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Kronos · Feb 11, 2004, 01:59 AM

So my hard drive went dead on my ibook 800 g3 and I decided to replace it myself. I took out the 30 gig and replaced it with a new 60 gig. So much more space now, I even installed Yellow Dog on a second partition. Wow was that thing a pain in the butt to replace. I must have removed 20 thousand screws. Well, I just thought I would share that. I know it is nothing super exciting.

Take care,
Matthew

iREZ · Feb 11, 2004, 02:53 AM

Job well done

Lateralus · Feb 11, 2004, 02:55 AM

Originally posted by Kronos:
I must have removed 20 thousand screws.

How many do you have left over?

Kronos · Feb 11, 2004, 03:00 AM

Originally posted by PowerMacMan:
How many do you have left over?

About 19,999.

mike one · Feb 11, 2004, 10:52 AM

that is exciting. haven't even considered that after looking at the instructions on the web... bought a 120GB external insead.

finboy · Feb 11, 2004, 05:44 PM

Where did you find instructions?

Kronos · Feb 11, 2004, 08:24 PM

http://uk.geocities.com/ibookupgrade/

finboy · Feb 11, 2004, 09:41 PM

Originally posted by Kronos:
http://uk.geocities.com/ibookupgrade/

Muchos Gracias.

Detrius · Feb 13, 2004, 12:27 AM

Originally posted by Kronos:
http://uk.geocities.com/ibookupgrade/

As a note: The bottom case is not nearly as easy as he implies. You don't have to remove the CD bezel. There are cables connecting to the top case kit -- be careful. You don't have to unscrew the logic board.

Expect to take three hours to do this, if you are VERY organized with your screws (large foam egg-crates are useful).

Kronos · Feb 13, 2004, 01:36 AM

I did not think it was too hard, just a lot of darn screws. In all I would say it probably took me between 2-3 hours.

Matthew

echosphere · Feb 13, 2004, 09:07 PM

The best way to keep track of your screws is to print out large photos from the instructions website above, all of them. Then tape the screw to the pictures as you dissasemble it.

Then you know where each one goes and if you did a good job taping them down you shoudn't lose any. Simple, well maybe not, I was damn scared of cracking the bottom case when taking it off.

In some way the old "toilet bowl" shaped iBooks were easier, they had thicker plastic. Anyone miss the old (but heaving) organic original iBook?

echosphere · Feb 13, 2004, 09:07 PM

My above post sounds naughty.

sniffer · Feb 14, 2004, 04:19 AM

I also did replace my hd recently.

Took a few snap shots of the process as well.

http://homepage.mac.com/sniffer1/Off...toAlbum21.html

Funny thing is that I unfortunately put one screw in the wrong hole. So when I was about putting the last screw in the botton I discovered the hole was blocked with a screw on the inside. Oh well. Not sure if I'll bother anything more with it. The hd swap was successful otherwise despite one left over screw.

Oh, and I just went from 20 to 40. Was mainly looking for a new ram module, and took the drive on the go.

ghporter · Feb 14, 2004, 12:57 PM

Originally posted by sniffer:
I also did replace my hd recently.
Oh, and I just went from 20 to 40. Was mainly looking for a new ram module, and took the drive on the go.

This implies that the "nonremoveable" RAM is actually just stinkin' hard to get at. Is my interpretation correct?

And if that's the case, the iBook is listed with a maximum RAM of 640MB-how much can it handle if I change the "built in" SODIMM to a 256MB (or larger) SODIMM?

Sorry for going slightly off topic, but it's kind of close...

echosphere · Feb 14, 2004, 01:02 PM

SNIFFER:

That's funny, I did the exact same thing when I put mine back together. I tried putting that last screw in, it didn't go, and I thought, crap what now?

Though, I did take it back apart, it felt a little unstable and you really should put the screw back in. Taking the bottom cover off again, does suck though.

Echo

sniffer · Feb 14, 2004, 06:50 PM

Originally posted by GHPorter:
And if that's the case, the iBook is listed with a maximum RAM of 640MB-how much can it handle if I change the "built in" SODIMM to a 256MB (or larger) SODIMM?

I wouldn't recommend anyone to try tearing off the onboard module.

sniffer · Feb 14, 2004, 06:55 PM

Originally posted by echosphere:
SNIFFER:

That's funny, I did the exact same thing when I put mine back together.
[snip]
.. does suck though.

Echo

Was it the screw in the center for you as well? Agree, it sucks to reopen the thing. That's why i haven't bothered yet.

echosphere · Feb 15, 2004, 12:49 AM

Yeah it was the one in the center.

I bought a used iBook 600Mhz with CD-RW/airport in NYC off of Craigslist.org for $400.

The original hard drive worked but was about to die (screeching sounds all the time it was spinning) and the latch was broken. Bought a new top plate from Tekserve and a new HD.

When I was finished, I was putting the screw in going "Woot, Woot! Who's the man?" Then realized the screw wouldn't sink, then I was like "Shite."

What was it? Mixed up the long one for short one or something....

sniffer · Feb 15, 2004, 08:24 AM

Originally posted by echosphere:
When I was finished, I was putting the screw in going "Woot, Woot! Who's the man?" Then realized the screw wouldn't sink, then I was like "Shite."

What was it? Mixed up the long one for short one or something....

ROFLMAO! Exactly the same thing her. I was also trying to force the damn screw in place. Except that I had the hole blocked from the inside with a screw that was in the wrong hole underneath the cover. So it didn't go far. What do you know.

megasad · Feb 15, 2004, 10:01 AM

And another "me too," though only for the changing of the hard drive, not the misplacing of screws. The way I kept them organised was to simply put them on the floor in the same pattern as I took them out. Of course, you wouldn't want to use a floor that was dirty / fluffy / walked on, but I had the room to myself and the floor was wood and clean, so all was well.

echosphere · Feb 15, 2004, 12:08 PM

Megasad, so you didn't have any probs then? That's cool, but if you did, give us your sob story.

Btw, putting screws loosely on the floor (even if it's clean) would scare the crap out of me. What if you kids/pets/mom comes in, windows opens - breeze comes in, or they fall into the cracks. Yikes! Even screwing on a wood floor isn't safe, wood splinters suck.

megasad · Feb 15, 2004, 12:23 PM

Originally posted by echosphere:
Megasad, so you didn't have any probs then? That's cool, but if you did, give us your sob story.

Well. as I said, everything went well with the take apart, put new drive in, reassemble part. The botom case is a right bugger to get off and the top case is really fiddly around the power port, but I accomplished all that without incident. Only thing that caused sobs as such was that I didn't realise that the torx screws in the sides of the old hard drive were in fact screws, and so spent a couple of mighty frustrating hours wandering along Tottenham Court Road, asking in every tech shop for "really tiny screws." And then I got home, found out that they were screws rather than moulded metal (because checking before I left the house would have been too easy) and so went from there.

Originally posted by echosphere:
Btw, putting screws loosely on the floor (even if it's clean) would scare the crap out of me. What if you kids/pets/mom comes in, windows opens - breeze comes in, or they fall into the cracks. Yikes! Even screwing on a wood floor isn't safe, wood splinters suck.

I live in a house with my girlfriend and a bunch of other people, and as I did it on a weekend, my girlfriend was at work and no-one else would come into our room without knocking first. If I still lived with my younger siblings, I would have used the bed rather than the floor. And not a splintery wood floor, nor screwing the screws into it! That would make the landlady mighty upset. Nay, simply placed on top of shiny wood floor, with no cracks between boards. Hell, my girlfriend's selling her iBook right now, so you can have a look at the floor yourself right here. Hell, you could even buy an iBook too, should you so desire it. But not the floor. The floor is not for sale. My floor. Leave it alone.

echosphere · Feb 15, 2004, 12:56 PM

How much for the moulding (as it matches the iBook) and the door?

ghporter · Feb 15, 2004, 01:07 PM

Nice floor. Good setting for the picture, and it's a nice warm color, too.

I'm almost tempted to bid...except that ₤80 is pretty steep for postage to the States. Good luck. Say, what color images do you have of "adding color to the logo?" This sounds like fallout/lessons learned from taking an iBook apart.

gigglebyte · Feb 15, 2004, 01:22 PM

I didn't have the guts to try it on my iBook (700G3 16VRAM) but will be going through my portable certification in the next month or so and will be able to strip these babies down to nothing...it will be interesting to see if the test machine will work when we are all done....as for removing the onboard 128...I wouldn't want to try that unless you are willing to buy a new MLB when you kill yours

megasad · Feb 15, 2004, 02:08 PM

Originally posted by GHPorter:
Nice floor. Good setting for the picture, and it's a nice warm color, too.

I'm almost tempted to bid...except that ₤80 is pretty steep for postage to the States. Good luck. Say, what color images do you have of "adding color to the logo?" This sounds like fallout/lessons learned from taking an iBook apart.

Here's what the back of my own iBook, the I replaced the hard drive of, looks kind of like:

Except it's a much darker blue in real life, not turquoise like it is in the photo.

And, yup, the reason I changed it was that in November 2002 my sister made it drop very far and so the top case came away slightly from the base of the screen. I took the top case off to see if I could fix it, but I couldn't see any way to do it. So I changed the apple colour. And then I tightened one of the Torx screws too tight, so I can never take off the top cover ever again

But blue looks cool, so it's okay. I had the gels cut to do a red apple with a green leaf... damn glad I didn't do that and then mess up the screw.