Repairing a G3/800 14" iBook Motherboard

[Eric Kotz]

I purchased a broken G3/800MHz 14" iBook locally the other day - it
had wine spilled into it while it was running. Anyway, I spent about
2 hours with a toothbrush and toothpaste (hey, it was the best idea I
had for a mild abrasive) scrubbing the corrosion out of the machine -
nothing that terrible, and for all intents, all the corrosion is gone
now.
Anyway, now when I plug it in, or put a battery in it and press the
power button, it almost shows signs of life. The power LED will light
up for a short period, which seems to be inversely proportionate to
the amount of time the machine has sat there with the power
disconnected (ie if I unplug and let sit for 30 minutes, plug it in,
and try to power on, it will light up for maybe 5 seconds, if I just
unplug it and plug it back in it might just flash, or not even light
at all) so I'm sort of thinking this machine has a power supply issue
on the motherboard. I'm going to start tracing some circuits in the
board tomorrow and see if I can figure it out, but has anyone seen
this before? Does anyone have a suggestion as to which portion of the
motherboard to look at / any components in particular? Are schematics
available? Thanks!

Eric Kotz
newsgroups@erickotz.com

 

[Art]

Contact Apple and get the price of a replacment m/b then decide if it is
worth the $. The odds of your repairing the current one is extremely low due
to the fact that the mateials has probably found it's way into the multiple
layers or the original m/b.
"Eric Kotz" <newsgroups@erickotz.com> wrote in message
news:a54ca93d.0403280022.695fa69b@posting.google.com...

I purchased a broken G3/800MHz 14" iBook locally the other day - it
had wine spilled into it while it was running. Anyway, I spent about
2 hours with a toothbrush and toothpaste (hey, it was the best idea I
had for a mild abrasive) scrubbing the corrosion out of the machine -
nothing that terrible, and for all intents, all the corrosion is gone
now.
Anyway, now when I plug it in, or put a battery in it and press the
power button, it almost shows signs of life. The power LED will light
up for a short period, which seems to be inversely proportionate to
the amount of time the machine has sat there with the power
disconnected (ie if I unplug and let sit for 30 minutes, plug it in,
and try to power on, it will light up for maybe 5 seconds, if I just
unplug it and plug it back in it might just flash, or not even light
at all) so I'm sort of thinking this machine has a power supply issue
on the motherboard. I'm going to start tracing some circuits in the
board tomorrow and see if I can figure it out, but has anyone seen
this before? Does anyone have a suggestion as to which portion of the
motherboard to look at / any components in particular? Are schematics
available? Thanks!

Eric Kotz
newsgroups@erickotz.com

 

[Jerry G.]

The mother board is damaged, and possibly any peripherals that are connected
to it.

Any liquids that come in contact with a circuit board act as shorting
circuits with the various components on the circuit board. This means you
have completed pathways of signal (data, or whatever) pulses, and voltages
that are going to the wrong places, and components. The components used in
electronic equipment is very sensitive to this, and are damaged. Even
improper handling of these boards can damage them, because of static
electricity, and the conduction from your fingers, on contact. This is the
same for most modern electronics devices, not only computer boards.

Food and drink spillage, are a very common occurrence that causes a lot of
damage to electronic equipment. The repair services see this very often.
This is why in many companies, the presence of food and drink are forbidden
to come near electronic equipment.

You will have to send your machine to the authorized service centre to have
an estimate to service your machine. I don't think there will be any
warranty coverage for this. You may find it cheaper to buy a new one than
service the one you have. This is something you should first check out.

A while back, I saw a fellow purchase a brand new laptop. He went out to his
car with it, and put it on top of the roof of the car to open the door.
When he opened the door, the computer slipped off the roof, and fell on the
ground. He did not even purchase a protective carrying valise for it,
because of the added cost. The LCD display was cracked, the case had a big
crack in it, the mother board was damaged, and the hard drive was also
damaged. This machine was not even 30 minutes old! The total repair at the
time was more than the price as a new machine. He bought two lap tops that
afternoon! I was standing about 20 feet from this event when it happened.
I was in the same place buying some computer equipment for myself. The poor
guy was having an enraged fit after he was told that there would be no
warranty for that type of breakage!!!


--

Greetings,

Jerry Greenberg GLG Technologies GLG
=========================================
WebPage http://www.zoom-one.com
Electronics http://www.zoom-one.com/electron.htm
=========================================


"Eric Kotz" <newsgroups@erickotz.com> wrote in message
news:a54ca93d.0403280022.695fa69b@posting.google.com...
I purchased a broken G3/800MHz 14" iBook locally the other day - it
had wine spilled into it while it was running. Anyway, I spent about
2 hours with a toothbrush and toothpaste (hey, it was the best idea I
had for a mild abrasive) scrubbing the corrosion out of the machine -
nothing that terrible, and for all intents, all the corrosion is gone
now.
Anyway, now when I plug it in, or put a battery in it and press the
power button, it almost shows signs of life. The power LED will light
up for a short period, which seems to be inversely proportionate to
the amount of time the machine has sat there with the power
disconnected (ie if I unplug and let sit for 30 minutes, plug it in,
and try to power on, it will light up for maybe 5 seconds, if I just
unplug it and plug it back in it might just flash, or not even light
at all) so I'm sort of thinking this machine has a power supply issue
on the motherboard. I'm going to start tracing some circuits in the
board tomorrow and see if I can figure it out, but has anyone seen
this before? Does anyone have a suggestion as to which portion of the
motherboard to look at / any components in particular? Are schematics
available? Thanks!

Eric Kotz
newsgroups@erickotz.com

 

[Paul Fuchs]

Art <stubby@comcast.net> wrote:

Contact Apple and get the price of a replacment m/b then decide if it is
worth the $. The odds of your repairing the current one is extremely low due
to the fact that the mateials has probably found it's way into the multiple
layers or the original m/b.
"Eric Kotz" <newsgroups@erickotz.com> wrote in message
news:a54ca93d.0403280022.695fa69b@posting.google.com...
I purchased a broken G3/800MHz 14" iBook locally the other day - it
had wine spilled into it while it was running. Anyway, I spent about
2 hours with a toothbrush and toothpaste (hey, it was the best idea I
had for a mild abrasive) scrubbing the corrosion out of the machine -
nothing that terrible, and for all intents, all the corrosion is gone
now.
Anyway, now when I plug it in, or put a battery in it and press the
power button, it almost shows signs of life. The power LED will light
up for a short period, which seems to be inversely proportionate to
the amount of time the machine has sat there with the power
disconnected (ie if I unplug and let sit for 30 minutes, plug it in,
and try to power on, it will light up for maybe 5 seconds, if I just
unplug it and plug it back in it might just flash, or not even light
at all) so I'm sort of thinking this machine has a power supply issue
on the motherboard. I'm going to start tracing some circuits in the
board tomorrow and see if I can figure it out, but has anyone seen
this before? Does anyone have a suggestion as to which portion of the
motherboard to look at / any components in particular? Are schematics
available? Thanks!

Eric Kotz
newsgroups@erickotz.com

Contacting Apple for a new motherboard is like contacting Haliburton for
a deal on gasoline. Your best bet for being cost effective is to buy
the same model on ebay with a cracked LCD but which is guaranteed to
work fine with an external monitor. Then transfer the parts to the
machine you decide you want running, and put the other one in the front
yard along with that 57 Chevy which is up on blocks.

I agree with Eric that your chance of repairing the old MB are anorexic
to zero. The microcircuits inside the chips are probably shorted or
fused. You won't repair that with a toothbrush. Also, introducing
sorbitol, which is the sweetener in most toothpastes and is chemically
similar to dextrose (glucose), didn't help it any. Also, after cleaning
it, if you powered it up before everything was absolutely dry, you would
have fried it for a second timed. Depending on your climate, it could
air dry properly in a day to forever (where I live). A hairdryer on low
power can help if you are really careful not to overheat anything.


--
paulfuchs at attglobal dot net
Sitting on a small rock (St. John) in the Caribbean

 

[Paul Fuchs]

Jerry G. <jerryg50@hotmail.com> wrote:

The mother board is damaged, and possibly any peripherals that are connected
to it.

Any liquids that come in contact with a circuit board act as shorting
circuits with the various components on the circuit board. This means you
have completed pathways of signal (data, or whatever) pulses, and voltages
that are going to the wrong places, and components. The components used in
electronic equipment is very sensitive to this, and are damaged. Even
improper handling of these boards can damage them, because of static
electricity, and the conduction from your fingers, on contact. This is the
same for most modern electronics devices, not only computer boards.

Food and drink spillage, are a very common occurrence that causes a lot of
damage to electronic equipment. The repair services see this very often.
This is why in many companies, the presence of food and drink are forbidden
to come near electronic equipment.

You will have to send your machine to the authorized service centre to have
an estimate to service your machine. I don't think there will be any
warranty coverage for this. You may find it cheaper to buy a new one than
service the one you have. This is something you should first check out.

A while back, I saw a fellow purchase a brand new laptop. He went out to his
car with it, and put it on top of the roof of the car to open the door.
When he opened the door, the computer slipped off the roof, and fell on the
ground. He did not even purchase a protective carrying valise for it,
because of the added cost. The LCD display was cracked, the case had a big
crack in it, the mother board was damaged, and the hard drive was also
damaged. This machine was not even 30 minutes old! The total repair at the
time was more than the price as a new machine. He bought two lap tops that
afternoon! I was standing about 20 feet from this event when it happened.
I was in the same place buying some computer equipment for myself. The poor
guy was having an enraged fit after he was told that there would be no
warranty for that type of breakage!!!

Yeah, I would be enraged too. I think Apple should also warranty their
machines for shooting them with a .357 magnum when you think there is a
burglar in your house.
--
paulfuchs at attglobal dot net
Sitting on a small rock (St. John) in the Caribbean

 

[Eric Kotz]

I don't mean to be rude, and I'm grateful for any advice, but I'm well
aware I can purchase a replacement motherboard from eBay or elsewhere.
I have no qualms about working on electronics and fully intend to
troubleshoot this problem on the board level until it frustrates me to
the point I give up, or I succeed in repairing it. I was asking if
anyone had seen this problem before and had any suggestions as to a
certain area of the motherboard to concentrate on.

Thanks,
Eric Kotz
newsgroups@erickotz.com

paulfuchs@pigsain'tkosher.oink (Paul Fuchs) wrote in message news:<1gbcx5k.xzo2tx12xup54N%paulfuchs@pigsain'tkosher.oink>...

Jerry G. <jerryg50@hotmail.com> wrote:

The mother board is damaged, and possibly any peripherals that are connected
to it.

Any liquids that come in contact with a circuit board act as shorting
circuits with the various components on the circuit board. This means you
have completed pathways of signal (data, or whatever) pulses, and voltages
that are going to the wrong places, and components. The components used in
electronic equipment is very sensitive to this, and are damaged. Even
improper handling of these boards can damage them, because of static
electricity, and the conduction from your fingers, on contact. This is the
same for most modern electronics devices, not only computer boards.

Food and drink spillage, are a very common occurrence that causes a lot of
damage to electronic equipment. The repair services see this very often.
This is why in many companies, the presence of food and drink are forbidden
to come near electronic equipment.

You will have to send your machine to the authorized service centre to have
an estimate to service your machine. I don't think there will be any
warranty coverage for this. You may find it cheaper to buy a new one than
service the one you have. This is something you should first check out.

A while back, I saw a fellow purchase a brand new laptop. He went out to his
car with it, and put it on top of the roof of the car to open the door.
When he opened the door, the computer slipped off the roof, and fell on the
ground. He did not even purchase a protective carrying valise for it,
because of the added cost. The LCD display was cracked, the case had a big
crack in it, the mother board was damaged, and the hard drive was also
damaged. This machine was not even 30 minutes old! The total repair at the
time was more than the price as a new machine. He bought two lap tops that
afternoon! I was standing about 20 feet from this event when it happened.
I was in the same place buying some computer equipment for myself. The poor
guy was having an enraged fit after he was told that there would be no
warranty for that type of breakage!!!

Yeah, I would be enraged too. I think Apple should also warranty their
machines for shooting them with a .357 magnum when you think there is a
burglar in your house.

 

[nospam]

In article <a54ca93d.0403281048.5949795b@posting.google.com>, Eric Kotz
<newsgroups@erickotz.com> wrote:

I don't mean to be rude, and I'm grateful for any advice, but I'm well
aware I can purchase a replacement motherboard from eBay or elsewhere.
I have no qualms about working on electronics and fully intend to
troubleshoot this problem on the board level until it frustrates me to
the point I give up, or I succeed in repairing it. I was asking if
anyone had seen this problem before and had any suggestions as to a
certain area of the motherboard to concentrate on.

even assuming you can pinpoint the problem without a schematic, how are
you going to replace the damaged part, which is likely to be an apple
asic and something you won't be able to obtain? and thats assuming you
can desolder and resolder the replacement part - nontrivial for surface
mount devices.

 

[Eric Kotz]

I've never really understood why people think SMT stuff is hard. I
have no problems soldering surface mount components on by hand - I've
done resistors I can barely see, and QFP208 pin Ethernet Controllers
on motherboards before. As for removing chips, I do have access to a
machine to remove them (and it can place them too) if necessary.
As for replacing the part, I'm about 98% sure the problem lies in the
power supply sections of the motherboard, thus it should be an off the
shelf part. Even if it were a custom ASIC, I could simply obtain
another similar broken board and swipe the chip off of that.

Eric Kotz
newsgroups@erickotz.com


nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> wrote in message news:<280320041128126878%nospam@nospam.invalid>...

In article <a54ca93d.0403281048.5949795b@posting.google.com>, Eric Kotz
newsgroups@erickotz.com> wrote:

I don't mean to be rude, and I'm grateful for any advice, but I'm well
aware I can purchase a replacement motherboard from eBay or elsewhere.
I have no qualms about working on electronics and fully intend to
troubleshoot this problem on the board level until it frustrates me to
the point I give up, or I succeed in repairing it. I was asking if
anyone had seen this problem before and had any suggestions as to a
certain area of the motherboard to concentrate on.

even assuming you can pinpoint the problem without a schematic, how are
you going to replace the damaged part, which is likely to be an apple
asic and something you won't be able to obtain? and thats assuming you
can desolder and resolder the replacement part - nontrivial for surface
mount devices.

 

[me]

On Sun, 28 Mar 2004 11:53:22 -0400, Paul Fuchs wrote:

Art <stubby@comcast.net> wrote:

<snip>

fused. You won't repair that with a toothbrush. Also, introducing
sorbitol, which is the sweetener in most toothpastes and is chemically
similar to dextrose (glucose), didn't help it any. Also, after cleaning

Agree re: sorbitol. Try a can of freon instead.

--
Apple computers are for people who produce.

 

[Andre]

newsgroups@erickotz.com (Eric Kotz) wrote in message news:<a54ca93d.0403281617.3b31bd6c@posting.google.com>...

I've never really understood why people think SMT stuff is hard. I
have no problems soldering surface mount components on by hand - I've
done resistors I can barely see, and QFP208 pin Ethernet Controllers
on motherboards before. As for removing chips, I do have access to a
machine to remove them (and it can place them too) if necessary.
As for replacing the part, I'm about 98% sure the problem lies in the
power supply sections of the motherboard, thus it should be an off the
shelf part. Even if it were a custom ASIC, I could simply obtain
another similar broken board and swipe the chip off of that.

I've got a damaged XBOX with the same problem - chances are it has a
fried IC. Unfortunately, its highly likely that its one of the custom
parts but if I find another damaged board with a different fault I may
be in with a chance.

-A

Eric Kotz
newsgroups@erickotz.com


nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> wrote in message news:<280320041128126878%nospam@nospam.invalid>...
In article <a54ca93d.0403281048.5949795b@posting.google.com>, Eric Kotz
newsgroups@erickotz.com> wrote:

I don't mean to be rude, and I'm grateful for any advice, but I'm well
aware I can purchase a replacement motherboard from eBay or elsewhere.
I have no qualms about working on electronics and fully intend to
troubleshoot this problem on the board level until it frustrates me to
the point I give up, or I succeed in repairing it. I was asking if
anyone had seen this problem before and had any suggestions as to a
certain area of the motherboard to concentrate on.

even assuming you can pinpoint the problem without a schematic, how are
you going to replace the damaged part, which is likely to be an apple
asic and something you won't be able to obtain? and thats assuming you
can desolder and resolder the replacement part - nontrivial for surface
mount devices.