Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

megasad · 10:21 PM

I have a 600MHz iBook, Late 2001 model, and the display bezel is coming away from the bottom of the screen, as shown in this photograph:

The LCD flickers a little, but is otherwise fine. If I were to buy a replacement bezel (front bit, hinge, cables, microphone and AirPort aerial), does anyone know how hard it would be to combine that with the LCD display? I'm fine with taking the iBook itself apart, have done so before and plan to do so soon to put a 60GB hard drive in there. But the Apple Service Manual doesn't include instructions on how to take apart the display module, and so I ask here; anyone know of any online guides?

Also, as I understand it, the display bezel includes something called an inverter board, and that this might be the cause of the flickering LCD. I know that when the screen flickers, tapping the display just about where it says iBook seems to stop it flickering. Can anyone confirm this?

Also also, does anyone know whether wegenermedia.com are reputable to buy this part from? I was going to buy off of eBay and then I found this site in a random Google search and it seems to be both cheaper and have new parts... Anyone know if they ship to the UK?

Thanks all. I will make iBook Swan live again!

MARINEOSX · Nov 12, 2004, 04:12 PM

To be perfectly honest with you I have no idea. How did it happen? I think that it might be worth it to replace the whole thing. can you not fit the bezel back on to the L.C.D.? also I will take some pictures and put them on here for you on how to remove the case for it and then you will have to go from there and figure out how to fix it k?

megasad · Nov 12, 2004, 06:17 PM

Originally posted by MARINEOSX:
To be perfectly honest with you I have no idea. How did it happen? I think that it might be worth it to replace the whole thing. can you not fit the bezel back on to the L.C.D.? also I will take some pictures and put them on here for you on how to remove the case for it and then you will have to go from there and figure out how to fix it k?

A couple of years ago now, I was using my iBook on the sofa with it plugged in to charge the battery, my sister walked by, snagged the cable, iBook went flying onto the floor, what you see is the result. I tried taking off the back of the display, but could see nothing doing there, and the bezel is bulging away from the screen, so glue would not help.

I tried buying a whole display module replacement last week but it turned out that the guy had painted over the clear plastic case with white emulsion paint... So I returned it, and am looking at alternatives to spending ~�115 on a whole new display if I can spend just ~�50 and put a little work in myself.

If you mean photos of how to disassemble the whole of the display module, including taking out the LCD panel and all the wires and such, then I'd appreciate that very much.

winwintoo · Nov 12, 2004, 06:43 PM

Hey! I have the exact same iBook!! And my screen looks exactly like that too. One of the kids dropped it on the floor - the sturdy little thing kept right on computering, but you can't move the screen any more. I dropped it off at the shop - I hope they can do something with it.

I'll follow this and hope you find a solution. If the shop wants too much, I'll just duct tap it together and leave it open all the time as a second computer.

I don't have any advice sorry,

Margaret

megasad · Nov 12, 2004, 07:16 PM

Originally posted by winwintoo:
Hey! I have the exact same iBook!! And my screen looks exactly like that too. One of the kids dropped it on the floor - the sturdy little thing kept right on computering, but you can't move the screen any more. I dropped it off at the shop - I hope they can do something with it.

I'll follow this and hope you find a solution. If the shop wants too much, I'll just duct tap it together and leave it open all the time as a second computer.

Mine is not so badly hurt; I can open and close the display, it even latches closed, but it pops open very easily, the bottom of the display pushes against the bottom of the iBook.

Basically, I'm trying to fix my iBook up so that it works and looks the same as, if not better than, when I bought it three years ago. I replaced the 15GB hard drive with a 20GB one when the 15GB died, and recently added an AirPort card and a new keyboard (the space bar on the old one was broken). So, now I've got a 60GB drive and all I need is to fix the screen. Anyone know how to take that pesky display apart / a good place to buy a replacement screen?

MARINEOSX · Nov 12, 2004, 08:03 PM

I put this page together for you I hope it helps a little.

http://modapple.blogspot.com/2004/11...-bezel_12.html

megasad · Nov 12, 2004, 09:13 PM

Originally posted by MARINEOSX:
I put this page together for you I hope it helps a little.

http://modapple.blogspot.com/2004/11...-bezel_12.html

Thanks very much for that. It seems like I'll have to take a whole lot of photographs of the display when I take it apart and also keep all the screws arranged in the same position as I take them out, like I did when I took the machine itself apart last time.

At the moment, after reading this page, I'm thinking of just buying a new bezel (for $39.50) and a "Reed Switch with Cable" for $20. Assuming I can put it all together, that's only about �33 for the parts, though of course there'll be shipping costs as well.

I'm going to post a bunch of links here now, so that I can find them later:

- iBook Sticky Hinge and Flickering Screen Repair
- The iBook's Dirty Little Secret
- [rescue] ibook disassembly
- iBook screen hinge design
- 90 degrees and black out!!!!

winwintoo · Nov 24, 2004, 11:37 AM

An update on my iBook. I took it to the shop and they installed a new bezel for me - total cost $107 CAD. I was very pleasantly surprised!

I was afraid it was going to need a whole new screen, but they were able to replace just the bezel and get it working again with no problems.

I hope you had good luck with yours too - post an update when you get it working again.

Margaret

MARINEOSX · Nov 24, 2004, 04:58 PM

Awsome! I am glad that everything worked out for you.

audvidsvs · Nov 25, 2004, 04:17 PM

I recently had one that has the same look as the one you pictured here.
Based on my experience I would think your hinge is broken.The way the inge is made it does not take much of a drop to cause the arms to break near the hinge point and this will cause the gap between the screen and bezel pictured here.

I bought thhe hinge I needed from Wegener Media and Divid is great to deal with. I have also bought from him before.

The removal and rebuild is a pain in the ass but is do-able if you take your time. I recommend trying it in one sitting so you can keep it fresh in your mind how everything sits in the case. It only goes back together one way and is easy to break parts and wires if not exact about this.

I have repaired a lot of electronics and I would not suggest trying this one unless you are practiced with it.

Good Luck
Ed

megasad · Nov 26, 2004, 10:14 PM

Originally posted by winwintoo:
...I hope you had good luck with yours too - post an update when you get it working again.

After returning the emulsified screen and getting my money back, I bought another one on eBay, apparently taken off of an 800MHz G3 model, for $230, or about �120. It arrived on Thursday and I fitted it on my iBook on Friday and now I have an iBook that is 100% shiny.

The screen is much brighter than my old one, seems like it was hardly used. It's brighter than my girlfriend's 12" PowerBook and that was bought new in June!

I fitted the 60GB hard drive and put the 20GB one in a bus powered enclosure. I wanted FireWire, but the �30 price difference made me choose USB 2.0. It's nice and fast, the only pain being that, whilst I can use any "camera" USB cable to connect it to my eMac, I have to use the weird double-headed USB cable to connect it to my iBook or a PowerBook; seems like the USB ports on laptops don't provide enough juice.

Anyway, back to the iBook, here's a couple of photographs of what it looked like all taken apart:

I'll take some shots of it all put back together tomorrow.

Since buying it in September 2001, I've replaced the 256MB RAM I originally bought with a 512MB chip, fitted an AirPort card, replaced the battery, the keyboard, the hard drive (twice) and now the screen. However, because the case on the new screen I bought was an ever-so-slightly different shade of white from my old one, I swapped them around; makes it seem like I've not changed quite so much. The new screen fits better than the old one too, sitting flush with the base all the way around, rather than being a few mm higher on the right than on the left. It opens smooth now, rather than jerky.

Removing the rubber feet a few times weakned the little plastic rings that go between them and the metal, but some UHU glue has sorted that out.

At one point after I'd put it back together, it seemed like I had pinched the microphone cable, as I got a buzzing noise whenever I recorded anything using the internal microphone. However, a reboot later, all is fine, the microphone and AirPort antennae work perfectly.

I considered replacing the DVD-ROM drive with a Combo-Drive, but I hardly ever burn CDs as it is, can use my eMac whenever I need to, and because I made the firmware on the DVD drive version free, it's useful for watching DVDs from many countries.

So, it is done. Back on the shelf with it, until Christmas, when I go visit family and I can take it along, fully restored, with enough space on the hard drive to actually store most of my stuff. Huzzah!

MARINEOSX · Nov 27, 2004, 07:42 AM

Awsome glad that you figured it out. Not as hard as you thought? The hardest part for me when I upgraded my hard drive was just keeping an eye on all the damb screws.

I know haow you feel I filled the 40 up way to fast and with my 80 I can't fill it up. Do you have any pics of the screen broken down?

megasad · Nov 27, 2004, 09:12 AM

Originally posted by MARINEOSX:
Awsome glad that you figured it out. Not as hard as you thought? The hardest part for me when I upgraded my hard drive was just keeping an eye on all the damb screws. I know haow you feel I filled the 40 up way to fast and with my 80 I can't fill it up. Do you have any pics of the screen broken down?

The hardest part was routing the screen cables, and that wasn't too hard, just I didn't pay enough attention to how they were originally routed, so I kind of made that part up. As I said, I've taken it apart before, so I knew what I was doing for most of the time.

To keep track of all the screws and tiny parts, I cleared me a whole lot of floor space and simply laid them out in the position they went in the iBook.

I didn't actually change the bezel or anything like that, simply swapped the screens around and then changed the outer case. Here's a photo of the screen without its case:

And here are a few photos of my fixed up iBook:

winwintoo · Nov 27, 2004, 10:38 AM

Hmmm maybe now wouldn't be a good time to tell you that the guys in the shop fixed my iBook for a $30 part and 2 hours labor = $107 CAD total.

Margaret

megasad · Nov 27, 2004, 12:05 PM

Originally posted by winwintoo:
Hmmm maybe now wouldn't be a good time to tell you that the guys in the shop fixed my iBook for a $30 part and 2 hours labor = $107 CAD total.

Margaret

That's okay. After I sell the old screen, this should only leave me about �60 out of pocket, which is only a little more than you paid, plus I get a brand new really-fudging-bright, non-flickery LCD.

MARINEOSX · Nov 29, 2004, 11:26 PM

I want that shell really bad do you have an extra?

megasad · Nov 30, 2004, 05:38 PM

Originally posted by MARINEOSX:
I want that shell really bad do you have an extra?

If you mean the top case that goes on the screen, I do indeed have a spare one, though I was planning on selling it with the old screen.

However, so long as you pay whatever the shipping costs will be (shouldn't be more than $15, I reckon), I'll sell it to you for $49 if you want. Email me via simon at megasad dot com if you're interested.

Or you can buy one for $69 from these guys or if you just want it so that you can paint it, $24.99 from eBay.

megasad · Nov 30, 2004, 07:07 PM

Originally posted by MARINEOSX:
I want that shell really bad do you have an extra?

Upon reading your signature, I see you have a 14" iBook. You're sure you want my 12" case? If you want 14", I'm afraid I do not know where to buy such things.

MARINEOSX · Dec 2, 2004, 03:38 AM

man I was so excited!

I might have a hard time trying to make that fit.

Thank you anyway. I would have payed that in a heart beat.

megasad · Oct 14, 2005, 06:44 PM

I bring back old thread? Hoo-hah!

So, the reed switch cable in that display I bought last year seems to have died; the backlight goes dead once you open the display past 85º.

So, I bought me another one off eBay, shall replace it tomorrow.

Why a whole new screen rather than just the cable? I did not want to have to take apart the display itself, to change the cable. Plus the case was coming away from the hinge again...

So, yes, iBook gets fixed again tomorrow. Yay. That's all. Anyone want photos or anything like that?

megasad · Oct 15, 2005, 04:36 PM

It is done; my iBook turns four years old in a few days and, after many surgeries, it is still going strong. Yay.

mavherzog · Oct 16, 2005, 06:13 PM

Originally Posted by megasad

It is done; my iBook turns four years old in a few days and, after many surgeries, it is still going strong. Yay.

Cool. I hope my new 12" last as long as your iBook (hopefully with less abuse).

Of course, I typically can help myself from buying something new that long...so I guess we'll have to wait and see...

megasad · Oct 17, 2005, 07:21 AM

Originally Posted by mavherzog

Cool. I hope my new 12" last as long as your iBook (hopefully with less abuse).

Of course, I typically can help myself from buying something new that long...so I guess we'll have to wait and see...

Nothing saying you can't buy other machines! A year and a half ago I bought an eMac and in another couple years I'm sure I'll buy an Intel iMac or something. Just because you get another machine, doesn't mean you can't keep the old one around.

mavherzog · Oct 17, 2005, 08:14 PM

Originally Posted by megasad

Nothing saying you can't buy other machines! A year and a half ago I bought an eMac and in another couple years I'm sure I'll buy an Intel iMac or something. Just because you get another machine, doesn't mean you can't keep the old one around.

Of course! However, every once in a while you need to clean house. About a year ago, I filled TWO DUMPSTERS full of old computer equipment.