the daily snivel

From the Department of I Cannot Fucking Believe That Worked:

As you may recall, my beloved if elderly iBook (G3 600 mHz, 16 MB VRAM, 128 MB RAM, 20 GB HDD) recently fell prey to the dreaded iBook Logic Board Kablooie, in which iBooks of a certain vintage suffer from corrosion of the soldering between the logic board and the graphics processing unit, resulting in a loosening of the connection between the two that results in display issues (frequently lots of coloured lines or other erratic behaviour being displayed) and kernel panics, such that the computer is no longer usable for more than a few minutes before locking up. Apple was good enough to provide an extensive free repair program for those iBooks affected, but lamentably it expired in May 2005 -- at a time when my computer was functioning perfectly.

When I first encountered problems with my computer a month or so ago, I immediately turned to the Apple Support discussion site, as most of the common issues that arise are discussed on these groups, and most often when you encounter a problem you'll reach someone who has heard of it before and can offer some advice. Aside from calling Apple's Customer Representatives (NOT Customer Support) and pleading your case for an extension of the repair program (which I confess I have not yet tried), the following helpful advice was provided by John Sawyer to those suffering from logic board-itis:

[Y]ou can often fix this yourself by removing the iBook's bottom housing, and placing a shim of any sort, about 1mm to 1.5mm thick, onto the raised square on the bottom shield. I use a Scotch mounting square--you can get them in hardware stores and many grocery stores. When you reinstall the bottom case, it will press against this shim, which will press against the graphics chip, and may allow the chip to come into better contact with the logic board.

John Sawyer
CJS Macintosh Repair

Another helpful soul, Ronda Wilson, also links to instructions for removing the iBook's lower case:

http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/50.5.0.html

I also found detailed instructions on Josh Oakhurst's website, where he describes the process behind the "Best Ghetto Apple Hack Ever: iBook Logic Board Fix," including helpful photographs to illustrate bringing the theory to reality.

Now that I am unemployed, and have lots of spare time and little money (though this situation may change shortly -- see below), I was desperate enough to try this solution myself. Tonight I hauled out the ol' toolbox and pulled out the various tiny screwdrivers and other delicate implements needed to open up my lower case. As has been observed by many others going thither, this is a somewhat harrowing process. But eventually, I managed to gently remove the lower case from my iBook, revealing the metal housing for the iBook's logic board and other internal components. As directed, I applied a shim created out of materials that were handy (in my case, I had 7 business cards left from my days at the Legal Clinic, which I taped together) and affixed them to the bottom of the housing, on the raised area directly underneath the GPU.

Then came the edgy work of fitting everything back together and wishing I was religious enough to say a few Hail Marys.

Then I turned the iBook on.

And wouldn't you know it, the bastard works. It's been running without issues for the past hour and a half. I honestly am amazed that this hack would work. But it does. It may not be an indefinite solution, and it may not be without deleterious side effects, but none of my research has dredged up reports of subsequent failures or, say, fires, so here's hoping. I'll definitely be gentle with my computer just in case.

The upshot is: Yay! I have a computer that works perfectly again! Internet boobies, here I come!

Oh, and I just might have a job at a criminal law firm here in Ottawa. I had an interview on Friday and received an offer today. I'm going in later this week to sort out the details (like can they afford to pay me and can I afford to work for them).

Could this be the start of a spate of good luck for Rob? Keep your fingers crossed.