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Question about Snow iBooks
- Thread starter Knix6593
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The answer is yes, the 900Mhz G3 models are also affected by the GPU solder issue. My technique has been to insert a 1mm thick, ~25mm square thermal pad between the aluminum panel and the bottom plastic case.
This adds a little pressure from the base to push the GPU back into place and has extended the life of many of the G3 iBooks which have come up blank at boot time (for me).
This adds a little pressure from the base to push the GPU back into place and has extended the life of many of the G3 iBooks which have come up blank at boot time (for me).
The lid has some leftover adhesive on it, and the thing has no hdd(its probably there sitting dead tho)
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Doesn't matter, buy it. Or if you don't want it; buy it and I'll buy it from you lol. $27 is nothing for one of those.
Also what GPU plague do you speak of? I've never heard of any PowerPC based notebook with GPU problems. That is unless you are referring to the Rage 128 which was a plague in itself, being obsolete way before apple started using it in any machine. I have a 500Mhz iBook G3 that I've owned for over 10 years and it still works fine.
The 900mhz one has a Radeon 7500 in it. Miles ahead of the 128.
Shipping from Indonesia might kill your enthusiasm, though. The GPU issue is one of cracking solder joints around the GPU chip. Sometimes, inserting a shim to hold the chip closer to the logic board is enough to force the broken solder joint(s) together so that the GPU kicks into life again.
There was a problem with the later G3 iBooks; I don't remember the specifics but my 800 MHz one was affected (during warranty, thankfully).
It was a smelly problem IIRC
Yep - disgusting smell!
I once tried to remove that smelly sticky-stuff from beneath the keyboard of an iBookG3-Snow and happend to leave the remnants on my desk close to the bathroom door...
Later I demonstrated it to my wife and how disgusting smelly that plastic stuff was and she told me, that she came from the showers got aware of that smell, when passing by my desk and immediately returned to the showers for a second time ...
I miss the "Love this story button" in this forumYep - disgusting smell!
I once tried to remove that smelly sticky-stuff from beneath the keyboard of an iBookG3-Snow and happend to leave the remnants on my desk close to the bathroom door...
Later I demonstrated it to my wife and how disgusting smelly that plastic stuff was and she told me, that she came from the showers got aware of that smell, when passing by my desk and immediately returned to the showers for a second time ...
In my experience, I have witnessed this issue on ALL iBook G3s which shipped with the Radeon Mobility 7500 - this includes the 700MHz (opaque) 12" model and the final 800MHz 12" model, as well as the 800MHz and 900MHz 14" models.
I would recommend the iBook 12" 600 or 700MHz or 14" 700MHz "Ice" models prior which used the 16MB "Radeon Mobility" GPU (recognized by glxinfo as the "Radeon Mobility 7000"). These units have been rock solid in comparison.
I have a 14" ice 700MHz iBook. Sadly its reputation as solid seems a bit undeserved. Having said that, it doesn't whiff too bad but I did give it a thorough clean on acquisition just in case.
In all honesty, I've found the earlier 500 and 600MHz models with the Rage Mobility 128 to be more reliable than any of the Radeon equipped iBook G3s, but the performance of the Mobility Radeon was substantially better than the Rage Mobility 128.
I have both of 700Mhz 12" models (Ice and Snow) and the Snow has been through several major overhauls and ultimately has been a real PITA. Even after twice replacing the logic board and renewing the onboard PRAM capacitor, it still only chooses to boot once in a blue moon.