[ickystay]

Hi. I just got a logic board and bottom case from a 2004 15" Powerbook G4 1.5ghz notebook. I don't have any interest in rebuilding this as a notebook.

Last night I connected a monitor, HD with OSX, usb keyboard and mouse, and 65w power supply. The doggone thing would not turn on.

First I tried the power button on the keyboard (iMac G3 type), then I looked in the manual and tried shorting the little spots on the logic board. Nothing.

Is this not starting because there is no battery? If so, can I trick it into thinking there is a battery?

Maybe it has something to do with not being in clamshell mode. Can I trick it into thinking it's lid is closed?

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

[gustavopi]

Hi.
As I know macs, it will not work opened. The battery shouldn't be a problem, but if I understod you're trying to turn it on without the cover. Have a look at the borders. My macmini are connected to the case by a metalic 'shape'. The metalic case keep the balance of logic board and power may not even turn on without it.

[ickystay]

Well, the board is securely attached to the bottom case.

I don't know, I guess I was naive to think this would be easy.

[seanc]

Try and get a top case with a power button... what colour is the ring on the charger when plugged in?

[ickystay]

I bought a generic 65W charger- no LED indicator of any sort on it.

I think I do need the top case, if only to have the sleep sensor thingy that reacts to the magnet behind the display.

After buying the logic board, charger, HD, optical drive, and a DVI/VGA connector, I'm heading into "could have bought a working one for that" territory. Ha, I bet I'm not the first slob this has happened to!

Guess I'll just relax and wait for a cheap top case to spring up on ebay or craigslist.

[shdwghst457]

have you tried resetting the PMU? i agree with gustavopi that most macs don't like running open but that's not always true. especially if it's just the top case, from what i understand the display assembly is missing but just lacking a top case shouldn't prevent booting.

and as far as the g3 iMac keyboard with the power button, the 1.5GHz -might- be too new for that power button to do anything as apple changed the internals so it wouldn't work somewhere along the line. i know my cube (2000) works with that power button, as does my g4 graphite power mac, but these are macs in the 400 to 500 mhz range. i've been wanting to research exactly where the cutoff point is for macs that turn on with this keyboard.

[commandtab]

If the power button connects via a separate connector near the upper right, you could try shorting those two pins as well, though, the two bare spots elsewhere on the logic board usually work...