Refurbishing a First Gen MacBook
Many folks with a first generation MacBook laptop are well aware of the list of issues that have shown up on them over the past three years. Some of the top things I have seen are the staining that occurs on the wrist wrest due to Apple’s poor choice in a plastic, and the habit of iSight cameras to stop working in these models. Other known issues are CD drives having difficulty reading discs, touchpad button problems, and very noisy fans (holy cow).
Recently, a friend of mine who has experienced the staining and iSight issues decided to upgrade to the new Unibody MacBook. After helping her move data from the old to the new, got the “opportunity” to figure out how to solve some issues.
First, I had to solve the stained wrist wrest problem. I have previously used the Mr Clean Magic Eraser to clean MacBook’s, but this time it only had average success. I then found an article that said nail polish remover was an alternative cleaner. I tried it, and it seemed to help more. After both cleaners, the wrist rest is still slightly stained, but i’ll keep working on a fix for it.
Second, and more annoyingly, the built-in iSight wasn’t working. I did all the usual things like reset the PRAM, and the PMU/SMC. Nothing worked, and I noticed that the device didn’t even show up in System Info. More digging led me to some folks who pulled out the LCD screen, and found that the iSight camera cable was slightly unseated. That seemed like my last best hope, so I went and grabbed some tools.
I found a decent set of instructions for doing the screen removal at ScreenTek Inc. The bevel removal seemed to be the trickiest part. There are no screws, just plastic clips, which translates to “easy to break”. Fortunately, the removal went ok, and all the clips were still intact afterwards.
I got the screen apart, and sure enough, the iSight cable was slightly out of place. Slightly, in this case, means less than a centimeter, seriously.
I pushed it back in place, and launched Photo Booth to test. I saw the green light come on, and then saw video. It worked!
I put the LCD back in place, and screwed it back in (17 screws). After snapping the bezel back on, all was well. The OCD in me had to immediately clean the screen, because there were some slight finger prints. Now, I am back in business with iChat and PhotoBooth goodness.
Oh wait, I just realized how messed up the trackpad button really is. I’ll leave that repair for another day.
