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Titanium PowerBook Crashes During Heavy Activity
- Thread starter CC_333
- Start date
Couple things:
Is there a copper heatpipe in that model? Feel that heatpipe. If its hot right at the chip and gets far too cold towards the fins/vent end, your heatpipe could have vented and lost its alcohol/acetone, and it will no longer function at transferring heat. (rare, but happens. had a dell inspiron 1100 do it once). Heatpipes work on a refrigeration principal, the alcohol/acetone boils at the chip side, taking the heat with it. It travels and condenses when cooled over by the heatsink fins, and the alcohol/acetone returns. there is a copper wick in the center that helps with this operation. If things got too hot at one point (plugged heatsink), pressures can build and split the heatpipe and vent the alcohol. It will no longer function if this happens.
Another more likely issue is the chip might need a reflow. its getting hot and the solder is breaking away.
Is there a copper heatpipe in that model? Feel that heatpipe. If its hot right at the chip and gets far too cold towards the fins/vent end, your heatpipe could have vented and lost its alcohol/acetone, and it will no longer function at transferring heat. (rare, but happens. had a dell inspiron 1100 do it once). Heatpipes work on a refrigeration principal, the alcohol/acetone boils at the chip side, taking the heat with it. It travels and condenses when cooled over by the heatsink fins, and the alcohol/acetone returns. there is a copper wick in the center that helps with this operation. If things got too hot at one point (plugged heatsink), pressures can build and split the heatpipe and vent the alcohol. It will no longer function if this happens.
Another more likely issue is the chip might need a reflow. its getting hot and the solder is breaking away.
No, I don't think so. It has a bunch of aluminum colored rods that connect the various sections of the heat sink together. Are heatpipes sometimes made of things other than copper?
Would that explain the unusual instability? I mean, I've had computers run at higher temperatures than this, and they are a stable as ever. So, something seems wrong somehow, and the heat seems to trigger it.
What do you suggest I do, short of replacing the logic board? I'd reflow it myself, but I a) don't have the proper equipment, and B) even if I did, I wouldn't know what to do.
Thank you for your thoughts, anyway.
c
p.s. By "chip", I assume you're referring to either the CPU, or one of its support chips, correct? The video systems seem OK, since I've never noticed any problems with that (no artifacts, blanking out, etc.) However, I have noticed that when the battery goes into reserve power mode (and also while running Apple Hardware test), the backlight will stop responding and go dark. Putting the computer to sleep and waking it again fixes it. What's the deal with that?
OK, that would explain the color. I did notice that some sections of the heat sink were somewhat cooler where it wasn't in contact with any heat producing chips.
Also, does this model of PowerBook (1 GHz) have two fans or one? I just recently noticed something, perhaps a fan, trying to work inside the machine, on the right side behind the optical drive. Is it possible that the problem could be due to a bad cooling fan?
If so, then maybe I could repair that fan, thereby solving the problem. It wouldn't hurt, right?
c
It has a primary fan, right next to the processor and a secondary fan at the back on the right hand side.
It looks like you may have to take the logic board out to get to that fan, but I'll send* you the information I mentioned in my pm and that will help you locate it.
I'm not sure I'd bother trying to fix the fan, I'd be looking out on eBay for a replacement to simply drop/plug in. Annoyingly a lot of eBay sellers selling these kind of parts sell them untested so it may take a while to locate a known good working one. You'll have to apply what I call the three P's of eBay - Patience, Persistence and Perserverence! You just have to keep looking basically.
* Apologies for not having done that yet, busy day today, I'll try and get it off to you tomorrow.
I'm not sure I'd bother trying to fix the fan, I'd be looking out on eBay for a replacement to simply drop/plug in. Annoyingly a lot of eBay sellers selling these kind of parts sell them untested so it may take a while to locate a known good working one. You'll have to apply what I call the three P's of eBay - Patience, Persistence and Perserverence! You just have to keep looking basically.
* Apologies for not having done that yet, busy day today, I'll try and get it off to you tomorrow.
