What motherboards can be swapped between G4 Powerbooks?

[mac-man6]

A couple years back I was given a Powerbook G4 1.67ghz 15" (a1138) from a friend http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/powerbook_g4/specs/powerbook_g4_1.67_15_hr.html.

I used for a bit but it would often overheat because of too much space between the heat sink and CPU & GPU.  I bought some shims to bridge the gap with conductive copper but taking the motherboard in and out of the case caused it to stop working. It must have flexed too much. Also the unit was unplugged for a couple of months before I was given it and the PRAM battery wore out and are nearly impossible to find replacements. For the last couple of years it's been neglected in a basement and I was hoping to get it in working condition again.

Besides the same motherboard, what other G4 motherboards could I use and would they have a different more easily found PRAM battery? Did other boards have same issues with space between heatsink and processor? Is eBay the only option for replacement parts?

Any info would be appreciated.

 

[Elfen]

In my experience, the way the iBooks and Powerbooks are built, you are stuck with what the case has to offer to fit a mother/logic board in it. 12in iBooks can only fit mother/logic boards for the 12in case - from 500MHz to 1.1GHz, the same with the 14in iBooks, and 12in, 15in, and 17in Powerbooks. The good thing is on can upgrade their iBook/PowerBook with a faster motherboard but you are stuck with that particular models of choice because of your laptop's case.

Ebay is not the only place, there are many places you can go to online for a motherboard, thing is are you willing to pay such costs. Wegenermedia ( wegenermedia.com ) sells parts and does repairs for newer PowerBooks (G3/G4 to current Intel models) but they are priced higher than Ebay. Only good thing is that they guarantee their parts and work for up to a year, Ebay does not.

 

[Gorgonops]

So far as I know with most of the Powerbooks you're pretty much stuck swapping boards between units of *exactly* the same generation. For instance, for most of the 15" PowerBook's life it would come in two speed grades. You can swap boards between, say, the "Powerbook5,4" 1.33ghz and 1.5ghz models from 2004, but if you tried to use a board from a 2005 "Powerbook 5,6" 1.5ghz and 1.67ghz model you're going to be SOL. IE, connectors will move/be different, heat sinks will be completely differently shaped, even the case pans different enough that you're going to have a heck of a time trying to cobble together a mutant. Googling pictures of the A1138 vs. the board of its immediate A1106 predecessor shows some different screw positions and a big hole through the board on the 1138 that's not there on the 1106, so I'm willing to hazard the guess that it isn't going to happen.

There's also the question of whether an earlier logic board would detect and work with the high-res LCD...