HOWTO: fix a G3 iBook with a "bad logic board" for 26 cents

iBookI’ve had a 12″ G3 iBook since ~2002, and I’ve really liked it. Of course me being me, I’ve run Linux on it for almost the whole time, even running a dual boot of OS X and Gentoo Linux back when I used this puppy on the job. The only thing I (and likely millions of other customers) didn’t like is the systemic “logic board” failure. Yes, the logic board, which is just Apple’s name for the motherboard, would fail, prompting a call to Apple, followed by about a one week turnaround on the repair, which was all covered under warranty. The only thing is, this only reset your iBook back to the original state, after using the iBook for so long, this issue would occur again, leaving you with a shinny door stop. Mine had come and gone 3 times, so this final failure fell far outside of even the extended program to cover the fix. Fast forward to last week, I had resigned from my gig at Mastercard, thus turning in my work laptop, leaving with no easy way (I can go downstairs to my desktop, but…) to work on a system and check my email. I got the iBook out of the drawer and started looking around for info online to solve this from a DIY angle. One interesting way was to burn a tea light directly on the video chip, eventually making it hot enough to resolder itself to the board! I was going to do this, when I found a lower tech, less risky, fix, with perhaps even more permanent results. You open the iBook, put some sort of shim just underneath the video chip forcing it to stay in contact with the logic board; that’s it! There are plenty of sites out there now talking about this, but this one seemed the most direct. So I opened the iBook, found that little square you see in the pictures, duct taped a penny topped by a quarter to the metal, and all of a sudden had a revived laptop. It’s fun when things are so easy. Oh, and Ubuntu Linux Feisty (7.04) for the PowerPC runs very nicely on the iBook! So much more power saving features, and the promise of Gnash to cover all the flash sites makes it a great laptop.

Posted on May 29, 2007 by . This entry was posted in geek, howto, linux and tagged , , . Bookmark the permalink.

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  • http://elbit.net/oswaldo Oswaldo

    The 26 cents repair works!!
    Thank you for the tip.

  • http://elbit.net/oswaldo Oswaldo

    The 26 cents repair works!!
    Thank you for the tip.

  • http://fak3r.com/ fak3r

    Fantastic – very glad it worked for you as well. It seems like such a waste to have all these iBook’s out there with ‘broken’ logic boards just gathering dust, they’re still fine machines. I’ve been trolling eBay, but I haven’t seen any of them going for < $100 – would love to pick one up on the cheap and then go looking in my sofa for some spare change to shove in it!

  • http://fak3r.com fak3r

    Fantastic – very glad it worked for you as well. It seems like such a waste to have all these iBook’s out there with ‘broken’ logic boards just gathering dust, they’re still fine machines. I’ve been trolling eBay, but I haven’t seen any of them going for < $100 – would love to pick one up on the cheap and then go looking in my sofa for some spare change to shove in it!

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  • http://www.4haks.net/ Stacey

    Think I’ll give this a try too…. Thanks for the idea.

  • http://www.4haks.net Stacey

    Think I’ll give this a try too…. Thanks for the idea.

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  • Jay

    You can also re flow the solider with a hot air gun. Usually refereed to as a Re-Work Gun. This is the tool that the service referb tech will do to fix the board again after that they mark it as a referb (and sell it as such).

    This is not the only product that has this exact same problem. Red Ring of death and the ps3 failure is directly related to this exact same problem.

    I have a bunch of “broken” routers that I have purchased off ebay that have this problem. A quick pass with the rework gun fixes it.

    What you need to do is move the heat from the chip. This will fix the problem…permanent. Rigging a heat sink fixes it every time. Pay attention to airflow in your rigging. I had to do this with a IBM T30 to prevent the bad memory slot problem.

    note: I have used heat shrink guns to do the same thing.. but I had to make a tip so I wouldn’t heat things I didn’t want to melt. (900-2300 degrees will ruin anything)

    I have heard of people using toster ovens to reflow solider but I have never attempted doing this… but if you do a search on red ring of death you will find a fix by wrapping it with a towl…. that would make it hot enough for sure. .. but what else are you going to break in that process.

    Hope this helps… Of course doing this is at your own risk.

  • Jay

    You can also re flow the solider with a hot air gun. Usually refereed to as a Re-Work Gun. This is the tool that the service referb tech will do to fix the board again after that they mark it as a referb (and sell it as such).

    This is not the only product that has this exact same problem. Red Ring of death and the ps3 failure is directly related to this exact same problem.

    I have a bunch of “broken” routers that I have purchased off ebay that have this problem. A quick pass with the rework gun fixes it.

    What you need to do is move the heat from the chip. This will fix the problem…permanent. Rigging a heat sink fixes it every time. Pay attention to airflow in your rigging. I had to do this with a IBM T30 to prevent the bad memory slot problem.

    note: I have used heat shrink guns to do the same thing.. but I had to make a tip so I wouldn’t heat things I didn’t want to melt. (900-2300 degrees will ruin anything)

    I have heard of people using toster ovens to reflow solider but I have never attempted doing this… but if you do a search on red ring of death you will find a fix by wrapping it with a towl…. that would make it hot enough for sure. .. but what else are you going to break in that process.

    Hope this helps… Of course doing this is at your own risk.

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    Ciekawa strona, trafilem tu przypadkowo, ale od dzis bede wpadal czesciej, pozdro

  • Vince

    “I’ve run Linux on it for almost the whole time, even running a dual boot of OS X and Gentoo Linux back when I used this puppy on the job.”

    PLEASE Link me to a site or anything that can explain to me how to do so. I’ve been wanting to do something similar forever but I’m a noob in macs. (I’m a pure PC guy)

  • Vince

    “I’ve run Linux on it for almost the whole time, even running a dual boot of OS X and Gentoo Linux back when I used this puppy on the job.”

    PLEASE Link me to a site or anything that can explain to me how to do so. I’ve been wanting to do something similar forever but I’m a noob in macs. (I’m a pure PC guy)

  • http://fak3r.com/ fak3r

    @Vince
    Easy, start here: Gentoo PPC FAQ and learn how to do a dual boot. If you’re not interested in Gentoo the guide still carries a good deal of relevant information. Here’s one for running a dual boot of OS X and Debian.

  • http://fak3r.com fak3r

    @Vince
    Easy, start here: Gentoo PPC FAQ and learn how to do a dual boot. If you’re not interested in Gentoo the guide still carries a good deal of relevant information. Here’s one for running a dual boot of OS X and Debian.

  • Tobias Coyote

    This worked! I used a ten and a twenty euro cent piece. And I’d been looking into buying a new computer!

    Thanks.

  • Tobias Coyote

    This worked! I used a ten and a twenty euro cent piece. And I’d been looking into buying a new computer!

    Thanks.

  • http://fak3r.com/ fak3r

    @Tobias Coyote
    Fantastic! Hope it works for a time mate, it’s it good to feel like you can make a difference in such an otherwise such small thing? Good on ya!

  • http://fak3r.com fak3r

    @Tobias Coyote
    Fantastic! Hope it works for a time mate, it’s it good to feel like you can make a difference in such an otherwise such small thing? Good on ya!

  • Dave

    THANK YOU! This worked for me as well. I think I’ve been through about 3 logic boards as well, putting off the inevitable new computer. This gives me new life for at least a little while, so I can save my pennies for a new comp. You’re a life saver!

    • http://fak3r.com/ fak3r

      Glad to hear it, I just thought of this the other day, really glad it’s helped others out.

  • Dave

    THANK YOU! This worked for me as well. I think I’ve been through about 3 logic boards as well, putting off the inevitable new computer. This gives me new life for at least a little while, so I can save my pennies for a new comp. You’re a life saver!

    • http://fak3r.com fak3r

      Glad to hear it, I just thought of this the other day, really glad it’s helped others out.

  • Bonnie Char

    TRULY AMAZING!
    I resurrected two dead iBooks tonight after reading this tonight!
    Duct tape and twenty-six-cents sounded way too good to be true, but it worked!
    Thank you!

  • Bonnie Char

    TRULY AMAZING!
    I resurrected two dead iBooks tonight after reading this tonight!
    Duct tape and twenty-six-cents sounded way too good to be true, but it worked!
    Thank you!

  • Bonnie Char

    This evening I resurrected two dead iBooks with the duct tape and 26 cents method.
    I am flabbergasted that this would work, but it did, and I am now writing on one of
    the formerly dead iBooks. Thank you!

  • Bonnie Char

    This evening I resurrected two dead iBooks with the duct tape and 26 cents method.
    I am flabbergasted that this would work, but it did, and I am now writing on one of
    the formerly dead iBooks. Thank you!

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  • gillian

    totally did this. it totally worked.

  • gillian

    totally did this. it totally worked.

    • http://fak3r.com fak3r

      that rocks, so glad it’s still helping! Wish those models didn’t have that problem so much, it was really a great form factor – I’m always tempted by the black versions, they’re slick.

  • http://fak3r.com fak3r

    that rocks, so glad it's still helping! Wish those models didn't have that problem so much, it was really a great form factor – I'm always tempted by the black versions, they're slick.

  • lex

    Ok I'm a noob to this whole mac thing and technical thing as well…I'm scared of opening the computer and not being able to put it back together is there a step by step w/pics?

  • http://fak3r.com fak3r

    The best overview I found was here: http://www.powerbook-fr.com/ibook/bricolage/rep…outside of that, just go slowly, lay out the screws that you take out on a piece of paper and map out where they go. Plus, if it's already broken, how much worse can you mess it up? ;)

  • dan

    saved my laptop from going for scrap to being useful again! – great tip ***

  • dan

    saved my laptop from going for scrap to being useful again! – great tip ***

    • http://fak3r.com fak3r

      Woo-hoo! This tip going on 2 1/2 years and it’s still helping! That rules. I honestly haven’t played with my old iBook in sometime, but I may have to to get it out again and see how it’s doing.

  • http://fak3r.com fak3r

    Woo-hoo! This tip going on 2 1/2 years and it's still helping! That rules. I honestly haven't played with my old iBook in sometime, but I may have to to get it out again and see how it's doing.

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    I used linux once but dont really like it, guess am used to just pc

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    I used linux once but dont really like it, guess am used to just pc

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  • Jauidfo

    TRUE DAT!!! It works!!!!!! Thank you!!!!

  • Jauidfo

    TRUE DAT!!! It works!!!!!! Thank you!!!!

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  • Anonymous

    Sadly the method didn’t work. must be another problem a suppose

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