Old School - PowerBook G4 question

[ejlain]

Hi everyone. Was wondering if someone might be able to help me with this. Here's my dilemma. I have a TiBook G4,15", 1GHz, 1 MB L3 cache, 1GB SDRAM. It boots in OS 10.4 and I've kept it around because it also runs OS9 in Classic mode so I can use a ton of docs created in PageMaker 6.5.

Last week the display went dark. I hooked it up to an external display and it is working fine for now. My question is THIS...can I take the HDD out of this PowerBook (Model A1025) and put it into something I buy off ebay (a 1095 or 1108)? I know it has to be a PowerPC to run OS9 right? Any help is appreciated. Thanks in advance!

 

[eyoungren]

Hi everyone. Was wondering if someone might be able to help me with this. Here's my dilemma. I have a TiBook G4,15", 1GHz, 1 MB L3 cache, 1GB SDRAM. It boots in OS 10.4 and I've kept it around because it also runs OS9 in Classic mode so I can use a ton of docs created in PageMaker 6.5.

Last week the display went dark. I hooked it up to an external display and it is working fine for now. My question is THIS...can I take the HDD out of this PowerBook (Model A1025) and put it into something I buy off ebay (a 1095 or 1108)? I know it has to be a PowerPC to run OS9 right? Any help is appreciated. Thanks in advance!

You can (pull the drive). And technically, yes PowerPC OS X 10.4 for running Classic.

You'll need a TiBook, a G4 up to but not including the MDD to run OS9 natively or something else G4/G3 based.

There are exceptions but generally not well known.

Why replace the entire thing though? Just replace the screen on the current one. Sounds like the display went out if the Mac is still able to be used with an external display.

 

[MagicBoy]

Backlight failure is relatively common on the A1025. I've got one here with the same issue.

 

[AphoticD]

Backlight failure is relatively common on the A1025. I've got one here with the same issue.

Would it just need a replacement inverter board?

I repaired my (Aluminum) PowerBook G4 15" many years ago when it had the display black out after it took a spill from a cuppa. I could still make out the image when viewed from certain angles (or by shining a torch through the apple logo from behind), so it just needed the inverter board which cost me about $25 + shipping from USA.

The actual part took about an hour or so of my time to install, reassemble and test. But the real time expense was in the clean up which I did before the part arrived. This was a case of meticulously removing each key from the keyboard, cleaning out and drying all of the components, layers, pads, etc. Fortunately, the keyboard, inverter and speakers took the main spill and there was no logic board damage. So in all, it was a cheap repair and still works to this day.

I should mention that the small rubber diaphragm on the left speaker and subwoofer split about a year after this and now makes a horrible noise when the volume is turned up. I have recently bought a set of replacement internal speakers to install - This is on my to-do list

Be sure to follow the guides on http://www.ifixit.com

 

[MagicBoy]

Depends if it's the inverter, which is oddly situated above the optical drive on the Ti or the backlight itself that's stopped working. First thing I did with mine was the torch check and the panel is fine, just no backlight.