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PowerBook G4 Aluminum 12" 867 MHz Hard Drive Replacement

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  1. PowerBook G4 Aluminum 12" 867 MHz Hard Drive Replacement, Battery: crwdns2935265:01crwdnd2935265:01crwdnd2935265:01crwdne2935265:0
    • Use a coin to turn the battery locking screw 90 degrees to the right.

    • Lift the battery out of the computer.

  2. PowerBook G4 Aluminum 12" 867 MHz Hard Drive Replacement, EMI Finger: crwdns2935265:02crwdnd2935265:01crwdnd2935265:01crwdne2935265:0
    • Remove the four Phillips screws from the memory door.

    • Slide the memory door away from the memory compartment.

  3. PowerBook G4 Aluminum 12" 867 MHz Hard Drive Replacement: crwdns2935265:03crwdnd2935265:01crwdnd2935265:01crwdne2935265:0
    • Remove the long black Phillips screw next to the memory card.

    • Remove the small EMI finger beneath the black screw.

  4. PowerBook G4 Aluminum 12" 867 MHz Hard Drive Replacement, Keyboard: crwdns2935265:04crwdnd2935265:01crwdnd2935265:01crwdne2935265:0
    • On the keyboard, remove the F1, F2, F11, and F12 keys.

    • This is scary - take a deep breath before continuing. Place your index finger under the upper left corner of the key and lift up until you hear a click. Then, transfer your finger to the left edge of the key and lift up to pull the key off.

    • You're freeing the two tabs on the left of the key from the two small holes in the plastic scissors mechanism.

    • When replacing the keys in the keyboard, place the key directly over the slot where it will go and press down until you hear the key click into place.

    Whenever I’ve had to remove a key cover, I’ve used a chip extraction tool. It’s ‘u’ shaped with two tabs facing inwards. It will allow the tabs to fit under the lip of the key covers and a gentle motion will allow you to pull up.

    James Walker - crwdns2934203:0crwdne2934203:0

  5. PowerBook G4 Aluminum 12" 867 MHz Hard Drive Replacement: crwdns2935265:05crwdnd2935265:01crwdnd2935265:01crwdne2935265:0
    • Use your fingernail or a small flathead screwdriver to peel up the gray stickers covering each of the screws.

  6. PowerBook G4 Aluminum 12" 867 MHz Hard Drive Replacement: crwdns2935265:06crwdnd2935265:01crwdnd2935265:01crwdne2935265:0
    • Remove the two short Phillips screws.

  7. PowerBook G4 Aluminum 12" 867 MHz Hard Drive Replacement: crwdns2935265:07crwdnd2935265:01crwdnd2935265:01crwdne2935265:0
    • Lift the keyboard by the 'esc' and 'eject' keys and gently lift up until the keyboard is vertical.

  8. PowerBook G4 Aluminum 12" 867 MHz Hard Drive Replacement: crwdns2935265:08crwdnd2935265:01crwdnd2935265:01crwdne2935265:0
    • Grasp the keyboard connector ribbon near the connector and disconnect it from the logic board.

    Pull straight up, not sideways. I used tweezers on the connector, rather than pulling on the ribbon cable.

    vmile - crwdns2934203:0crwdne2934203:0

    mine had foil tape over the connector

    Avi Fagan - crwdns2934203:0crwdne2934203:0

    Carefully lift edges of foil tape across logic board connector end of keyboard cable (foil is present if unit

    has not been apart before).

    Grasp cable near the connector and gently pull straight up (perpendicular to logic board).

    John Haruguchi - crwdns2934203:0crwdne2934203:0

  9. PowerBook G4 Aluminum 12" 867 MHz Hard Drive Replacement, Upper Case: crwdns2935265:09crwdnd2935265:01crwdnd2935265:01crwdne2935265:0
    • Remove the three small Phillips screws from within the battery compartment.

  10. PowerBook G4 Aluminum 12" 867 MHz Hard Drive Replacement: crwdns2935265:010crwdnd2935265:01crwdnd2935265:01crwdne2935265:0
    • Turn the computer 90 degrees clockwise and remove the two medium-length Phillips screws from the casing.

  11. PowerBook G4 Aluminum 12" 867 MHz Hard Drive Replacement: crwdns2935265:011crwdnd2935265:01crwdnd2935265:01crwdne2935265:0
    • Turn the computer 90 degrees clockwise again, and remove only the bottom screw on either side of the hinge.

    By bottom screw, it means the screw nearer the lid, not the screw nearer the bottom of the computer

    cantoi - crwdns2934203:0crwdne2934203:0

  12. PowerBook G4 Aluminum 12" 867 MHz Hard Drive Replacement: crwdns2935265:012crwdnd2935265:01crwdnd2935265:01crwdne2935265:0
    • Turn the computer 90 degrees clockwise just one more time, and remove the two Phillips screws on the exterior wall of the battery compartment.

    • Remember these two screws are longer and have shoulders.

  13. PowerBook G4 Aluminum 12" 867 MHz Hard Drive Replacement: crwdns2935265:013crwdnd2935265:01crwdnd2935265:01crwdne2935265:0
    • Turn the computer over and open it up.

    • Remove the following 14 screws:

    • Six 2.5 mm Phillips on either side of the keyboard area.

    • Five 4.5 mm Phillips on the left half of the keyboard area.

    • One 7 mm hex in the upper left corner of the upper case (a T6 Torx driver will do the job nicely).

    • One 15 mm Phillips in the upper middle of the keyboard area.

    • One 16.5 mm hex in the upper right of the upper case (again, a T6 Torx driver will work well).

  14. PowerBook G4 Aluminum 12" 867 MHz Hard Drive Replacement: crwdns2935265:014crwdnd2935265:01crwdnd2935265:01crwdne2935265:0
    • Peel up the two pieces of foil tape on the left side of the keyboard area.

    • The connectors at the ends of the cables are attached very firmly to the sockets on the logic board. Pulling directly on the cable will either separate the cable from its connector or the socket from the logic board.

    • Carefully disconnect the microphone and power cables from the logic board. Using your fingernails or a dental pick, carefully pry the connectors from their sockets. Make sure you're pulling only on the connector and not on the socket.

    At least on my own PowerBook G4 12” 867MHz, the microphone and power cables are long enough that I was able to do the hard drive replacement without disconnecting those connections. I basically had to flip the top case over to the left rather than removing it straight upward. I guess that makes some of the subsequent steps slightly tricky, but at least for me, the tradeoff was worth it.

    Barry Nathan - crwdns2934203:0crwdne2934203:0

    I was not able to unplug these cables in this step - there was not enough room in the rectangular cutouts to get my nails on the connectors. I was able to perform step 16 (remove upper case) carefully with these cables still connected. Then, after the upper case was removed, it was fairly easy to safely unplug these two connectors.

    feinberj - crwdns2934203:0crwdne2934203:0

  15. PowerBook G4 Aluminum 12" 867 MHz Hard Drive Replacement: crwdns2935265:015crwdnd2935265:01crwdnd2935265:01crwdne2935265:0
    • Use the orange plastic loop to disconnect the trackpad cable.

  16. PowerBook G4 Aluminum 12" 867 MHz Hard Drive Replacement: crwdns2935265:016crwdnd2935265:01crwdnd2935265:01crwdne2935265:0
    • Starting at one of the upper corners near the screen, work around the frame, separating the upper case from the lower case.

  17. PowerBook G4 Aluminum 12" 867 MHz Hard Drive Replacement: crwdns2935265:017crwdnd2935265:01crwdnd2935265:01crwdne2935265:0
    • Lift the upper case off the computer.

    can't lift upper case off. upper case.. it anchored on display side !!!

    Fernando - crwdns2934203:0crwdne2934203:0

  18. PowerBook G4 Aluminum 12" 867 MHz Hard Drive Replacement, Hard Drive: crwdns2935265:018crwdnd2935265:01crwdnd2935265:01crwdne2935265:0
    • Remove the two Phillips screws from the hard drive bracket.

  19. PowerBook G4 Aluminum 12" 867 MHz Hard Drive Replacement: crwdns2935265:019crwdnd2935265:01crwdnd2935265:01crwdne2935265:0
    • Use the orange plastic loop to disconnect the hard drive cable from the logic board.

  20. PowerBook G4 Aluminum 12" 867 MHz Hard Drive Replacement: crwdns2935265:020crwdnd2935265:01crwdnd2935265:01crwdne2935265:0
    • Use the orange cable to pull the hard drive up, then pull it and the hard drive bracket out of the computer.

  21. PowerBook G4 Aluminum 12" 867 MHz Hard Drive Replacement, Hard Drive: crwdns2935265:021crwdnd2935265:01crwdnd2935265:01crwdne2935265:0
    • Remove the two Phillips screws on the bottom of the hard drive.

  22. PowerBook G4 Aluminum 12" 867 MHz Hard Drive Replacement: crwdns2935265:022crwdnd2935265:01crwdnd2935265:01crwdne2935265:0
    • Remove the two Phillips screws and black rubber bumpers from the right side of the hard drive bracket.

    • Lift the metal bracket off of the hard drive.

    • Carefully peel the orange hard drive ribbon up from the bottom of the hard drive.

  23. PowerBook G4 Aluminum 12" 867 MHz Hard Drive Replacement: crwdns2935265:023crwdnd2935265:01crwdnd2935265:01crwdne2935265:0
    • Disconnect the hard drive cable from the hard drive by applying even pressure on both sides while maintaining a firm grip on the drive itself.

    • This is a bit tricky. Try holding the drive against your body while pushing the cable away from you, or rocking the cable gently from side to side while applying even pressure, or both. If you bend the pins, do your best to straighten them, using the hard drive cable as a guide.

    • If you are installing a new hard drive, we have an OS X install guide to get you up and running.

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To reassemble your device, follow these instructions in reverse order.

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iRobot

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The guide was 99% spot on. I felt uncomfortable lifting the upper edges of the keyboard by the keys. It felt like more upward pressure was needed, and in so doing, I was fearful of popping off the two keys. My work around was to use the flat edge of a black stick to gently pry up one end of the upper keyboard. In doing so, the rest of the keyboard came loose. Reverse order (following the guide in reverse) was again most helpful.

Thank you for a very fine guide.

Gary

Gary - crwdns2934203:0crwdne2934203:0

Step 14 is not required to disassemble the device, as long as you don’t pull the cables too hard. The cables are long enough.

DistroHopper39B - crwdns2934203:0crwdne2934203:0

This guide was great. I used it to upgrade my recently acquired 12" 867MHz Powerbook with a 120Gb SATA SSD (Samsung PM851 42mm m2). I'm using an m2 SATA to IDE adapter to let me mount the m2 SSD in my G4 laptop: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B017VQ...

It took a while, at least an hour, but it was slow and steady work. It is absolutely necessary to do something like tape the screws to a piece of paper with labels for the matching step. So many screws! They are all different!

I love the Powerbook G4 with the SSD. Totally silent, much faster, and I don’t have to worry about the HDD gumming up and dying.

feinberj - crwdns2934203:0crwdne2934203:0

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