How I fixed my iBook

Last Tuesday, I think I repaired my iBook. The troubles that it had did not reoccur after Tuesday, so I now conclude that the repair was successful. Tuesday, I wasn't so sure and I know the troubles will reoccur. Hopefully, that will not be before the end of my stay in Lund, or, even better, before finishing my thesis. Let me impose the details on you and between the lines relay the story of how I encountered my future girlfriend in the process.

So, my iBook stopped working. 'But what does it do?' you may ask if you've had any experience with the 'helping' side of a help desk. In many cases, computers that 'stop working' don't stop working completely. They still do something. For example the power light goes on, the hard disc starts spinning, or the screen flashes. The operating system may even boot up to a certain point. Users summarize all these events back to 'it stops working'. To a help desk, these little things that a broken computer still does are useful clues. And they are also useful in case you want to start looking for answers on the internet.

Right, so what did my iBook still do when I hit the power button. The optical drive made the familiar boot-sound. It said kssh-wrrng, like a cat that is agreeing to a comforting pet. This sound should then be followed by the Apple 'boinggg' sound that indicates a boot. But, it didn't. In stead, I heard the hard disc spinning and after a few seconds, the fan started fanning in high speed. After that nothing else happened. The screen remained black. First, I thought that that isn't such a problem because at normal startups the screen switches on only five or so seconds after switching on the power. Unfortunately, the screen remained black after these seconds had passed.

After some Google-ing for the symptoms, I found loads and loads of documentation. You can look it up yourself, but let me give you some shortcuts. After a complaint or two, the Danish consumer organization commissioned an expert examination of the problem. (check here) According to the report, the problem is located in the connections of a particular chip that arranges power supply to several parts of the iBook, such as the screen and disc drives. The soldering of two of the 28 pins that connect the chip to the logic board (the logic board is a flat piece of green material that holds and connects all the chips and other electrical stuff) in due time wear and may eventually break with an almost invisible fracture. The soldering connections wear due to on and off switching of power. I don't understand why this is, but it makes enough sense to me.

Now you may be wondering, what were my options at that point, and when will I start talking about this future girlfriend? On the latter, she has long legs and blond hair. I know, that does not really narrow it down in Sweden. On the first, the options were (1) bring it to the Apple repair shop an pay a lot of money for transport and installing an entire new logic board, (2) buy a new laptop and pay even more money - which is bad - but be tempted to buy the MacBook air - which is the upside of the bad part, or (3) repair it myself which might fail but is by far the cheapest option. Those who are not that Zen with motorcycles will immediately opt for (1) or (2). Provided I have time available and that I own a motorcycle, I would definitely consider to repair the thing myself. In case of my iBook, the only thing that could go wrong is that it would remain in the 'not working' mode, where it already was.

Fortunately the internet provides several pages with detailed information on how to fix the problem in a bit of an improvising way. It boils down to 'applying pressure' to the chip in order to press the fractured soldering back into a connecting position. Apparently, simply clamping the entire laptop onto a table with a C-clamp actually works, but among other disadvantages also downgrades the portability of the laptop.

Another way to apply pressure is to insert a piece of any non-conducting material between the chip and the casing. See here for example. It works, but I don't find it very elegant. Suddenly the bottom of the laptop may not be that flat anymore and I wonder what effects the pressure has on the rest of the logic board, the more so because of the extra pressure that the weight of one's hands on the keyboard may add to the bent situation.

The third way is, of course, resoldering the connections. This would be limited to holding a soldering tool to the two pins to melt the solder so that it reconnects again. One needs a soldering tool that generates about 500 degrees Celsius as somebody pointed on the internet. The tool should have a tiny tip of less than a millimeter since the chip is only about 9 mm long and holds 14 pins within that. This also means that a steady hand and peace of mind come in very handy. I tend to think that I have these two qualities, so I only needed a soldering tool. Since I left mine behind in the Netherlands - how unforeseeing - I started a quest for one, which is where the future girlfriend that remains anonymous will enter the story.

I went tot the university workshop just opposite of my office building, but unfortunately it was a metal workshop which did not have a soldering tool for electronic stuff. The gentlemen kindly referred me to the university's computer service department. I did not expect much from this service, after all it has a monopoly on IT equipment for the university which usually means that prices go up and service goes down. Anyway, I went out to buy a soldering tool. This included worries about opening hours (I will spend a posting on Swedish opening hours later) and locating the store, but I had help from a friend - not the future girlfriend, in case you wondered. The shop did not sell soldering tools that could reach 500 degrees. 450 was the best they had and it was slightly more expensive than I was willing to invest, but my back was against the wall, so 450 degrees had to do. On my way back home, I noticed this particular pretty lady with legs wrapped in bright purple stockings. I actually managed to wink and smile. She smiled back ...

To open an iBook, one needs a spudger (a very funny new word I learned on this quest. I organize it in the same category as 'flustered') or big flat screwdriver, a small phillips screw driver and a ..., well look it up yourself at the ifixit site. The third most important thing not mentioned there is an empty table as big as you can get your hands on. If you open an iBook you need the space to organize the loads of little screws that come out. They all need to go back in at the right spot, so you need to organize them when they come out. This time, it were only 14 screws. Last summer, I replaced the hard disk, which meant unscrewing dozens of screws and I needed to draw maps of the iBook layers that I was peeling off with the locations of the screws. The table should be as big as possible because you preferably want to store the screws outside the range of your arms or other body parts. You'll be surprised about the moves and swings you make.

The most and second most important things, as I mentioned above, are a steady hand and a mind as empty as the table. Don't think about problems at work, or purple stockings while you are working on this.
Two other handy things: (1) a pair of squeezers in case you drop a screw inside the iBook and (2) a printed copy of the manual because you will not be able to use your computer while you are taking it apart. But you had thought of that, right?

The most uncomfortable bit of opening an iBook is using the spudger to separate the white bottom part from the grey band that goes around the sides of the iBook. Fortunately, compared to last summer, it was less difficult this time. The rest is just screws and administration. It took about 15 minutes before I could see the bottom side of the logic board. And there it was. The blue rectangle indicates the chip that needed resoldering.

I couldn't see whether the connections of pins 1 and 28 were broken, but if I tried really hard I could see they were slightly different from the others. My digital camera confirmed it. See?

The pin on the right with the blue arrow looks less shiny than the rest. Hmmm, now that I see the picture on my laptop in stead of on the small camera screen, I notice that the second one from the right also does not look that shiny. So, either this picture does not mean much, or maybe I'll have another problem later on.

Then I did a stupid thing. Not disastrous, just stupid. I pressed the chip with the problem. By doing that I may have pressed the loose connections back in place and made the serrated edges hook on to each other so that they may stick for a while. In other words, I might have solved the problem. Admittedly in a lousy and temporaty way, but still.

Anyway, I took the soldering tool and tried it at low temperatures - it was adjustable - on a low-risk connection (one of the pins of the battery connector, big and easy to reach). Just to see whether the information about the required high temperatures was right. After all, I did not want to burn my one chance of fixing the iBook. It turned out that the information was correct. Only at the tool's maximum temperature the solder would melt. Not fast nor completely, but it kind of softened up.

No stepping down from here. I only had to press the tip of the soldering tool to the two pins. And so I did. Sorry, I have no pictures and no films of it. Remember, I needed a blank mind, so no distractions with cameras or purple stockings. You just have to take my word for it. I did it and saw no difference. So, I gave it another go and another. Each time a second or two longer. You may wonder, like I did, whether the chips can stand the heat. They can. After all, they are made of metal inside and at one earlier time in the life of my iBook, a machine - machines can not be distracted by long legs and purple stockings - had soldered thousands of connections on the logic board. Surely, the chips can stand the heating of two pins. At least, that is what I figured. After the third attempt, I saw that the heat had made a difference. Not impressive though, if that is at all possible on a quarter of a square millimeter. The connections looked even rougher than they already were, and slightly darker. (sorry, no picture. I forgot to make it) 'Is that better?', I wondered.

I realized that I had not disconnected any electrical parts except for the battery. So, I plugged in the power connector and pushed the power on button. Guess what? It worked. It booted as it should up to the login screen.

S I G H - O F - R E L I E F

It did not prove much, of course. But if it had not booted, that would have meant more and more fumbling with the soldering tool. It possibly even meant adding more solder, which I would surely overdo because the tip of the soldering tool was a bit too big. This would cause two pins to connect to each other which obviously is not good. At points like these, I can invent numerous other disaster scenario's. Fortunately, I did not have to. In stead, I shut down the power and put the laptop back together. 'Just reverse the steps' the manual says. Again, the important part is to remain empty headed and focused. In mountaineering, most accidents happen on the way down. It is the same here. The stockings lady had to wait. And she did.
After I had put it together, the iBook still booted as it should. Y E S S S S S. Then the next test phase followed. I walked back to my office and switched it on. Now, if me pressing the chip had already fixed the problem temporarily, then that solution would probably not have passed that test. The shaking of the laptop during the walk might have made the connection let go again. And if not during that trip, then during the next or the next. The last few days, the iBook gave me the familiar kssh-wrrng and boinggg on every boot. 'Yes, sure, good for you' you are thinking 'But what about the lady with the purple red stockings?' I never saw her since. In fact, now that I am writing about her, I am not sure whether she was my future girlfriend or the guardian angel of my iBook. Only Friday evening, while I was taking the shots for 'the making of the making of "cleaning the vacuum cleaner"' the screen suddenly turned black. I rebooted the laptop and it worked again. I guess, I still am kind of lucky when it comes to my iBook.

PS People do weirder things to repair their iBooks. Look here to see how somebody used candles and alcohol to resolder connections where the soldering tool can not go. The guy also painted his iBook green.