My 15″ 1.5ghz Powerbook G4 was narcoleptic. That means it had a faulty track pad temperature sensor which told the powerbook that it was basically on fire (212 degrees), when in fact it was not. This caused over temp signal which put the computer to “emergency sleep” whenever it damn well felt like it. Very annoying and very hard to work with! So after two years of research and $25 of screwdrivers I cut the damn thing out.Before reading any further – attempt this scary surgery at your own risk, you could break stuff and have a dead powerbook on your hands. I’m not sure if that is better or worse than having a powerbook that shuts off all the damn time with no warning…
exciting pictures at my Flickr – click here
I opened the top case with directions from ifixit.com and taped all the screws to a piece of paper. After I disconnected the cable connecting the top case to the logic board located the bastard sensor on the top case with much help from the pictures at the blog posts at the end of this story. I used cuticle nippers to cut the connecting legs of the sensor off the ribbon it was soldered on to. A note to anyone else who decides on the cuticle clippers, make sure you cut the legs really far down close to the ribbon – I had some errant legs that shorted out the computer a bit and it wouldn’t boot (just ran the fans, black screen, hardware was not working at all – very scary), even when they were covered with lots of tape. I think they may have been touching under the tape which would explain it, but I can’t confirm. Trimmed down and retaped and everything is working great, knock on wood! I just screwed back on the top case and all is well. Now I just have to replace the power Jack and it will be like having a new computer again!
I attempted the surgery after reading the following experiences – I owe all of them enormous thanks!
4 Comments
March 3, 2008 at 12:52 pm
Love it! I just wonder why the folks at “Forbidden Fruit” fail to acknowledge this mess that little sensor has caused.
March 3, 2008 at 1:22 pm
Dina – I second that, their claim of ignorance is making me insane! I want to buy a PC for my next computer just to spite them, but I love OSX so so so much! What is a girl to do?
Thanks for your comment, without your blog I wouldn’t have a working powerbook (or this blog post) at the moment!
June 18, 2009 at 2:38 pm
[...] Nach einem bisschen Google-Recherche stellten wir fest, wir sind nicht allein. Beispiele hier, hier, hier, hier und [...]
July 29, 2009 at 7:10 pm
Had to perform this last night on a 15″ that was given to me. Was not hard at all and solved the issue. 24 hours of no narcolepsy!!!!!