Recycled Computing

Taking Apart the 12" PowerBook

- 2010.03.17

In the movie TheConeheads, Baldar is tasked to "snarful the garflax"when he returns to Remulak, the planet of his origin. Using a Titleistgolf ball and an improvised 5 iron, Baldar defeats the garflax (sort ofa Star Wars monster on a smaller scale), enabling his return toEarth.

12 inch PowerBook with keyboard removed
12" PowerBook with keyboard removed.

When you go to strip apart an Apple laptop, you have to remove thekeyboard.

Now once you remove the keyboard from my old Pismo, you have access to theprocessor, AirPort Card, RAM, and hard drive.

Not so with the 12" PowerBook G4.First, you have to take out the battery (not so tough, since mine isminus the battery cover) and take out the RAM. The RAM is located undera door on the bottom of the unit. Four screws hold it in place, andvoilà! RAM upgrades are possible.

I happened to have a 256 MB chip lying around and was able toupgrade to 384 MB. This will not be enough to run Leopard, so I mighthave to spend money! Shock! (So far, I have not had to buy athing.)

Good news, though. A 1 GB chip is available for the PowerBook G4,and combined with the 128 MB chip soldered on the board, it shouldallow for some frisky operation under Leopard.

The garflax Off comes thekeyboard, and here comes the critical part.

These two connectors handle the power to the on/off switch above thekeyboard and the lead from the speakers to the mainboard. Yes, this isthe garflax! Proceed with caution from this point on: If you ruin theconnector on the board, you will render the computer useless. (I know,you could buy a new mainboard, but really, that costs money!) Do notpull on the leads going into the connector. Be very, very afraid.

I use the smallest (and it istiny) flat blade jeweler's screw driver to get the male half of theconnection out of the female half, which is anchored to the board. I dothis very slowly and gently. This is the garflax of the wholeprocess.

Swapping the hard drive Nowyou can breath. The top cover comes off (more careful prying), and thisreveals the guts of the PowerBook. Wow, is everything packed in there!Replacing the hard drive is pretty easy. I'm going to take thisopportunity to swap out the old 80 GB drive with a new 160 GBdrive.

At this point, I am going to give you one more vital tip. There aretwo "studs" (yes, I am revealing my automotive past) that hold the heatsink to the mainboard. 2 bolts hold the heat sink to the mainboard If the bolts they screw onto (on the board) areloose, removing the studs is next to impossible. Yes, I removed them,but it was not a joyful moment. When you remove the mainboard from thebottom of the case, make sure that you tighten these bolts.

This is where I stopped figuring things out myself. From this pointon, I used the teardown instructions at iFixit and a handy video at PowerBook Medic to tear apart theG4 the rest of the way. If it wasn't for sites like these, DIYers likemyself would be lost in the woods.

My original plan was to use the LCD from a 12" iBook to replace thedead one in the PowerBook. However, the wires going from the LCD on theiBook to the inverter on the PowerBook are too short. Mr. Muzzy and Imay resort to adding some extension wires onto the LCD. However,über-editor Dan Knight is shipping me a stripped 12" PowerBookwith a working screen. I am watching the mail like a hawk!

Join us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or Google+, or subscribe to our RSS news feed

Today's Links

Mac of the Day: Yikes! Power Mac G4, introduced 1999.08.31. The only Power Mac G4 with PCI graphics was built on a modified G3 motherboard.
Support Low End Mac

About LEM Support Usage Privacy Contact

Low End Mac is an independent publication and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc. Opinions expressed are those of their authors and may not reflect the opinion of Cobweb Publishing. Advice is presented in good faith, but what works for one may not work for all.
Entire Low End Mac website copyright ©1997-2016 by Cobweb Publishing, Inc. unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. Low End Mac, LowEndMac, and lowendmac.com are trademarks of Cobweb Publishing Inc. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, iPad, iPhone, iMac, iPod, MacBook, Mac Pro, and AirPort are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. Additional company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks and are hereby acknowledged.
Please report errors to .
LINKS: We allow and encourage links to any public page as long as the linked page does not appear within a frame that prevents bookmarking it.
Email may be published at our discretion unless marked "not for publication"; email addresses will not be published without permission, and we will encrypt them in hopes of avoiding spammers. Letters may be edited for length, context, and to match house style.
PRIVACY: We don't collect personal information unless you explicitly provide it, and we don't share the information we have with others. For more details, see our Terms of Use.

Follow Low End Mac on Twitter
Join Low End Mac on Facebook

Page not found | Low End Mac Page not found | Low End Mac

Affiliates

Amazon.com
The iTunes Store
PC Connection Express
Macgo Blu-ray Player
Parallels Desktop for Mac
eBay

Advertise

at BackBeat Media (646-546-5194). This number is for advertising only.

Recycled Computing

Taking Apart the 12" PowerBook

Today's Links

Recent Content

About LEM Support Usage Privacy Contact

Welcome Image and Text

Main menu

Welcome to Low End Mac

Navigation Bar

Well this is somewhat embarrassing, isn’t it?

Recent Posts

Most Used Categories

Archives

Tags

Welcome Image and Text

Main menu

Welcome to Low End Mac

Navigation Bar

Well this is somewhat embarrassing, isn’t it?

Recent Posts

Most Used Categories

Archives

Tags

Favorite Sites

Affiliates

Advertise

Welcome Image and Text

Main menu

Welcome to Low End Mac

Navigation Bar

Well this is somewhat embarrassing, isn’t it?

Recent Posts

Most Used Categories

Archives

Tags