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Saturday, January 7, 2012

Reviving a ten years old Powerbook Titanium (inverter board fixing)

The backlight of my beloved 2002 Powerbook Titanium DVI 667 MHz failed some months ago. So it went into the attic and collected dust - until now. I gave it a shot and opened the machine using a Torx screwdriver. The insulating foil of the inverter board (the unit that converts direct-current used by the mainboard into high voltage alternating current, that is used by the cold cathode fluorescence lamp illuminating the LCD screen) showed clear signs of a blown joint. Also the inner case of the Tibook showed burn marks.


Signs of a blown connection


I deinstalled the inverter board, opened the insulating foil and inspected it. The inductor coil has five input and two output solder joints. One of the output joints was blown. I took a normal soldering iron and a thin wire of copper and re-connected the joint.


inverter board soldered (not nicely looking i admit)


The original insulating foil for the inverter board was busted during the deinstallation. So i took a normal household plastic bag to improvise an insulation for the IB.


The reinstalled inverter board




Close-up: white and pink are the wires connected with the output joints leading to the backlight bulb


After installation i did put everything back in place, closed the cover, tightened the screws and hoped.....


booting the beast


I was lucky. The trusty old Tibook started and the backlight ignited. Success!