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OLD ibook G£ video issues...

post #1 of 11
7/31/11 at 9:11am
Thread Starter 
Just got hold of an old G3 with the 32mb ATI graphics chip and the 800Mhz CPU...

Just installed OSX 10.4.7 and all is good to go.....

However, got a load of artefacts and the dreaded black screen at start up....

Turns out if I keep it flat on a hard flat surface (ie workbench) all is good.. If I don't, I get trouble....

has anyone else experience of this... This tells me the ATI chip needs a reflow, or I need to strip it down and redo the thermal paste and possibly put a shim in...
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post #2 of 11
7/31/11 at 10:29am
I would say a reflow, better than trying to straighten it up with shrimp and paste ... Shim and paste laugh4.gif

cheers ...
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post #3 of 11
8/2/11 at 11:40am
Thread Starter 
Well stripped it down today... Guess what, someone had beaten me to it and done it in the past and it was missing the metal plate on the bottom (emission shield) which probably doubles as a heatsink for the ATI card... I will get the chip reflowed and think about a solution to it...
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post #4 of 11
8/2/11 at 2:07pm
Copper shim?

cheers ...
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post #5 of 11
8/3/11 at 9:13am
Thread Starter 
Thats one idea, but it is attaching it securely that is the issue....
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post #6 of 11
8/6/11 at 7:51am
Thread Starter 
Got it working with a reflow job, a UK 2p piece as the heatsink with a reformed laptop hard drive cage on top of that... All OK so far....
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post #7 of 11
8/6/11 at 8:07am
pics. we love pics remember
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post #8 of 11
8/6/11 at 9:42am
Thread Starter 
I will try and do that when I am back off holiday... Same as with the Gateway that runs puppy fine, but fails on video for every other operating system... (I must admit I was very happy that it works and didn't think...!!!!)
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post #9 of 11
9/3/11 at 2:25am
Thread Starter 
700 The Culprit... ATI rage chip...!
700 Put a shim on replacing the 2p piece..
700 The makeshift heatsink.. Used an old hard drive tray from a Gateway.. Cut out of the black insulating tape on the underside of the tray a circle to encompass the 2p (shim) and stuck it using double sided tape, left over from some ram heatsinks..
(note the pick on the side (blue thing)- Invaluable for splitting laptops and not damaging the casing)...
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post #10 of 11
9/3/11 at 2:33am
Thread Starter 
700 Voila, it works and works well - no artifacting or black screen... I did reflow the GPU using our machine (pro job) too. The previous image of the heatsink also show the odd bit of 'fluff' (foam) that was originally the heatsink. I used that to push the makeshift heatsink on to the shim for extra support. So a fully function G3...

(One note, from experience with the nVidia GPU and chipset episodes, don't mess around trying to bake it, blowtorch it etc.. It is a temporary fix and can fail at any time.. If reflowed properly using a machine (yeah, not cheap), it is a permanent fix. After using the machine on Xbox's and PS3's as well, not one has come back in relation to a GPU or chipset issue... Just a small observation of mine..)
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post #11 of 11
9/3/11 at 3:09am
Mucho thanks for the informative input - I am simply impressed thumbup.gif

cheers ...
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