powerbook g4 titanium 550/667 repair guide...this manual is presented as a guide in order to help...

of 41Copyright © 2004 Powerbookmedic.com. All rights reserved.

Powerbook G4 Titanium 550/667 Repair GuideCopyright © 2003 Powerbookmedic.com. All rights reserved.

Any portion of this manual may not be copied, reproduced, or distributed without theexpress written consent of Powerbookmedic.com. Violators will be prosecuted.

This manual is presented as a guide in order to help you repair problems on yourpowerbook. Working on a powerbook can be dangerous if not done properly. We at

Powerbookmedic.com take no responsibility for any damage or harm done to yourself oryour powerbook as a result of reading this guide.

Suggestions for making this manual better? Email: [email protected]

Tools Needed for Take Apart:

Torx T8 Screwdriver – Available from our online store Torx T6 Screwdriver – Available from our online sore

Philips head screwdriver (small and medium size screwdrivers)Pliers

Always remove the battery and power supply from the computer before beginning anytake apart or repair!


Table of Contents

Identifying the Gigabit Powerbook G4………………………………… …...pg. 3

Identification of Parts…………………………………………..…………….pg. 4

Battery Removal………………………………………………...……………pg.5

Keyboard Removal…………………………………………….………….....pg. 6

Ram Removal……………………………………………..…..……………..pg 7

Modem Removal……………………………………………….……………pg. 8

Bottom Case Removal……………………………………………………….pg. 9

Hard Drive Removal………………………..…………………………….....pg. 13

DVD / Optical Drive Removal………………………..………...…………...pg. 15

Logic Board Removal…………………………………….…………………pg. 17

Display Removal…………………..……………………………….………..pg. 22

Display Take Apart / Hinge Replacement………………….………………..pg. 25

Heat Exchange / Rib Frame Removal……………………………………….pg 38


Identifying the Powerbook G4 550/667

The powerbook G4 Titanium is easily identified by its titanium frame and sleekappearance. Even though all of the models look nearly identical, each of them is differentin a unique way, and the parts are NOT interchangeable between models. The easiest way

to identify which model you have and need parts for is by processor speed. The pairslisted below are compatible only with each other. For example, the 400mhz can use

500mhz parts, but cannot use the parts from a 550mhz.400mhz & 500mhz

550mhz & 667mhz (non-DVI)667mhz & 867mhz DVI

To determine if your machine is a DVI model, then you will need to look at the rear portson your unit. Look at the pictures below. The first picture is a NON-DVI model. (Notice

the VGA port next to the fan slots.

The picture below is from a DVI model. Notice the rectangular DVI port.


Identification of Parts

DisplayBottom Pan Casing

Optical DriveInverter Board

Clutch Covers

Logic Board

Trackpad / Heat Exchange /Rib Frame

Modem


Before proceeding with any repair, make sure your powerbook is shut down andunplugged. It is a good idea to let your powerbook sit unplugged for at least 15

minutes before proceeding with any repair.

It is strongly recommended that you remove the battery before proceeding with anyrepairs.

Battery Removal

Turn the computer over withthe bottom up as shown.Push the battery latch to theright as shown. The batterywill then “pop” up and youwill be able to remove itfrom the laptop as shown inthe second picture.


Keyboard Removal

Before proceeding, you must first remove:

Battery

After you have removed thebattery, turn the computerover and open up the display.Then, depress the twokeyboard tabs as shown inthe picture. Holding the tabsin, flip the keyboard up andtowards you. (If thekeyboard does not easilycome out, check to makesure you have not locked thekeyboard.)

To remove the keyboardconnector, grasp the cable asshown and gently pull up.You can gently wiggle thecable from side to side if itdoesn’t come off easily. Donot use much force. It shouldcome off relatively easily.


Memory (Ram) Removal


BatteryKeyboard

To remove currently installed ram,pry back the metal or plasticfasteners holding in the ram asshown. Do this on each side. It’seasier if you do them at the sametime.

The ram chip will pop up. Justslide out to remove it. To install anew chip, just align the new chipin the grooves, press in, and thenpress down until the fasteners clipon both sides.


Modem Removal


BatteryKeyboard

To remove the modem you willneed either a pair of pliers or a5mm hex nut screwdriver orwrench. Undo the hex nut in thelocation shown. Then pull themodem up to disconnect it fromthe motherboard. Lastly removethe cable connected to the modem.


Bottom Case RemovalBefore proceeding, you must first remove:

Battery

Remove the 8 Torx screws from thebottom case with your Torx T8Screwdriver. (Available fromwww.powerbookmedic.com)

Gently lift up on the case as shown.Do not use much force at all or youwill break the trackpad casing.Gently work your way around thecasing.


Take special care near the DVDdrive area. This area is very delicate,and you especially risk breaking thetrackpad at this point.

When the casing is loose, lift up andplace it on a clean surface.


Airport Card Removal


BatteryBottom Case

To remove the airport card, locatethe metal clip that holds the cableconnector in place. Gently pry thisback with your finger and pull up onthe cable to release it from theconnector.

Lift up on the card as shown. Thenpull the card out of its connector.(You may gently rock the card sideto side to ease it out of theconnector.)


Using your fingers, pull the cableconnector from the card. (If it is hardto pull the connector out, you canuse a pair of needle nose pliers togently pull the connector out whileholding the card. If you do this,don’t use much force at all or yourisk breaking the card andconnector.)


Hard Drive Removal


BatteryBottom Case

Disconnect the orange hard drivecable from the motherboard asshown.

Remove the two Torx T8 screwsshown in red. These are located inthe battery bay. Note – There aretwo rubber washers, if they fall outremember to put them back in wheninstalling a new drive.

Lift the drive up and out.


Remove the orange cable from thehard drive by pulling the cablestraight up as shown. Do not useexcessive force, or you will bend theconnector pins.

Replacement note – If it is difficultto put the hard drive back in, you canremove the torx screw from the ribframe and move that portion of therib frame slightly to allow for morewiggle room.


CD / DVD Drive Removal


BatteryKeyboard

Bottom Case

Note – CDRW removal instructionsare similar but differ slightly.

Using a flathead screwdriver pry upthe EMI clip at the location shownin the picture. It will be behind theDVD drive. Put the clip somewheresafe, as you’ll need to replace itwhen you reinstall another drive.

Turn the computer over. Locate theDVD drive and two orange cablesconnected to the motherboard.You must first remove the orangestrip of tape covering the cables.Then, undo the two orange cablesfrom the motherboard.


Grabbing the drive from the sidesonly, lift the drive up and out.Note – There is a metal clip on thefront of the drive that attaches in twosmall grooves. This should easilycome loose. You will need to putthis piece in the drive you arereplacing if it does not already haveit.


Logic Board Removal / Replacement


BatteryKeyboard

Bottom CaseAirport Card (If installed)

Remove the four Torx T8 screws asshown.

Undo the orange PCMCIAconnector from the motherboard bygently prying it up.

Remove the battery connector cablefrom the motherboard by gentlyprying it up. This connector can behard to remove sometimes. Use aflathead screwdriver while pullingup to make the job a little easier.


Remove the backup battery cableas shown by gently pulling up.

Turn the laptop over.

Undo the three cables on the lefthand side of the logic board. Thesecables are very delicate, so useextreme caution


If a strip of orange tape is covering thetrackpad connector, remove it asshown and disconnect the trackpadcable from the motherboard. If youhave not already done so, remove thehard drive cable from the motherboardas well. (It is located next to thetrackpad cable.)

Remove the three Torx T8 screws asshown.


Locate the DVD drive and two orangecables connected to the motherboard.You must first remove the orange stripof tape covering the cables.Then, undo the two orange cablesfrom the motherboard.


Remove the orange piece of tapecovering the black and grey cable onthe right hand side of the logic board.

Carefully undo the cable.

Grasp the logic board as shown andgently pull up. Then gently pull theboard out and place it on an anti-staticsurface.


Display RemovalBefore proceeding, you must first remove:

BatteryKeyboard


Logic Board

Remove the 4 Torx T8 screws on theclutch covers as shown.


Gently pry the clutch covers off ofthe frame. If you use a flatheadscrewdriver be sure not to chip yourpaint. They should come off easily.

Now, remove the 4 Torx T8 headscrews at the locations shown. Donot remove the black screws on theblack hinge. *Be very carefularound the cables.

On the right hand side, gentlyremove the pink and black cablefrom the inverter board as shown.

Then pull it through the hole in thecasing where the hinge attaches to.


On both sides of the casing is thepiece shown in red. This piecepivots up and “folds” over.On the side with the displaycable and white and blue wire,lift this piece up, and then,carefully guide the display cableand blue and white cable throughthe hole. You will have to turnthe display data cable to get itproperly go through the hole. Bevery careful with the cables!


Display Take Apart / Hinge ReplacementREAD BEFORE PROCEEDING

Working on the display of the G4 Titanium is a very risky procedure. If you are notcareful, there is a high risk of damaging your display. Also, the casing will not look100% cosmetically perfect many times after performing this repair if you have never

done this type of work before.

Physical Harm – The casing of the Display is extremely sharp, and you risk cuttingyourself on the casing if you are not careful. We strongly recommend using protective

gloves when performing this procedure.

By performing any work on your Powerbook and by continuing with this repair, youagree that Powerbookmedic.com is in no way shape or form responsible for any damage

done to your laptop or for physical injury done to yourself.


BatteryKeyboard


Logic BoardDisplay

Hinge Mount Removal

Hold your display as shown, and locatethe 2 hinge mounts shown in red in thepicture. They will be held on by twoblack Philips head screws


Remove the two Philips headscrews on each hinge mount asshown. Make sure to apply enoughdownward pressure so as not to stripthe screws.

Guide the hinge mount out andtowards you as shown.


Opening the Display

On both sides of the display youwill notice 2 Torx T6 Screws asshown in red. If you want toremove the entire back panel (notrecommended) or get to thedisplay cable, you’ll need toremove all 4. If you areperforming just a hingereplacement, you only need toremove one from each side. (Theones on the bottom of the displaywhere the hinges are located)

If your hinges are broken, the nextstep will be much easier. If yourhinges aren’t broken, then there isa high likelihood of breaking themwhen you try to open the displayunless you take extra care.

Grab the display as shown, andpull with a fair amount of forceup. You are needing to break theepoxy bond holding the displaytogether. Try to only grasp thedisplay as close to the edge aspossible. You do not want to putpressure anywhere near the actualLCD or you may break it.


After the initial bond is broken, you needto work your way around the display tobreak the bond. Do this slowly. If you tryto do too much at one time you’ll dentyour display casing. Again, only graspfrom the sides. If you are performing thehinge repair only break the bond up toabout 3-4” along the side…you want tobreak the bond as little as possible as itwill be a cleaner repair when you aredone.

Display Cable Replacement

If you are replacing the hinges, skip thesenext steps for the display cable removal.

Break the bond all the way around threeedges of the display. Do not break thebond on the top of the display (side withscreen latch mechanism) unlessabsolutely necessary. It is very difficult toput the casing back together if you breakthe top bond.


After you work your way around, itshould look something like thepicture.

From the base of the display, open thedisplay as shown. You’ll notice thereis an orange piece of tape holding thedisplay cable to the display connector.You will need to remove this piece oftape as well as the piece holding thecable on closer to the bottom of thedisplay. You will then be able toremove the cable from its connector.


Note: this picture is turned aroundfrom the picture above.The display cable is most easilyreplaced by replacing the enter cableand frieze (the white cylindricalplastic piece that is about 7” long)The frieze is held on by a light epoxy,so you just have to pull it towards youand off as shown.The cable will then be free. You canthen replace the cable. You will needto epoxy the case (and frieze backtogether) Use a small amount ofepoxy all the way along the casingedge, and then clamp and let sit. Seeinstructions below for moreinformation on epoxy.


Hinge Replacement

Note: Some of these pictures are taken with the display still attached. It is possible to dothe repair without removing the display module, but in so doing you risk more damage to

your unit. We strongly recommend against this!

There are two main ways your hinges can break. We will cover the repair of both types ofbreaks below.

Break Type # 1

The picture to the left shows the first typeof possible hinge break. If you’re lucky,this is what you’ve got. The hinge isbroken off only at the base. This makesextraction of the bad hinge much easier.

Follow the instructions above to break thebond on about 3-4” of the casing on theside of the casing of the hinge you need toreplace.

Use a flat tool to nudge the bad hinge up.Do not use a lot of force or you will dentyour casing.


Follow the hinge along, and continuegently nudging the hinge up until youbelieve it is sufficiently loose to beextracted. Again, do not use much force.

Use a pair of need nose pliers to pull thehinge towards you and out. Note: Do notuse much force. You want the hinge tocome out easily. If you use too muchforce the hinge will break and extractionwill be much more difficult.

If you have extracted your hinge at thispoint, skip the next step on the secondtype of break.


Break Type # 2

With the second type of break, there is astronger likelihood that the repair willleave your casing slightly damaged. Inthis type of break, the hinge breakshigher up into your casing. This makesextraction of the bad hinge much moredifficult.

If you haven’t done so already, followthe instructions above to break the bondon about 3-4” of the casing on the sideof the casing of the hinge you need toreplace.

Then, extract the first part of the brokenhinge.


If the rest of the hinge does not comeout easily, you will need to use a flathead tool to follow the piece of thehinge and break the bond with the hingeand the casing. The less force you use,the easier it will be to close your casing.

A lot of times, you will damage the thinpiece of metal that connects the topcasing to the bottom casing. When youclose your display back, it will normallygo back into position, but you may haveto prod it in certain places with a flathead screwdriver to allow the casing toclose correctly.


Use a pair of needle nose pliers toextract the hinge when it is looseenough to be pulled out.

Putting it Back TogetherTo put the display back together, youhave to bond it with epoxy or contactcement. We use Loctite Quick SetEpoxy. It is very strong, and does thejob well. The downside is that if youmake a mistake in the repair, gettingback in may be more difficult. Contactcement has a more glue consistency,and while it won’t look as pretty or beas strong, it will be easier to undo if youmake a mistake.If you use the epoxy, premix the twocomponents. (You can use brokenhinges to mix.)


Apply the epoxy to the hinge. Applyenough to thoroughly coat the hinge,but not enough so that it drops off thehinge or that there are big gobs. If youuse too much you could damage thedisplay. Also, BE CAREFUL with theepoxy. Do not get the epoxy on yourdisplay or you will damage it. Makesure you only get it on the hinge andthe area it needs to go in.

Line the epoxied hinge up with thehinge hole.

NOTE: If you are repairing thehinge around the inverter wire, beextremely careful that you guidethe wire into the frieze beforeputting the hinge in. You want theinverter cable to come out of thefrieze and no other place or you willhave a whole other set of problemson your hand.


Guide the hinge into place. Make surethe hinge goes all the way back andthen fits snugly into its corner.

Wipe off any excess epoxy!

Use a strong spring clamp (available atWal-mart) to clamp the display shut.Only clamp the edge of the display! Donot put the clamp on the actual LCD oryou will break it. Let the epoxy sit for24 hours or as the instructions say. 24hours is a good time to let the epoxy sithowever.

After it is dry, use a cleaner like GOOBE GONE on the case if youaccidentally got some epoxy on it.

Reassemble your laptop.


Rib Frame / Heat Exchange ReplacementBefore proceeding, you must first remove:

BatteryKeyboard


Logic BoardDisplay

Remove the two torx T8 screws asshown.

Remove the 4 Torx T6 Screws nearthe ports as shown.

This will loosen two pieces from therib frame (panel mounts). Removethese panel mounts.


Along the rib frame there are 4small torx T8 screws. The twoshown to the left are in the harddrive cage. The one in thepicture below is under the airportcable near where the airport cardgoes. The last picture is hard totell, but it is near the inverterboard on the left hand side of thecasing.

Remove all 4 screws.


Gently lift the rib frame up and out.

Disconnect the audio cable on theleft hand side and right hand sideof the unit. If it is wrapped inorange tape, remove the orangetape.

Note (The picture shows themodem and PCMCIA card cage.These pieces should have beenremoved prior to this step if youfollowed the instructions.)

The heat exchanger will now lift upand out.


At Powerbookmedic.com, we strive to make our manuals as accurate as possible. If youwould like to see something in this manual or would like to see something improved in

this manual, please email us at: [email protected]

For all of your powerbook & ibook parts and repair needs, visit us at:

Copyright © 2003 Powerbookmedic.com. All rights reserved.

powerbook g4 titanium 550/667 repair guide...this manual is presented as a guide in order to help...

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