I don't see it yet, so I guess I will make it my own personal challenge for the month of January 2025.

Here we go...

Day 1

I have 3 iBook G3 500MHz 12" laptops. All are in some state of dysfunction. One came from FreeGeek and two were from a lot of 4 "for parts" from eBay.

500MHz machines are all tray load.

I started by doing some troubleshooting and then some disassembly.

Keep your screws organized. I should have a magnetic pad for this.


Some issues:
1. Surprised that this thing booted and somewhat ran... all that corrosion dust inside. Was this sunk with the Titanic?

So I disassembled down to the frame.

Hit it with a poly-brush on a drill.

It removed most of the dust, but the surface is really pitted. Too much work to put this ugly frame into the spare parts machine (mentioned later), so its in one of the functional ones now.

2. Satan's Kiss? Can't be an arse-crack. Maybe it got left next to a mirror that went across the screen as the sun set? Just surface damage.

3. Ripped off trackpad socket.

I was able to solder it back on. Bad focus.

4. Black dots? Deteriorating speaker foam? No, they are plastic cones, I checked.

5. Nuts! Darn aged plastic. From the top shell/keyboard area.

Fixed it with some JB Weld, not the plastic type but it should work. Letting it dry a couple days before I insert the screws.

6. All hinges were tight/stressful. I removed each panel, dropped IPA in and flexed them to clean out a little, then put 3-in-1 oil in and flexed again. Wiped up afterwards and they are all much smoother.

7. Panel swaps. 1 panel worked with the surface damage, one panel clearly cracked, one panel did not light up on its original computer. After swapping around, it was determined that the unlit panel worked fine. I had a spare panel so I replaced the cracked one. Two machines function fine, the third one is intermittent booting, so that will be a later project or parts machine.


So for 3 flawed machines, I have two fully functional and one iffy. Not bad for a day's work.

Fantastic work.

I even have plans to use my iMac G4 weekly as part of the PPC Challenge. I'll still make it my own personal challenge tho. The iMac G4 is one of my many prized possessions and I plan on putting it to good use.

Yeah, didnt see any threads about PPCC2025 either so I went on my own. Didnt have any fun hardware fixes etc. to document so I used one of my PowerPC macs to compile fresh Tenfourfox and then leveraged Neocities.org and Zonelets.net for standing up a basic website+static blog that I can access and document on my PPC G4 macs running Tiger or Leopard (or any of my other macs for that matter :D ). I actually started it during 2024 Christmas break but have been working on it and continue in the New Year into this years challenge month. I'll figure out some other stuff to do Im sure :) but trying to keep it relatively light with life/professional bandwidth where it's at.

Day 2

I picked up a Dr. Bott DVIator cable from FreeGeek in the dollar bin. No PSU. It has been laying around since PPC Challenge 2024. I thought I would give it a go today.

I found a couple old DELL 4pin DIN power supplies at 20V.

It was a struggle, but I eventually got the 4 pin connector disassembled and soldered the wires on the correct polarity.


PSU into a BUC transformer and dialed it up to 28v.


I modeled a nice Apple G4 Cube power supply at 80% size. Printed a slice to test the fit.

Sized right.


UofMN ReUse center had 80% off on yellow tagged items, so I got this 17" Cinema Acrylic Display for $6. Testing with my hacked PSU, all I got was the sad, sleepy orange power button. Tried an real G4 Cube PSU, same situation.

Using an Apple ADC to DVI adapter proved that the monitor works. Time to test the wiring on the DVIator, maybe something is wrong. I don't suspect there is any real circuitry inside, just a passive adapter.


Positive: the $6 display works fine.
Negative: test the cable before you waste the time making a power supply.

I have a big soft spot for those acrylic cinema displays. They take up a bunch of room and the ADC to DVI or VGA gap is tough unless you have the adapter but man they are nice to my eyes so I overlook the low resolution :) I cherish all of mine.

Day 3

I am working an additional shift today, so not a lot of time for projects. Quickest one I have is a RAM upgrade on an iMac G3 Strawberry tray loader. Had dual 128MB in there and bumped it up to dual 256MB.


While it was open, might as well swap the battery for a CR32 holder.


Peekaboo.

Runs great, didn't even take it off the display shelf. Here with an original Strawberry kb and a fake mouse.

That is a bondi/blue mouse with 3D printed PTEG color swap sides.

One thing I noticed is that I have some graphics artifacts in Tomb Raider. Have not tried other games or 3D stuff yet to see where else it pops up.

Day 4

I have three iBook G4 1.33MHz parts machines to try to build one good one. Some testing and disassembly... I see that one boots fine, but screen bezel issues, so I will have to swap screens.

This one is also missing the power button socket.

Since one of the other machines shows no signs of life, I will borrow the two pin socket for the magnetic lid sensor.

Soldered in place, and all is good for one machine. I still have to epoxy the lid nuts and a break in the frame. Final assembly in a couple days.

As always, keep track of your screws. My cat likes to jump on the table, so I thought I better have a reference for screw length as well.

The other two machines will be put aside for future repair or salvage. 1 of 3 complete working for the day.

Both computers are ready to go. I was up half the night while trying to install Sorbet Leopard on my iMac G4. But, it was worth it as I now have Sorbet Leopard installed on my prized possession. And, I'm also going to use my iBook G4 for this series as well.

Day 5

I have four iBook G4 1.2GHz 12" models. One was restored in December 2024, and I have been using it to prep SSDs for my other iBook recoveries. The other three all display the White Screen of Death (LCD is white only ie the backlight is on, but the only graphics shown are on an external display). I am going to try this solder fix in the next couple of days and let you know how it goes. Lots of tear down and testing today, but no full recoveries yet.

Our apologies for the lateness, but yes it is happening! I've added a new sticky post: