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Powerbook G4 (Gigabit Ethernet) Grey display Issue.

Submitted by dogtanian on March 27, 2008 - 9:40am. PowerPC Macs

Hi folks,

I have a ye olde Powerbook G4 550MHz running 10.4, which has one broken hinge (rhs when viewed from back), however that is not the problem.

Recently, I gave the powerbook to a friend to borrow, however they have been closing the screen, (which I told them not to due to the hinge issue) and now I only get a white screen on the display, which I can dim using the brightness buttons.

I can plug in an external monitor which works fine, but is not an elegant solution.

Does anyone have any idea whether it could be a loose display cable, due to the broken hinge or something more
serious? I am armed and ready with my Torx screwdrivers!

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Dogtanian

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Eudimorphodon's picture

Cut Cable

Submitted by Eudimorphodon on March 27, 2008 - 1:53pm.

Opening and closing it with a broken hinge almost certainly has damaged the display cable. (Admittedly it's been a while since I gutted a Powerbook of that vintage, but from what I recall its pretty unlikely anything you could do with just moving the display even with a broken hinge could "unplug" it.) The only way to repair it is replacement if that's the case, and unplugging the display side means skinning the LCD, which of course is a metal bending and glue-melting ordeal. :^/

Which side is the broken hinge on? I seem to recall that the data cable went through one side, the LCD backlight power through the other. Looking at iFixit the data cable side is on the left. You could pull the clutch covers off and see if you see any gross damage/cutting. The fact that you have a white screen indicates the backlight wiring should be fine.

--Peace

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dogtanian's picture

Hmmmmmm....

Submitted by dogtanian on March 27, 2008 - 2:48pm.

Thanks for the reply.

It is the blue cable on the left as you point out.

I will remove the clutch cover tonight to see if the wire is severed and 'fiddle' with the wire to
see if I can get any response from display.

I dont think it will be a cheap or easy fix.

Thanks!

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dankephoto's picture

re: Cut Cable

Submitted by dankephoto on March 27, 2008 - 3:16pm.

Yeah, the LVDS display data cable got damaged. Hopefully that's all, as it's possible to damage the logic board if the powerlead in the data cable gets shorted to ground, see my page here.

dan k

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dogtanian's picture

You were right.

Submitted by dogtanian on March 28, 2008 - 10:16pm.

Yep, the display cable had light scoring in them, enough to render the cable useless.

However, I removed the whole display, so I now have a rather nifty looking desktop computer, I just need to find a cheap tft external monitor.

Thanks for the support chaps!!

» Imac 20" 2.16GHz C2 Duo, 1Gb RAM 250Gb HD

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