[iREZ]

My cuz just got the new seagate 100GB drive and asked if I would do the install, and in the process I broke this:



This piece is connected to the logic board, but it slides on and off of the logic board so what I'm wondering is if I need a whole new logic board, or could I search for this particular plastic piece and replace that instead. I'm totally clueless about this piece and don't wanna get ripped off at a repair shop. Any suggestions?

[osxisfun]

oh god. i feel for you.

if/when i buy a powerbook, i plan on buying another HD to swap out when it goes in the shop.

Were you following the apple pdf?

do you think it was the part just being low quality or were you banzai about it...


sorry to see that.

[iREZ]

just really fragile...

[jamil5454]

If you trust your hand steadiness, you could buy a soldering kit and try to solder it on yourself. I can't imagine it'd be too difficult.

[PMDaly]

OSXISFUN, why would you switch out your hard drive before it goes to the shop? If you were so worried about them seeing your illegal thangs wouldn't it be easier to just back up your hard drive and wipe it clean?

[osxisfun]

but what happens if you can not mount the drive? (and can't backup)

but using their tools apple can mount it.

paranoid i know.

maybe filevault is the answer. (or an encrypted disk image()


+you can pull your HD out of the powerbook. add it to a weibe tech firewire dock and use it on another machine while the PB is in the shop.

(near zero down time)

[PMDaly]

What if you're iRez? Seems like a little risk involved ^^

[osxisfun]

Originally posted by PMDaly:
What if you're iRez? Seems like a little risk involved ^^

I'm starting to agree. Irez's story scared me. Maybe encrypted disk image instead. (with frequent backups)

[Rampant Desire]

Originally posted by iREZ:
My cuz just got the new seagate 100GB drive and asked if I would do the install, and in the process I broke this:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v304/iRez/MESSUP.jpg

This piece is connected to the logic board, but it slides on and off of the logic board so what I'm wondering is if I need a whole new logic board, or could I search for this particular plastic piece and replace that instead. I'm totally clueless about this piece and don't wanna get ripped off at a repair shop. Any suggestions?

That sucks iREZ. How mad is your cousin?

[King_Rat]

It looks like you will have to get a new motherboard unless you are REALLY good at soldering. That stinks, but I can't see any other way to fix it. I don't know the best way to go about doing that; I see 2 options. You could buy a board of ebay or elsewhere and install it yourself (or get a friend to do it), or you could get Apple to do it, but they will charge a lot. The problems with buying the board and installing it yourself are: 1) it may be hard to get the board, and 2) you may have trouble installing it (most people find it to be a pain to take apart a laptop and properly put it back together). Of course, if you ask Apple to do it I doubt that they will cover it under warranty, and I am sure that they will charge an rather large amount to replace the board . Another option would be to sell the broken powerbook on ebay and buy a refurb or new one. I can't think of any other help that I can give you except to 'dispose' of the evidence.

[buffalolee]

Soldering with a toaster oven.


http://www.seattlerobotics.org/encod...6/oven_art.htm

[King_Rat]

Originally posted by buffalolee:
[B]Soldering with a toaster oven.

Humm... That could work out. However, there are a few issues to consider:

-There may not be enough area left on the feet of the pins to resolder (of course, there may be...)

-I don't think that you would want to put the whole powerbook in an oven... Even if you wanted to, you could not fit it into a toaster oven so you would need a real oven. I see 2 ways around this: 1) remove the motherboard prior to the procedure, or 2) use a heat gun (for those of you that have not worked with a heat gun, they are like a hair drier only much more powerful).

-Baking the board may damage it. Remember that some motherboards are made using a similar procedure (see: http://www.pcstats.com/index7.html ). You may melt the solder holding everything else on, depending on what solder they used. Also, some of the components on the board may not be made to take that sort of temperature. Using a heat gun may mitigate some of the above risks, but creates a new risk of blowing the solder around on the board.

-I hope that I don't have to tell you this, but there is a good chance that putting your powerbook in the oven would void any warranty that you have left... I can just see a tech support person saying "You did WHAT to your powerbook?!!!"

Anyway, the toaster soldering may work, but I would recommend trying it out on a few old boards that you don't care about before attempting it on your 17" powerbook.

[King_Rat]

BTW, if you need to get data off the old hard drive you can buy a 2.5" to 3.5" adapter and plug the drive into a tower style mac. However, I assume that you don't need to do this since you were installing a new drive.

jamil5454 - Hand soldering something like that is very difficult; the pins are too close together. Someone who is really good at soldering may be able to do it, but a beginner should not try it on something that complex. Normally a factory does some sort of machine based soldering or a more professional version of the "toaster oven" soldering (see my above link). Of course, if you just mess up the board a bit more it won't really hurt - you will still have to replace it. Just be sure that you don't hurt something else.

Actually, now that I think about it, you may be able to find a professional that would solder it back on for you.

[bovie]

All I would be saying is F*** over and over and over. If I has broke my laptop. I have replaced the Harddrive in my mom's ibook 2 times. I really don't like doing it. Kinda scary.

[I was David B.]

I also think that soldering can only be done by a pro. If you don't know what you do you can ruin the rest of the board (destroy other parts because of too much heat, cause short circuits etc.).

I would reassemble the Powerbook and see what part does not work any more. I cannot identify the function of the part you broke, but maybe it is only the trackpad connector that can be easily replaced by an external mouse (or the modem or etc.).

Apple will not help. They don't repair they replace. And every good workshop will do the same. Logic board replacement means 1000$.
Your last chance, if reassembling does not end up with a useable Powerbook, is to find a tinkerer whose private fun is to do these things. But I in you place would sell at eBay if nothing else works. It is astonishing how much you get for a broken Powerbook. You can also sell parts. That might end up with even more (just imagine: RAM, Display, case, optical drive, cpu, gpu - this is all expensive).

Good luck.

[iREZ]

he's filthy rich and has 6 macs to his name. he came to me with the new hd and i told him to take it to a tech for $100, he told me we should do it together...i ended up doing the whole thing and breaking the damn thing, now i have to go halfers on it. if i knew he was going to make me pay half...i wouldnt even bother trying it in the first place. i really hate life right now!!!!! (because i have to go halfers on $1000 and im a real poor ass college student, oh well...such is life).

ohh yeah and it is the trackpad cable, and i dont think the mouse issue will bug him too much cuz he uses an external all the time, but i think by messing that up its causing the pb to not start up. if there was another way of powering a pb, i'm sure his computer would be alright...

[tungtied07]

Hey,
I would 1st try looking all over ebay for parts for the motherboard. Sometimes it takes luck.
Your last resort is to try to fix it, it seems a little impossible.
How come your cuz is making you pay?!? Mistakes happen, he sounds like a filthy rich brat if you asked me, he wanted to do the upgrade with you, and you ended up doing it by yourself. You ended up accidently breaking something and he is making you pay. Hes family, he should be able to forgive and forget.. should be easier for him if he has 6 macs! P.S No Offense
I would try to talk to him and good luck!

By the way, there is a button/leads where you can short out to make the powerbook startup. If you have absolutely no way that the motherboard and computer can be saved and he can live with external, try connecting the button directly to the leads. Check the service manual for details where the leads are on the motherboard.

[bighead]

I busted the slider on that connector the very first time I opened a 17". Thankfully, the keyboard connector slides in enough that with some Kapton tape, the connector stays put. However, when you damage the whole connector, you're going to have to replace the whole MLB. Nobody I personally know could solder one of those things reliably. You're better off looking for a logic board online. Bad thing is, it may not be appreciably cheaper than paying for a Tier 3 repair through Apple.

[osxisfun]

Originally posted by PMDaly:
What if you're iRez? Seems like a little risk involved ^^

I am going to do this now:

1) Back up often
2) filevault (10.4) or encrypted disk image (gets rid of swapfile password bug)
3) open firmware password (yah. i'm paranoid)
4) Create a guest account for techs to log in as
5) apple pro care to get my machine back in 24-48 hours

http://www.apple.com/retail/procare/

6) Buy applecare before the year is up.

[bighead]

Originally posted by osxisfun
:3) open firmware password (yah. i'm paranoid)[/B]

You know it's pretty easy to circumvent this, right?

[osxisfun]

yes.

(but i am hoping the person that finds it does not.)

but that's where the filevault would come in to play if they do.

[I was David B.]

Originally posted by iREZ:
he came to me with the new hd and i told him to take it to a tech for $100, he told me we should do it together...i ended up doing the whole thing and breaking the damn thing, ...

In this case I would be merciless: He asked you, and although you gave him the correct recommendation (tech) he insisted to do it together. So he takes the risk.

Maybe you can offer further help (you already do this) but I wouldn't pay him a cent.

[Agent69]

iRez,

Unless he paid you to do the upgrade, I would say that you owe him nothing.

[iREZ]

thanks for the support guys. ill know for sure what the damage is by thursday. thing is me n my cuz are like brothers, and i still feel pretty crummy bout breaking his PB so i just want to find a resolution to this whole ordeal, we'll see what happens.

[shabbasuraj]

Frig that sux...

I say try and get it going without the trackpad....

[Maflynn]

Originally posted by iREZ:
i ended up doing the whole thing and breaking the damn thing, now i have to go halfers on it. if i knew he was going to make me pay half...i wouldnt even bother trying it in the first place.

Half and your complaining that your paying half sheesh, it was me, I'd make you pay for the whole thing. Like you said you broke it. I think its a pretty generious move on his part.

Mike

[osxisfun]

Originally posted by Maflynn:
Half and your complaining that your paying half sheesh, it was me, I'd make you pay for the whole thing. Like you said you broke it. I think its a pretty generious move on his part.

Mike

but irez told him to take it to a dealer but his friend insisted.

[Crusoe]

I would have cut off your thumb!

Dey coot off my tumb chawlie.

[StonedRose]

Put it back together with the piece dangling around the inside and send it back to apple for repair...."Oh my gosh...I had no idea...How could of that happended???"

Aloha.

[iREZ]

got the report from the "apple tech" and it seems like he's pretty confident in his soldering ability because he quoted us for only labor $90/hour and he also told us it'd be two hours tops! i totally lucked out and will never do another install unless it's my own machine. lesson learned!

[osxisfun]

BTW, you officially scared me out of me swapping HDs when i bring in the PB for work..(see my posts above)

[sonicj]

buy the part from http://www.pbfixit.com or a apple parts retailer and take the thing to a electronic specialist repair shop. its fixable... but not w/o professional tools and skill. a pro could turn that piece out in a few minutes!

[milhous]

first post under the new forum software. prety neat stuff.

sorry to hear about your problem. here's a google listing for printed circuit board (pcb) repair services. i've never used such services before, so unfortunately i can't recommend a specific company to you.

strange though, so long as you weren't brute forcing it and following directions, it should've stayed on. for all we know, it could've been a faulty soldering job. but at this point, we could never prove this.

http://www.google.com/search?q=pcb+r...en-US:official

if the part is intact, contact the firm and tell them your problem. they might be able to just use the existing part and resolder it on.

no way in hell i'd accept having to replace the logic board for something like this!

good luck.

[iREZ]

it's fixed already. the guy gave us a nice discount too...$150 ain't too bad seeing how taking it to them in the first place for the install would've costed $100.

[Ruahrc]

Hehe lesson learned I guess. Now tell me... what Apple tech replaces hard drives? I went to a local apple retailer (not an Apple store but a 3rd party place. I think they are Apple Authorized though) and asked them what the deal on replacing HD's was... they told me no way no how. In fact they did not even know that on the old Ti 15" PB's the HD was a user-replaceable part! (i.e. it was even detailed in the manual how to remove it and upgrade the HD)

Maybe that's just a carppy store. They even charge restocking fees for any returned item, etc. Not happy with the people who work there, they are not very friendly and are just interested in helping total noobs or selling you stuff.

Ruahrc

[Randman]

You got lucky. You should have given the tech an extra $20 for saving your @$$. Now, put down the tools.