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PowerBook 17" says I have no mouse or keyboard!

Reply by asle

Hi,

I changed the broken LCD of my 1,67Ghz 17" PowerBook. I was assembling the flat ribbon cable from the keyboard through the logic and close to the RAM I was just testing without the battery (charger plugged in). Suddenly there was a small spark and a trail of smoke (!!) coming from the connector where the flat ribbon cable goes in. I can see it has a smal burn mark. Now the PowerBook works fine, boots but complains that it does not have a mouse or keyboard. Is there any way I can repair that connector or do I have to buy a new logic board?

Reply reply by varsityanchor

Looks like you got ahead of youself here by powering on your device too early.

Diagnose the problem-

1. Where is the damage located exactly?

2. Is it repairable without replacing the logic board?

3. Go back to see what you did and make sure you didn't miss a connection.

4. Take a picture of the damage and post it for a better answer.

5. Good luck.

-Varsity

Reply reply by lemerise

It is extremely risky to work on a motherboard when it is still powered cause it's easy to short a connector if the wrong pins enter in contact during the connection. Now try to clean the connector and the socket where you see the burn marks. Use a very small flat screwdriver and carefuly scratch the pins to remove the burn mark and clean the metal. If you're lucky and nothing else is damaged you may be able to restaure the keyboard connection.

Reply reply by asle

Thanks for all the good advice. No use talking about beeing careful with power and connectors. I learned that now. I tried to scratch the pins with a small flat screwdriver but no luck. I hope to take a picture of the part. It is so small I need a good macro.

Reply reply by asle

Here are some pictures. You can see where the damage is.

http://www.dropbox.com/gallery/943721/1/...

Reply reply by lemerise

Your motherboard seems to be damaged. We clearly see the busted resistors and who knows if the top case may be damaged by the short too.

Reply reply by asle

Doe this mean it is not repairable and i would have to buy a new motherboard?

Reply reply by lemerise

you would have to find a skilled technician to check the busted resistors and replace them if needed or buy a used motherboard on ebay but first the top case should be tested cause it could also be the problem.

Reply reply by asle

I really got scarry about this. I got a very good offer from www.mac2maconline.com to fix the connector. There are not many that do motherboard repairs at a reasonable price. But I sold the PowerBook as it was for $350 to someone with more guts. Thanks Varsity and lemerise for taking the time to answer. Nice dog there lemerise :-)

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