Dead iBook G4 screen

[Tom41]

The LCD on my Mac iBook G4 has just died. If I look with a flashlight, I can still see the picture on the display - there's just no backlight no matter what I do. I think the laptop took a little knock, and since then it's had no backlight.

The laptop itself is still working properly (in fact I'm using it now to type this); I just need to plug it into an external monitor to see anything - which kinda defeats the object of it being portable.

The backlight is not even flickering when I move the lid and adjust the brightness control; there's no response from it whatsoever (not even a dim glow). In the one part of the laptop that I can take apart; the slot beneath the wireless card where you put in additional memory and I can't see any cables that might have fallen out. Is there anything I can do to try and revive it, or am I doomed to having to send it away to Apple for fixing?

[willawake]

Re: Dead iBook G4 screen

i think you will have to completely disassemble to see what is going on whether a cable has come loose or the inverter is busted or the ccfl tubes are damaged or dead.

here is a few disassemblies to see what is involved
http://repair4laptop.org/notebook_lcd_display.html

probably you can fix it yourself. if the ccfl tubes are busted then make sure you order ones with the same colour temperature otherwise the screen will not look the same

[starfury1]

Re: Dead iBook G4 screen

here's another disassembly how to here

Not really the voice of experience with mac screens but as Willawake said most likely inverter or backlight
(hope for your sake, it is a lose connection)

although I've never used them possibly try Ifixit for parts
(or get an idea of what you need)


HTH

Cheers

[willawake]

Re: Dead iBook G4 screen

the important things when disassembling laptops are to first do some research and find some howtos or pics for the disassembly. to get familiar with the sequence, it is often not the same. Then you must document it step by step as you proceed. i usually get some paper and stick the screws to it with sellotape and annotate on the paper. there are usually many screws of different size. i also take photographs periodically.

i cant really help with the inverter troubleshooting i know a few here can though. replacing tubes is not too bad. just need surgical gloves though to handle them and also must be so goddamn careful when soldering the wires to new tubes. need something to hold them steady. any stress and pop tinkle. and you really only get your 3 seconds of soldering otherwise again pop tinkle.......apart from that it is not too bad.

[Paul S]

Re: Dead iBook G4 screen

Here's a link to an inverter repair site, I think they are in the US:
http://www.laptop-inverter-repair.biz/

And their sister site on ccfls:
http://lcd-backlight-ccfl.com/

I got a replacement ccfl for my Inspiron 1150 laptop from an eBay dealer. The color is not quite right. As Willawake said, the color is important, but I don't know what the color ranking method is. I don't recall seeing it listed at the ccfl sites I visited.

Replacing the ccfl is the cheapest, so do that first. Save the old ccfl, if it doesn't fix the problem you may want to put it back in.

My laptop inverter has a short in the transformer. Here's some pics, sorry for the poor quality as I used a camera from work. (That's why I posted about what's a good digital camera.)

[starfury1]

Re: Dead iBook G4 screen

Yes willawakes advice above is very very sound good advice....Always Document your disassembly

To add to paul S on inveters

Found these on inverters, not sure how much use they will be.

here

look more at the bottom of this page

Here


more really a "send it to us we fix" but has info on their construction and faults

parts plus few how to's

not really directed at ibooks thought and it does have a how to change backlight like willawake was describing above
(maybe willawake can offer an opinion on it)
here



HTH Cheers


BTW should have made it a bit clearer too....the link in my post above is for a IBook G4 according to the info in the first bit of text....
(not that you could tell that from the title)

[Paul S]

Re: Dead iBook G4 screen

Yes, by all means take pictures of how the ccfl is installed. By the time I got a new ccfl, I had forgotten exactly how the dam thing went together!

I did the best that I could, but now I have some bright sections along the edge where the ccfl is.

The color on mine isn't right, so I ordered a different bulb. I'll have a chance to get it right the second time. First I'm gonna get a digital camera to record the disassembly.

[willawake]

Re: Dead iBook G4 screen

I got a replacement ccfl for my Inspiron 1150 laptop from an eBay dealer. The color is not quite right. As Willawake said, the color is important, but I don't know what the color ranking method is. I don't recall seeing it listed at the ccfl sites I visited.

ccfl colour temperature is measured in Kelvin or K

if it is not right then the colours will be more blue, red or yellow depending on what wrong temperature was purchased. It is exactly similar to incorrect white balance in a digital camera which is also measured in K.

There is a setup feature in some monitors that allows the selection of colour temperature. There may only be something like 3 choices however. I have not tried to setup a monitor with wrong bulbs that way though.

Problem is that sometimes it can be difficult to find data on what colour temperature the tubes in the monitor are.