PowerBook Circuit Board Question

Hi Everyone. I bought a POwerBook 12 inch laptop in 2005. I need a new circuit board because it is busted and the computer won't turn on. It is 800 dollars to repair it. I don't have enought money to buy a new MAC (which eventually I will do).
I am looking at this Dell (which has 3 Gigs, I think my powerborok has 1 or 2 tops).
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9123584&type=product&id=1218027599 434
Should I pay the 800 dollar repair? I'm worried that another major problem will happen because I don't have a warranty on it and everyone says to get a new computer because the computer isn't even worth 800 dollars. By the time I buy the Dell and upload my MAC files and pay for warranty it will be around 850-900. What should I do?

clevelandbrowns2008:
Welcome to Apple Discussions.
I would not put that kind of money into an Aluminum PowerBook G4 12" that has logic board problems. You can buy a used one on eBay for less than half that amount, and a used MacBook for something in the neighborhood of $1000. However, although I would not put that kind of money in trying to revive a PB G4 with a bad logic board, I would not settle for a PC, either.
cornelius

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My story may be a bit long and roundabout, so please try and bear with me as I explain.
My PowerMac G5 is 4.5 years old and over the past few months, the DVD and my secondary internal hard drive, both the originals that came with my computer, have been slowly dying. I finally replaced the DVD drive the other day and was little by little copying the data off my secondary internal drive before it completely failed. One thing that seemed to help the internal drive run more smooth was unplugging the power cable and plugging it back in. A worker at an Apple store's Genius Bar also suggested swapping each internal drive to the bay that the other was originally in, to see if that helped at all.
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Thanks!

Lot's of good question Will,
Hard drives are not what they used to be, if your work is important I'd replace them every 3 years & have 2 backups in the meantime.
I doubt you can get the circuit boards separate without buying a while questionable drive.
If I'm able to get a new circuit board, how easy is it to replace myself? The guy at Digital Society did it very quickly and for a price of $120.
1 TB 3 year warranty $99...
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Samsung/HD103SJ/
1 TB 7 year warranty...
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Samsung/HE103UJ/
More cheaper drives...
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/hard-drives/3.5-SerialATA/WesternDigitalCaviar

HELP Shorted circuit board?

i have a ipod video 30 gb and it was screwed up all of the sudden it had the sad faced error message and the hard drive just kept clicking. so i opened it up and took out the hard drive (following a do it yourself site) to reset the disk maganger. when i did that i removed the battery ribbon from the clip and when i put it back in i accidentally put it in backwards. sure enough the **** circuit board and face cover in the area of the battery connection heated up pretty **** hot(a short). i put it all back together properly but now it wont turn on or reset. But when i plug it in it says please wait battery very low. But it justs charges for ever and ever. Did i fry my board? is that replaceable without warranty? why was the harddrive clicking before and is the battery still gona be okay? lots of questions but advice is much appreciated!

You can do a search for iPod repairs. Most of the companies will give you a quote on the repair price.
Mort

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I am trying to splice 4 wires out of the RS232 serial cable (the 9-pin type) and wire them to a circuit board. The 4 wires would control 4 signals: DataIn, DataOut, SerialClock, and ChipSelect. The serial clock would synchronize the DataIn and the ChipSelect is asynchronous. DataOut must coincide with SerialClock also; therefore there are 3 signals that must be able to switch concurrently. All the handshaking enabled by RS232 is thus unnecessary in my opinion. Does anyone know of how this can be done?

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Broken coax cable from circuit board to Airport Extreme

I picked up this 1.25Ghz-DP/1024MB/FW800 off the internet knowing that it did not come with either the Airport Extreme or the Bluetooth (1.1) module. No big deal, since I have an AE and would be looking for the BT Module. To my surprise, its "AE/Bluetooth-ready" status was compromised by the removal of the AE card using a pair of side cutters (or some other crude cutting tool), leaving a frizzy antenna cable running back down into the space between the chassis and the case. It would appear that the BT antenna is intact, for what it is worth.
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Thanks---Dave Iverson

Hi Dave,
Here is a third-party external extension antenna that might replace the existing stub:
http://www.macwireless.com/html/products/antennas_boosters/whips.php
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Danny,
Welcome to Apple Discussions!
Looks like the above product should work for an iMac. Check the list of instructions on the page I linked to see if they list your computer. I suspect you have to take something apart to run the cable. Also check the iMac G5 forums to see if someone there has already figured it out for that model. The iMac G5 hardware is nothing like the G4 mini-towers that are the subject of this forum area, so your chances of getting the right answer for your specific computer are better in the other forum I linked.
If you are having trouble figuring out how to start your own thread (so many people do that I must ask), see this Apple info:
http://discussions.apple.com/ann.jspa?annID=650
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There are several. Gerbv, MCN Gerber Viewer, Kicad and more. I have a list at:
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What is it? Mystery circuit board??

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I think you might be right but I'll take it apart again tomorrow and have another look - why would one iMac have on and not the other one (and not the one in the service manual)?

Automated tester of circuit boards

I am developing code in labview to perform automated testing on various circuit boards. If you take a look at my program so far I am using stacked sequence that performs various steps in each sequence with various time delays. As you can see a lot of the same tests are performed over and over again such as checking ACC Cold, Ignition Cold, and +12V Machine. You can also see that I have an LED on the front panel for everytime one of those are checked, ideally though what I want is just one LED for each of those tests that will come on and off between each step/sequence to let me know that each step is performing the way it is supposed to. Also what I have not yet been able to figure out is how at the end of the testing to turn off all the LEDs that are still on because currently they stay on permanently until I exit out of labview and get back in. Also you can see that in each stacked sequence I have a text box saying what is going on, I know there is a way to have that message displayed on the front panel and have it change between every sequence...eventually I want to have error messages put in place so if one of the steps failed such as checking the ACC Cold an error message would pop up on the front panel. I know this is a lot but if you have time take a look at my program attached and give me some feedback.
Attachments:
650-40211 Auto.vi ‏2457 KB

I also noticed frame 4 "Apply: +12V Machine Wait: 1.5 sec". I once learned long time ago that this is the wrong way of doing it, because you might end up with "Wait: 1.5 sec Apply: +12V Machine ". Since you have no control of the execution order in this case. This because there are no dataflow between the "Apply: +12V Machine " and "Wait: 1.5 sec" functions. A frame should be used in this case
Besides which, my opinion is that Express VIs Carthage must be destroyed deleted
(Sorry no Labview "brag list" so far)

My imei number in my iphone 4 circuit board doesnt match my box or sim tray,when i go into itunes,preferences,devices and wave the mouse over the iphone,it doesnt tell me my imei number and my phone wont turn on too check it that way,any ideas?,

i need help to find my imei number in i4,phone wont turn on tried all reset procedures,sim tray different to circuit board as advised by apple when it went back for warranty,cant view in devices in itunes either,any ideas?

Try doing a restore in recovery mode or what is known as DFU.
Instructions to boot into DFU can be found here:
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Once in DFU mode, plug into iTunes and click Restore.
I know you said you tried all reset procedures, but I want to be sure.
Note: This will delete all your data on the Phone, hopefully you have a backup.

6233 circuit board fried

i don't know if this has happened to any of you in the past. my 6233 went off by itself last week and refused to stay on past 5 seconds after that. brought it in to a mobile center to flash but when i went there today was told that the circuit board was damaged. don't know how it happened and this was the first time i experienced this. the phone has never gone anywhere near water and have never been opened. do i have to resort to buying a new phone or is there still hope in getting it repaired.
everything happens for a reason
check out my blog @ http://mycellife.blogspot.com/

25-Sep-200709:52 PM
6280 wrote:
Ok.
Did the phone have an original battery?
Did you knock it or anything?
I think there is hope in getting it repaired because it wasn't your fault wasn't it...?
i have the original battery and it was never knocked or even come close to water. this is so strange. but i don't believe these guys 100% because the alarm still function. it comes on when it alarm with display, and then when i turn off the alarm its dead again.
everything happens for a reason
check out my blog @ http://mycellife.blogspot.com/

Powerbook 12" display question

Hi all
I recently bought a 1.5 Powerbook computer from someone. I was told before I bought it; that the screen was dim and you can faintly see things in the Finder. The person that I bought it from told me that she took it to the apple store and they said that it was the inverter board that was the problem.
After I bought the computer, I took it home and started to troubleshoot the problem. Well, the display is definitely faint. However, about a third of the display (from about the middle to the lower part of the display) is completely black.
I haven't hooked up the powerbook to an external monitor. If I assume that the person who I bought it from told me the truth about the Apple Store looking at the computer, that they would have done that to eliminate that possibility.
My question is this. Since the lower portion of the screen is completely dark (and the upper half is faint), would the problem be the inverter board or the actual display?
Also, I have another 12" powerbook (it is the 867 model) that is disassembled at the moment. Would it be possible to take the connector from that display and somehow put it in the 1.5 model's logic board in order to see if the display would come on?
Another question: if it is the inverter board and not the screen, would I have to take the whole display out in order to get the inverter board? I noticed in the powerbook-medic's video take apart guide; that he only goes as far as to removing the display in his video and doesn't show the removal of the inverter. I know that after you take out the LCD, you have to disengage the airport part from the inverter from his take apart manual. Any thoughts on this for advance precautions?
Thanks in advance for your time in reading this.

Well, so much for the previous questions
Anyway, I decided to buy a used display on Ebay. The person I got it from has 100% feedback and has done many auctions.
In any event, after taking the powerbook apart once again, I put in the new (used) display in. I also put in my hard drive from another aluminum powerbook machine (12" 867). When I booted the machine, I didn't see anything on the screen. All I heard was a low long beep for a couple of seconds.
I decided to put in another RAM chip and the original hard drive from the 1.5 machine. I started up the machine and noticed that it was doing the SAME thing that it was doing with the other screen. It was giving me a faint desktop.
I took the machine to work and tried it again with an external monitor once again. It works with an external display.
So, before I email this woman and tell her that she gave me a display with a bad inverter board. Would it be possible that there is something else wrong other than the display.
BTW, I did the P RAM thing and reset the power manager.

PowerBook G4 12" Question

Hello,
I currently have the latest revision of a 12 inch PowerBook - this is my first laptop computer. I was wondering if using an external display will prolong the life of my PowerBook's LCD display. If it does, would keeping the lid closed and using an external display most of the time be bad for the internal components of the laptop?
Thanks for your time,
Vladimir

I was
wondering if using an external display will prolong
the life of my PowerBook's LCD display. If it does,
would keeping the lid closed and using an external
display most of the time be bad for the internal
components of the laptop?
Really good question.
Some people say LCDs slowly loose their brightness as time goes by, so using an external display could slow down that aging process.
On the other side, a closed screen will be exposed to more heat from the CPU which in return might not be that good.
Said that, many people are using their computer with the screen closed. Some have actually disabled the "go to sleep" function when closing the lid, so the PB continues rendering their video projects or whatever.
My advise:
USE IT!
I know, that when reading these trouble shooting boards, you get a false perception of reality. Knowing what could possibly go wrong, I guess I've become one of those super careful users as well.
Still, if you have the opportunity to use your 12" screen and an external display, use both! Screen real-estate is one of the best things to have and will make you more productive. I don't thing it's worth it, trying to extend the life of your built in LCD by that method. Assuming there would actually be a difference in the long run, in 5 years your Powerbook will be outdated anyway.
Enjoy it as much as you can today.

Old printer's circuit board design

Do you guys at HP ever release confidental data of old products?
I have an old HP PSC 2500 and I would like to use some of its parts to build my own 3D printer.
Therefore it would be amazing to be able to use the printer's original controller board with it's powerful
133MHz processor and reprogram it with some homebrew 3D printing software. (I think of all the great features I wouldnt have to rebuild myself: Ethernet, Wi-Fi, USB, Motor & Sensor interfaces, Power Controlling unit)
But for this Project I would need the circuit scheme of the Controller Board or the low level functions source code and some hint on how to connect the board's programming plug.
If you're not going to release any of these information (which is regrettably very likely) please tell me at least the part number of the microprocessor of the printer. (Or provide me with an email address of someone who can help me with my question)
Remember that I need this only for private use.
to learn more about homemade 3D printers visit this site

<...>
Here is part of his earlier post for general info:
As for the mosiac, some cameras were getting that in
RAW conversion. I do not think the update patched any
RAW conversions, that will probably coem with an OS
update that should also be along any day now. then
you may see some imrovement, though again it would
depend on what they update and what camera you have.
<...>
Yep, that ended up being slightly wrong as it turned out there really was no update of RAW decoders in 1.0.1 - they spent some time on it instead and thus we have 1.1 coming up, which defiantley has RAW decoder updates for at least some cameras.

Powerbook and pc question

I am moving into a new place with a friend. We are getting comcast and I have a powerbook and airport extreme basestation and he has a PC. We are getting comcast and vonage. I am wondering will it be hard to hook this all up. I mean will I need a router? I am just confused because, i've never hookup a pc and mac before to the same internet connection. Plus I have wireless and he does not so not sure about my airport basestation.

Bizarre!
I wrote a reply to this question and it disappeared.
No problems connecting the everything together. The airport has an ethernet port in the back and a wan port.
The cable modem goes into the back of the wan port. Vonage into the ethernet. the vonage router has a couple of ports to make up for the one it is taking up.
The PC will plug into the back of the vonage router and the PB wirelessly to the Airport. Should the Vonage router not have a spare port - they may have changed things - then in the worst case you just need a 4 port wired router - they are pretty cheap, Netgear Belkin etc - I find Circuit CIty has them quite cheap.
That's it. Both machines will access the internet perfectly happily as the internet is platform independent - doesn't matter if you have a PC or a Mac. I'm wired up almost the same way at home - only diff is that I have a Belkin wireless router 4 ports ($10 from C City!) plugged into a linksys vonage router into which the cable modem also plugs - this works fine for me. The beauty of routers is that you can daisy chain them - that's networking!
I hope that helps.
Best of luck
I just realised this was posted in two areas - not the best thing to do unless you don't get a response to an initial inquiry - just clogs the whole system and complicates searches.
As well as diluting the knowledge base.

PowerBook Circuit Board Question

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