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You are here: MacNN Forums > Hardware - Troubleshooting and Discussion > Mac Notebooks > replaced optical drive in 12" pb, now won't boot!

replaced optical drive in 12" pb, now won't boot!
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Freeflyer
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Join Date: Nov 2002
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Apr 30, 2007, 04:50 AM
 
Hi all,

helped a friend replace the optical drive in his 12" first gen powerbook with the one from my dead Tibook (they're identical drives). Used the iFixit guide to strip it down and rebuild it. On powering it up, you hear it click, the hard drive spins up and then.... nothing.

It doesn't get through POST by the look, and there's no 'bong'. Everything went back together ok, we've checked all the connections are solid, any suggestions of either where/how to start troubleshooting or of another site I can ask this question.

Taking it to the apple store is probably not cost effective, it's going to cost at least £100 for them to do anything to it and it's an old battered machine. Would be better to put the fixing money and sale of parts money into a new macbook, but right now it would really be handy to have it working for a little while longer as he's out of work.

Any info gratefully received.

Cheers,

J.
By all means let's be open-minded, but not so open-minded that our brains drop out - Richard Dawkins
     
analogika
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May 1, 2007, 05:23 AM
 
It's fairly easy to damage the cable that connects both the optical and the hard drive to the main logic board. In fact, my machine had to go back in after I got the optical drive replaced because the tech had done just that.
     
jersey
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May 1, 2007, 09:25 AM
 
Does the screen turn on? Did you make sure you discharged static before you started to replace the drive? Did you do the work in a carpeted room?

If all you have is a bit of a hard drive spin, you could have fried to mobo.
     
amazing
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May 1, 2007, 10:57 AM
 
try resetting the PRAM by holding down the command-option-P-R keys during 4 consecutive startups (and, hopefully, you'll hear the bong.)

if that doesn't work: best advice is to take it apart again and check the connections very carefully. If it's still borked the second time around, you're outa luck.
     
ibook_steve
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May 1, 2007, 01:46 PM
 
Uh, who told you that the OD from a Titanium was the same as the drive in a 12" G4? Whoever it was, they should be shot. The drives are not identical as far as I recall. The titaniums were the first slot-loading portables, and those initial drives were different from the ones that followed. What model numbers are we talking about here?

Steve
     
Freeflyer  (op)
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May 1, 2007, 01:53 PM
 
I had the latest model titanium and the model numbers on both drives are the same, if I remember they're something like UJ815, but can't remember exactly. Definitely the same models though.
By all means let's be open-minded, but not so open-minded that our brains drop out - Richard Dawkins
     
chipchen
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May 3, 2007, 03:51 PM
 
drives are compatible... but even if the drives weren't connected correctly for the HD or optical drive, the computer would still boot.

the optical drive replacement in a powerbook 12" requires the removal of almost everything. there's plenty of opportunity to fry a logic board in the process... unfortunately, that's what it sounds like.
     
   
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