iFixit - Answers With Device "iBook G3 Clamshell"

iBook G3 Clamshell: Powers on, no chime, HDD spins but not consistently

Mon, 12 Aug 2024 10:07:09 -0700

Hello!

I got this iBook G3 Clamshell from the local hackerspace in my city. It had the "vinegar syndrome" on the LCD and I took it apart to replace it.

However, I realized that, even with a bad LCD, I should still get a Mac chime when booting. This one doesn't do it.

A few facts:

Charging light turns on and gets orange when there's a battery plugged in.
Battery seems to be dead
I took the laptop apart so that I only have the logic board, DC-in, headphones plugged in so I can hear the chime (I was also testing with composite out plugged to a TV) and an HDD without its cover, so I can see whether it is spinning.

With the battery plugged in:

Sometimes when I try to turn it on, I hear noise on the headphones but the HDD doesn't spin. I have to force it to shut down. Charging light turns orange after shut down, when HDD stops.
Sometimes when I try to turn it on, the HDD spins just a little and I hear a noise on the headphones indicating that the laptop powered off
Sometimes the HDD spins and keeps spinning. The mechanical head moves to the middle of the HDD as if it was trying to read something.

Without the battery plugged in, it's basically the same behavior, but the charging light never turns orange.

I also tried resetting the PRAM (cmd option P R), PMU (holding power, holding reset, holding control shift option).

Heck, I'm almost doing some kind of ritual like this to make it work lol.

I checked the super capacitor as mentioned in this video and it doesn't look leaky. There's nothing leaky or weird on the logic board btw.

Please help me.

iBook G3 Clamshell: iBook G3 Clamshell LCD display replacement (LTN121X1), help!

Fri, 10 Feb 2023 21:55:22 -0700

I need some help in setting up new screen for iBook G3 clamshell.

I replaced the LCD screen according to this nice instruction in https://ibookmod.livejournal.com/559.htm.... I used model number LTN121X1-L02 LCD screen from Aliexpress.

However, I got the screen attached and I guess this is normal. I should change the setting to see the proper display.

Then, I found this site but just pictures were shown with no explanation (attached).

https://www.flickr.com/photos/46722368@N...

Can you help how I can modify the setting to see the proper screen?

Thank you so much in advance.

⟐ Commented February 10, 2023 at 21:55 MST

iBook G3 Clamshell: Were to buy a Charger/Power Supply for the iBook G3 M6411

Sat, 25 Apr 2020 04:06:15 -0700

I've been trying to fing a Charger/Power Supply for the iBook G3 M6411 Clamshell and I just cant find it

iBook G3 Clamshell: iBook G3 Clamshell hard drive it doesn't turn on

Tue, 14 Apr 2020 14:55:57 -0700

I was replacing my iBook Clamshell G3 hard drive, and now the computer doesn’t turn on. When I put the charger in I get a green light so it is working, but it doesn’t turn on. The power button also doesn’t work well, and it can be jammed.

never mind I have fixed the issue

⟐ Edited by author April 14, 2020 at 14:55 MST

iBook G3 Clamshell: iBook G3 (Indigo / Firewire) booting to 1024x768

Mon, 06 May 2019 18:31:57 -0700

Anyone run into this issue before? I have 2 indigo iBook G3s, both models with FireWire. One iBook, we'll call it iBook 1, has been running 9.2.2 and 10.4.11 for well over 5 years from an 64GB SSD with no issues, and iBook 2 had the stock 12GB HDD. I decided to upgrade iBook 2's 12GB to a 30GB HDD. Before I swapped the drive into iBook 2, I used a FireWire case to clone iBook 1's SSD over to the 30GB HDD using CCC. I then booted off that HDD from the FireWire port on iBook 1. Everything worked great. I then put the 30GB HDD into iBook 2, booted it, it defaulted to 9.2.2. Everything worked great. So I booted iBook 2 into 10.4.11, I got the Apple logo and gray screen, but when it was time to load the login screen, the display went black (backlight was still on). I was able to screen share into it, and I saw that the system was seeing iBook 2's display as 1024x768 (which is outside the iBook's 800x600 range). I manually set it to 800x600, but nothing changed on the screen. I was able to use iBook 2's trackpad and keyboard as well, and sound was working fine, just that the screen was black. I then put iBook 2 in target disk mode and booted iBook 1 off of iBook 2's 30GB HDD. Everything was ok. I shutdown, then tried booting iBook 2 back into 9.2.2, but the same thing as 10.4.11 was now happening, once the 9.2.2 fully loaded (just after the happy Mac), the screen went black. I then tried to boot the 10.3 disk, and the retail 9.0 disk, and they too are booting to a black screen. I can access the boot menu just fine, see the start of a given OS loading, but then it goes black. I can remotely connect / screen share just fine, but the screen stays black the whole time. I did an PMU and PRAM reset, pressed the reset button inside iBook 2, swapped out the RAM, and booted without the battery. Nothing helps. I then booted iBook 2 back into target disk mode, connected it to my 12" PowerBook, repartitioned the drive (chose to install OS 9 drivers too), then did a clean install of 10.4.11, but it didn't work. I copied over another System 9 folder, that didn't work. Consistently booting to a black screen.

So I'm lost, probably spent 12-15+ hours on this so far. My theory is something in the hardware is reporting 1024x768, which the chipset on this iBook can't handle. Maybe there's a jumper tripped? It looks like 800x600 when the Apple logo or Happy Mac logo is on the screen, it's just that once the OS loads the graphics drivers, the screen goes out. My other iBook, iBook 1, is cruising along no probably this whole time. Firmware was updated to the latest version a long long time ago.

Thanks for any suggestions!

iBook G3 Clamshell: How can I update firmware without working optical drive to install OS9

Fri, 31 Mar 2017 17:16:16 -0700

iBook G3 Clamshell, 466 MHz, 576 MB, running 10.4.11, current firmware version 3.3.3f3

I recently swapped out the hdd to an mSATA ssd. I copied OSX 10.4 to the ssd using superduper! Everything works on the computer, but the optical drive. I soon found out that my firmware was not up to date. The only way to go about updating the firmware on a G3 clamshell involves having OS 9.1 or 9.2 on a local drive. I would like to know if there is any way I can get OS 9 on my iBook without the optical drive working?

⟐ Commented March 31, 2017 at 17:16 MST

iBook G3 Clamshell: Why isn't my backlight working?

Wed, 24 Jun 2015 13:05:22 -0700

HI! I've had an old iBook G3 clamshell for a while, and wanted to give it to my son, but when I brought it out of the closet, the backlight wouldn't work. Any suggestions?