decent to service. As far as PC laptops go, I don't think it gets much better than an IBM T-series. You can take them apart with one screwdriver, nothing's hidden or hard to work out. And of course (excepting the T40 models with the same ATI graphics chip that have the exact same issues as the iBooks!) they are incredibly reliable. I also very much like the UltraBay and the PCMCIA slots, when compared to the iBooks.
I recently took the HD out of a dead iBook and I hope I never, ever have to open one again, much less put it back together and hope it works! Why all the different kinds of screws? I don't understand it.
I recently took the HD out of a dead iBook and I hope I never, ever have to open one again, much less put it back together and hope it works! Why all the different kinds of screws? I don't understand it.
I had my dad's G3 iBook 900 running with only a cardboard shim... it was an ugly solution but it worked for a year until he got rid of it.
Yeah, my X61 was like that too...
The iBook G4s are good machines. I bought my end-of-the-line 1.42GHz 14" in 2004 and it hasn't let me down. I've got its RAM maxed to 1.5GB and am upgrading the hard drive to 120GB as soon as the drive shows up.
But yeah, the failure on those things is usually related to cracked solder joints in some of the little SOIC-packaged devices in the power section. It's not hard to repair, so long as you're handy with a soldering iron. Markedly easier and a virtually guaranteed repair, unlike home repair attempts of failed GPUs (or other BGA devices).
But good score. It's amazing what you can get for free when you know the right people. I got this 500MHz PowerBook G4 for free (in addition to a 400MHz model and a stack of questionable parts for some newer 1GHz 15"ers), and once I gave it a new HD and used a fair amount of JB Weld epoxy on the display to fix the broken hinge (in addition to the NGE mod), it works fine. The battery only has about 80 cycles, too.
But yeah, the failure on those things is usually related to cracked solder joints in some of the little SOIC-packaged devices in the power section. It's not hard to repair, so long as you're handy with a soldering iron. Markedly easier and a virtually guaranteed repair, unlike home repair attempts of failed GPUs (or other BGA devices).
But good score. It's amazing what you can get for free when you know the right people. I got this 500MHz PowerBook G4 for free (in addition to a 400MHz model and a stack of questionable parts for some newer 1GHz 15"ers), and once I gave it a new HD and used a fair amount of JB Weld epoxy on the display to fix the broken hinge (in addition to the NGE mod), it works fine. The battery only has about 80 cycles, too.
My icebook was a totally awesome machine. Light and fast, I could take it anywhere. Sadly, the video port died, so the other night, I ripped the motherboard out, and put in another board (also 500mhz, 66mhz bus, and 64mb logicboard ram). It worked, but something was up with the video port, it would keep popping up and coming out. I thought I could deal with it, put it all together, and used it for 30 minutes. the video kept flickering off, and gently shaking it brought it back for a few minutes, and it did it again. Eventually I got frustrated with this setup, turned it off, opened it up, and dug out my airport card, RAM, and HDD, and put them all back in my pismo. The icebook is now sitting in a pile for recycling, battery and all. I literally ripped the upper shield off to get to the HD (did not want to remove the dozen screws), and I broke part of the magnesium frame. I also did not want to deal with the 66mhz bus, which is too slow for me. 100mhz or more. It really does make a difference.
Right now I have my sights set on a 1.33ghz 12" iBook G4. Hope I get it, because this pismo is on it's very last legs. (no I don't want an aluminum 12" because Have heard they are very flimsy and they don't hold as much RAM.)
-digital
Right now I have my sights set on a 1.33ghz 12" iBook G4. Hope I get it, because this pismo is on it's very last legs. (no I don't want an aluminum 12" because Have heard they are very flimsy and they don't hold as much RAM.)
-digital
I took off my icebook's LCD altogether. It's now a desktop.
actually, I got a second icebook (where I got the logic board from), and had the screen section totally dismantled. I took the metal shield out of it, and am keeping it because it is a perfect stencil for the apple logo, plus it looks really cool.
I had hopes of turning that into a wifi mac OS 9 powered digital picture frame, but since I upgraded to WPA, I can't do that (OS 9 can't do WPA, only WEP).
-digital
I had hopes of turning that into a wifi mac OS 9 powered digital picture frame, but since I upgraded to WPA, I can't do that (OS 9 can't do WPA, only WEP).
-digital
For the record, I tried iTunes 8 on it. The installer first told me 10.4.9 was required. Even after I hacked up the installer, it was hesitant to even copy the data on to the drive.
iTunes 7.7 is the very peak for 10.3.9 by the looks of it.
After a discharge and full recharge, Mac OS X is reporting a battery life of 6 Hours, 17 Minutes. I know for a fact that's overly optimistic, especially since OS X quickly changed its tone to say 3 Hours, 30 Minutes.
Sorry to sound like i'm bragging but after nothing but crappy machines all my life (from my 386 in 1997 to my Yikes G4 this year) to even crappier laptops (386 in 2005 to 700mhz Celery this year) I am so pleased to finally have a nice machine that works, and actually works well in every way.
iTunes 7.7 is the very peak for 10.3.9 by the looks of it.
After a discharge and full recharge, Mac OS X is reporting a battery life of 6 Hours, 17 Minutes. I know for a fact that's overly optimistic, especially since OS X quickly changed its tone to say 3 Hours, 30 Minutes.
Sorry to sound like i'm bragging but after nothing but crappy machines all my life (from my 386 in 1997 to my Yikes G4 this year) to even crappier laptops (386 in 2005 to 700mhz Celery this year) I am so pleased to finally have a nice machine that works, and actually works well in every way.
it's ok man, I understand. I am still stuck back in the G3 age here, and would at least like a late model G4 'book or macbook of some flavor, but finances are zilch right now.
-digital
-digital