Well my Powerbook has arrived but unfortunately no amount of “shift-fn-ctrl-pwr” key combinations would bring it back to life. I decided to open it up and stare blankly at it’s insides for a while (I have a long history of looking at the inner workings of things I don’t understand, for some reason it makes me feel like I’m being productive). I followed the very detailed Powerbook G3 Wallstreet take-apart instructions. After separating the upper case assembly I discovered the Power Management Unit and most of the surrounding components were covered in a sticky black substance, I could tell this wasn’t normal. I’m guessing that someone spilled liquid (probably Coke) into the computer. Realising that I couldn’t really make it any worse, I decided to try cleaning the affected circuit boards. I did this by scrubbing them with an electric toothbrush under warm running water. I then let the parts dry thoroughly in front of the heater before reassembling the powerbook.
And to my great surprise and excitement it worked, well sort-off. I got the familiar start-up chime but when the screen came on it looked like this – lots of vertical lines and a kind of cloudy appearance.
After cracking open the screen assembly I found the same sticky black substance on everything, even between the various layers in the LCD assembly. I tried cleaning everything as before but the problem persists. It’s back to eBay to try to find a replacement screen.
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