Flaky TiBook

[Hrududu]

I have recently acquired an 867MHz Titanium Powerbook G4. Since having it the past few days, I've learned this thing has got a huge set if problems. Most of these I think can be attributed to small bits of corrosion on the logic board which I've discovered. The first issue I encountered was the computer always booting up into "Startup Manager" to select a boot drive. Even without holding down the Option key this happens EVERY time I power on or restart. I also discovered that holding down "T" would not get it to boot into target disk mode, Instead, "Command" would boot into TDM.... weird. I also noticed the problems while trying to do a fresh install of OS X. During installs of both Leopard and Tiger, the installation would fail at different times. This lead me to think there could be a memory problem. I removed the RAM and tested it in an iBook and both sticks worked great and had no visible problems. Upon further inspection, I noticed some corrosion around where the RAM sockets meet the logic board and near where the keyboard connects. Its also worth mentioning that once I did get an OS installed, I frequently get application crashes and kernel panics. Unless I'm missing something else, I think this can be all attributed to the corrosion on the board. Does anyone have any suggestions on the best way to clean it off without damaging circuits? Fortunately, the underside of the board looks good, its all on the top (which is also the hardest part to access).

 

[Temetka]

ifixit.com has nice step by step teardown instructions for your machine.

There are 2 ways to fix this issue:

1. Remove the logic board entirely from the machine and clean it.

2. Ask me nicely and I'll sell a working logic board for $50 + shipping.

Seriously, to thoroughly clean it and to ensure you got everything the logic board will need to be removed and cleaned. I also have 1 for sale if you want it. Either way that logic board has got to come out of the machine. I've field stripped so many Ti's over the years that I can pull the mobo in about 15 minutes, it's not as hard as you would think it would be.

 

[Hrududu]

Yeah, taking it apart doesn't seem too bad. I'm a ACMT, so i've got access to the service manual and its been very helpful. I will ask you this, I've gotten very close to getting the logicboard out, but the AirPort card slot seems to be attached to the PCI card slot and won't release. I don't think I missed any screws. Are the two slots connected in some way that I should be aware of?

 

[bizzle]

Titaniums are a bit of a pain to remove the logic board, at least compared to newer Macs. I helped a friend transplant some guts of one Titanium to another and it took a lot of fiddling. The thermal pads on both machines basically turned to glue and it took a lot of flexing and shimming to finally get them to break loose. We're both ACMT's as well, seasoned technicians, and it still wasn't fun.

 

[Franklinstein]

The thermal pads on both machines basically turned to glue...

The thermal pads on the GPU and system controller are the normal white, non-adhesive pads used since ages past. On the processor (of the DVI models, not the VGAs), however, they use an odd substance that actually does adhere the CPU to the heatsink. Removing it requires the use of a razor blade and loads of caution, something that must be done every time the logic board is removed. Replacing it is difficult, because it can't reliably be reused, and normal thermal compound can't be used because the contact surfaces between the CPU and heat sink aren't completely square, which is why the odd thermal stuff is used in the first place. So, I found that the blue-ish thermal compounds from the iceBooks are best here, as it's reusable and contours itself as necessary. It's the next best thing to the original stuff.