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Salty · Feb 4, 2009, 02:02 PM

Wow, so yesterday I got my old PowerBook half disassembled, it's kinda a pet project since I long ago replaced it with a MacBook, but it's still a 1Ghz processor, I'm sticking a 160 gig HD inside, as soon as I can get the damned thing open. All I can say is I'm sooo glad that Apple decided to start making the HDs more accessible, and that the new 17 inch uni requires like four screws before you can get at the guts. You essentially have to disassemble the whole machine! Did I mention I wasn't really keeping track of which screws came from where?

For anyone wondering why I'm trying to resurrect a 5 year old machine, I'm connecting it via S video to my parent's old 32 inch CRT TV they just gave me (I gave them a new LCD TV for Christmas so they don't need it) and using it as a glorified Apple TV running Bittorrent

(which is legal in Canada!)

d4nth3m4n · Feb 4, 2009, 02:31 PM

ground floor in a salty blog thread.

i never take anything apart without a icecube tray and a walkthrough from www.ifixit.com. sorry you didn't post the thread before you dove in.

good thing that's LEGAL IN CANADA

Salty · Feb 4, 2009, 02:39 PM

For the record I'm really excited about it, gonna start having friends over to watch TV series on Saturdays or something

SpaceMonkey · Feb 4, 2009, 02:51 PM

Originally Posted by Salty

(which is legal in Canada!)

Pfft, what isn't?

Railroader · Feb 4, 2009, 03:52 PM

Yet another reason I loved my old Pismo.

phantomdragonz · Feb 4, 2009, 03:52 PM

A very handy mechanics trick for keeping track of bolts...

Take a piece of paper and draw a diagram of the part the screws are coming out of, poke holes in the paper where the screws go and place the screws there until you need to re-assemble. I usually poke the holes with the screw itself... the idea is that the paper will securely hold them, and not lose them.

-Zach

Salty · Feb 4, 2009, 04:17 PM

OOOh that's a good tip, I've been leaving some on the table in the shape that they were in the machine. Problem is the outside ones are just all over. I don't plan on moving it much though so it's not a huge deal that all the screws go back in

Angelo78 · Feb 4, 2009, 06:00 PM

Salty, here's the PDF link for changing the HD in your computer http://www.ifixit.com/pdf/guide_548_en.pdf

There was a sheet that you could print which had every screw on it but I can't find it.

d4nth3m4n · Feb 4, 2009, 09:40 PM

Originally Posted by phantomdragonz

A very handy mechanics trick for keeping track of bolts...

Take a piece of paper and draw a diagram of the part the screws are coming out of, poke holes in the paper where the screws go and place the screws there until you need to re-assemble. I usually poke the holes with the screw itself... the idea is that the paper will securely hold them, and not lose them.

-Zach

i use an [empty] ice cube tray and an ifixit guide. new cube for each page of the manual.

King Bob On The Cob · Feb 5, 2009, 12:50 AM

Eh, the PowerBook 12, 15, and 17 were easy.

The Performa 6400/200, now that was a PITA.

Don't get me wrong, I love how they changed it (The 15" made it even easier. Not even a screw to take out to access the hard drive. Just a latch and a pull tab.)

Salty · Feb 5, 2009, 01:31 AM

OK so I got the new HD in there, and I'd also taken out the RAM... put it back together (well OK my desk is full of screws right now but it looks mainly back together) and I get a beep on start up. Boot it into target mode and nothing. So I'm guessing the PATA connector isn't tight? I know my RAM did that once, so I'm gonna take out the RAM and just have the HD in there and see if it beeps at me. Siiigh I hope this thing works I really wanna set up my Personal Mac Video Boxy Thing... or PMVBT for short...

Salty · Feb 5, 2009, 01:53 AM

OK so wee bit furstrated. Got a new PATA drive in there, booted it up got it into Firewire target mode... and nothing, I took it apart and made sure the drive was pressed in there good, and it's still not showing up Will disk utility only recognize an HFS+ drive or? Perhaps the PowerBook is just permanently fubared...

AKcrab · Feb 5, 2009, 02:21 AM

Disk utility should recognize a drive formatted any which way. The powerbook was fine until you swapped the drive, correct?

Salty · Feb 5, 2009, 11:03 AM

Well from what I understood the drive had failed, since I could access it via firewire target mode, it just crashed a lot even on a fresh install. It seemed like the drive kept corrupting itself. Perhaps when I was disconnecting the cable I buggered it up. Probably can't get another one of those eh?

MallyMal · Feb 5, 2009, 11:37 AM

As people have said already use the ifixit guide. I've done the fix on my 12" PB three times because I used to kill an HDD every 13 months. I've done it so many time I don't need the instructions anymore.

Laminar · Feb 5, 2009, 11:51 AM

My iBook G4 would beep at startup if RAM wasn't installed/installed correctly.

Salty · Feb 5, 2009, 12:02 PM

yah but now I have no extra RAM installed, actually I can't remember if it still beeps with that, but it boots into target mode and NUFFIN. How easy is it to bust a PATA connector? Can they be ordered online on the cheap? Wondering about how I could go about getting it fixed without paying a mint.

Spheric Harlot · Feb 5, 2009, 12:50 PM

Originally Posted by King Bob On The Cob

Don't get me wrong, I love how they changed it (The 15" made it even easier. Not even a screw to take out to access the hard drive. Just a latch and a pull tab.)

You still need to remove one small Phillips screw to remove the hard drive. And then a T10 torx driver to get the four screws out of the drive itself.

seanc · Feb 5, 2009, 04:45 PM

MacBook Pro 15" - Early 2008, you have to try and pry a very well glued down ribbon cable from the top of the hard drive - the rest is easy apart from that.

Salty · Feb 5, 2009, 04:46 PM

the drive's been swapped but the new one doesn't work. I'll be taking it back and for 136 CND I ordered a MacAlly case and a 320 gig HD from Newegg. Bit more than I planned on paying but I got a great deal on both. And this way the HD is about twice as big as I'd originally planned, and I get to have more random silver crap by the TV haha!

Spheric Harlot · Feb 5, 2009, 04:46 PM

Originally Posted by seanc

MacBook Pro 15" - Early 2008, you have to try and pry a very well glued down ribbon cable from the top of the hard drive - the rest is easy apart from that.

He was talking about the unibody.

seanc · Feb 5, 2009, 04:53 PM

Originally Posted by Spheric Harlot

He was talking about the unibody.

I know, my white MacBook is easy as well.

I just thought I'd have a ramble about my older MBP

Salty · Feb 6, 2009, 10:56 AM

Well the solution at the end of it all was to order a MacAlly enclosure and a WD hard drive from newegg.ca, all totaled cost 136