iBook G3 Clamshell - no startup chime, but seems to have power

[retpolanne]

Hello! I got an iBook Clamshell from my local hackerspace and was trying to fix it.

The display had the vinegar syndrome, so at first I thought it just had a bad display, but after some time I realized that it wasn’t giving the startup chime at all.

The HDD spins (I swapped it to an IDE to SD card reader, so I can’t hear it anymore), it does get power from the power adapter. However, I don’t get the chime, no composite video, no nothing. I also tried different keyboard combinations for resetting PMU/PRAM to no avail.

I tried checking the logic board and it seems okay. No leakage from the supercapacitor.

Does anybody has any idea what to look for? Thanks!

 

[MacUp72]

tried this solution?

iBook g3 doesn't turn on - iBook G3 12"

Hi everyone! I have an ibook g3(700mhz/128mb/20gb/COMBO) wich doesn't turn on. I bought it a half year ago (for 30$) ,everything was fine with it. It's in perfect condition, it has a not apple-made battery, with that battery it lasted for 2-3hours depending on how i used it. I used it for a...

de.ifixit.com

and then maybe change RAM? Also the DC power board is often the culprit

 

[retpolanne]

tried this solution?

iBook g3 doesn't turn on - iBook G3 12"

Hi everyone! I have an ibook g3(700mhz/128mb/20gb/COMBO) wich doesn't turn on. I bought it a half year ago (for 30$) ,everything was fine with it. It's in perfect condition, it has a not apple-made battery, with that battery it lasted for 2-3hours depending on how i used it. I used it for a...

de.ifixit.com

and then maybe change RAM? Also the DC power board is often the culprit

I forgot to mention, I also removed the external RAM. I did try that, but it didn’t work

 

[retpolanne]

I took it apart and this is the logic board. The logic board has no apparent leakage. I plugged it to the TV using composite and I see some glitches when it turns on, but overall there’s no video signal.

View attachment IMG_6177.jpeg


View attachment IMG_6176.mov

 

[Byrd]

Board looks pretty crusty, dishwasher or ultrasonic clean would help

 

[retpolanne]

Board looks pretty crusty, dishwasher or ultrasonic clean would help

I don’t have any of those

Brushing with isopropyl alcohol would work?

 

[Reasons.]

IPA will work, but give it some time to fully dry after application. It can get under chips and evaporate slower than it does on the bear board.

 

[davidg5678]

From my understanding of vinegar syndrome, you should still be seeing a picture on screen if the motherboard is working. The picture will just look really bad. If you don't see any picture with the old LCD panel, then I think there are several issues with this iBook. Even without a hard drive connected, you should be able to hold down Command-Option-O-F and boot into OpenFirmware.

I've never had much luck with the AV-out port on my iBook clamshells (and I have the original Apple cables.) I'm not sure that the graphics card will function without the original LCD panel connected. Have you tested the AV port with the broken LCD still plugged in? My suspicion is that the AV out only works once the iBook boots into the OS, and won't display things like OpenFirmware. Maybe someone else here has gotten the AV out to work and can confirm?

I notice you are testing the logic board with it resting on the metal bottom of the keyboard. Are you sure that this is not causing a short circuit?

You could clean this logic board with distilled water and a soft brush. 90% Isopropyl alcohol would work too. Just make sure to let everything dry well.

 

[retpolanne]

From my understanding of vinegar syndrome, you should still be seeing a picture on screen if the motherboard is working. The picture will just look really bad. If you don't see any picture with the old LCD panel, then I think there are several issues with this iBook. Even without a hard drive connected, you should be able to hold down Command-Option-O-F and boot into OpenFirmware.

I've never had much luck with the AV-out port on my iBook clamshells (and I have the original Apple cables.) I'm not sure that the graphics card will function without the original LCD panel connected. Have you tested the AV port with the broken LCD still plugged in? My suspicion is that the AV out only works once the iBook boots into the OS, and won't display things like OpenFirmware. Maybe someone else here has gotten the AV out to work and can confirm?

I notice you are testing the logic board with it resting on the metal bottom of the keyboard. Are you sure that this is not causing a short circuit?

You could clean this logic board with distilled water and a soft brush. 90% Isopropyl alcohol would work too. Just make sure to let everything dry well.

I removed the metal bottom of the keyboard, so I'm not causing any shorts, but that still doesn't let the board boot.
Regarding AV, I decided to test it only with headphones so I can try to hear the boot chime. I tested on the iBook G4 I have and I believe it should route to the headphones, right?

I'll make a thorough clean of the board and try the broken LCD.

 

[retpolanne]

Interesting, now it's spinning the HDD consistently on every startup attempt.
I've also added an USB FTDI which should tell me whether there's 5V power on the USB. I don't see it lighting up. I wonder if the logic board is not delivering power to the display and USB.

 

[MacUp72]

I dont exactly know if there are areas/components on the board that actually need to be grounded, meaning it needs to sit in the chassis to work properly.

- I would clean the board with IPA and a soft toothbrush and let it dry well.
- check if diode D1 on the small powerboard was shorted and is blown ( due to the stupid aluminium foil on the socket)

Blueberry iBook Clamshell (1st Gen)

Just tore down one of my clamshells (complete with french keyboard ;) ) to check out this component after some probing testing and sleuthing on the internet it looks like its this part MMBZ5233B http://www.s-manuals.com/pdf/datasheet/m/m/mmbz5221b-mmbz5257b_fairchild.pdf a 6V Zener diode sadly...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[retpolanne]

I dont exactly know if there are areas/components on the board that actually need to be grounded, meaning it needs to sit in the chassis to work properly.

- I would clean the board with IPA and a soft toothbrush and let it dry well.
- check if diode D1 on the small powerboard was shorted and is blown ( due to the stupid aluminium foil on the socket)

View attachment 76928

Blueberry iBook Clamshell (1st Gen)

Just tore down one of my clamshells (complete with french keyboard ;) ) to check out this component after some probing testing and sleuthing on the internet it looks like its this part MMBZ5233B http://www.s-manuals.com/pdf/datasheet/m/m/mmbz5221b-mmbz5257b_fairchild.pdf a 6V Zener diode sadly...

forums.macrumors.com

I cleaned it up as recommended and checked the D1 diode. It looks okay, no shorts. Just in case I put it back on the shield, after a few boot attempts the HDD spins. It’s interesting that the HDD not just spins, but the head moves as well, as if it’s reading something from disk.

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

Just briefly moving the heads indicates the drive is running its self test. If it continues for more than a couple seconds, it is reading from the drive.

 

[MacUp72]

maybe its good to check the display cable, but its a bit lengthy process..

iBook G3 Clamshell Logic Board Replacement

The motherboard includes all ports except the DC-In board.

de.ifixit.com

 

[retpolanne]

I’ve replaced the supercapacitor and sometimes, when it properly turns on, the head moves for a long time, which is a great sign I guess but still no chime and nothing

Just briefly moving the heads indicates the drive is running its self test. If it continues for more than a couple seconds, it is reading from the drive.