[fisherKing]

this is sorta funny.
my friend will sell me his 800mhz g3 ibook cheap (i want it for mt friend's 12year old).
but...says it smells like 'sweat'..!

any idea how to 'de-odorize' an ibook (without damaging it?)

[MacinTommy]

I clean my Macbook with alcohol and cotton balls.. that might help. I know it really cleans the dirt off well.

[fisherKing]

Originally Posted by MacinTommy 

I clean my Macbook with alcohol and cotton balls.. that might help. I know it really cleans the dirt off well.

i could try that...and maybe remove the keyboard, let it air out.

am scared to actually get a hold of this ibook lol!

[Wiskedjak]

The smell is actually from the logic board. It's fairly common for the G3 iBooks. There's nothing you can do about it ... I've tried.

[fisherKing]

Originally Posted by Wiskedjak 

The smell is actually from the logic board. It's fairly common for the G3 iBooks. There's nothing you can do about it ... I've tried.

really? i've never heard of this (and i've had a LOT of friends with ibooks).

anyway will hopefully have this next week, and will report back (unless, of course, the odor kills me)...

[Wiskedjak]

Try Googling smelly ibook

[Fred33]

Wow a smelly ibook... that is crazy. So is it just dust or what? I mean why does it smell?

[Smillz]

you could hang an air freshener on it!!

[chipchen]

best we could ever figure out... (since we've worked with thousands of G3 iBooks) it's the keyboard. For some reason, the plastics age, with the grease that gets into the plastic pores, and it produces a nasty smell.

we had a box of old ibook g3 keyboards (just keyboards, no ibooks) and it smelled this way. and when people really wanted to get rid of the smell, we ordered new keybaords for them. seem to resolve the issue.

[ibook_steve]

A little deodorant under the hinges should give it that shower fresh clean feeling.



Steve

[Wiskedjak]

Originally Posted by chipchen 

best we could ever figure out... (since we've worked with thousands of G3 iBooks) it's the keyboard. For some reason, the plastics age, with the grease that gets into the plastic pores, and it produces a nasty smell.

we had a box of old ibook g3 keyboards (just keyboards, no ibooks) and it smelled this way. and when people really wanted to get rid of the smell, we ordered new keybaords for them. seem to resolve the issue.

Interesting. I had heard that swapping the keyboards didn't resolve the issue.

[Waragainstsleep]

Its always the keyboards. I suspect its the heat from the iBook slow-cooking the dirt, dust, hair and food crumbs which so often get in there.
You can check easily enough. There is no more than four small philips screws to remove an access door and you can remove the keyboard. See if the iBook smells without it.
A new keyboard shouldn't cost too much, its a question of whether or not an AASP will supply you with one or fit it for free. They shouldn't really mind since its as easy as fitting RAM, but I don't believe I've ever seen it listed as a user-serviceable part.
There should be plenty of used ones about, but no doubt many of them smell too.

If you press a key or two down, you ought to be able to see what sort of state its in regarding dirt.
People have been know to put keyboards in dishwashers. Make sure you dry it very thoroughly before use though. You could take the keys off and hand clean it. This will take time however.

[chipchen]

Originally Posted by Wiskedjak 

Interesting. I had heard that swapping the keyboards didn't resolve the issue.

Wanna smell the box of keyboards?

Obviously, like any other stink... if it's in there long enough, it can stink other things up.