*************Disclaimer
- (Sept.22/06) Please Note...***************
I've recently been contacted by computer tech. who at one
time worked at NVIDIA. He brought to my attention the fact
that my mod (as posted here) removes the heat-sink of this
ibook. I knew this about a week after I posted this mod.
(around 6 months ago now) however I casually dismissed it
for I never noticed a substantial heat increase during
regular usage. But it appears I'm just human ...and being
the 'heat insensitive' creatures that we are it seems the
ibook responds differently to slight temp. increases. To
quote a part of his email ..."a chip's operational
life-span is reduced by 50% for every 10ƒC temperature
increase". As he explained it -
by removing this heat-sink I potentially shorten the
life-span of the affected chips by up to 75%! Yes, that
sucks :-(
So please - take this warning into account when considering
this mod. Perhaps try other methods to fit the card
(modding the top cover plastic for example) or search the
used parts bins at local computer shops for older Airport
or Sony Vaio cards that can fit without issue. I hope I
haven't inadvertently destroyed the future years on too
many clamshells ...they are great things and should be
treated respectfully.
***********************************************************************
I was about to buy an Airport Card for my 366 Clamshell
when of course I stumbled upon the price - however not to
be deterred I scoured the internet for the next best
alternative - which turned out to be the Lucent chip set
which happens to be in not only airport cards, but Orinoco,
Wavelan and the older Sony Vaio card (to name a few).
I purchased the Orinoco Silver pcmcia card for $20 Can.
(thanks Elliott) ...and what follows is the method I used
to place the card into the clamshell with minimal damage.
There is some damage of course - but nothing all that
serious and nothing that you can't put back for resale
purposes.
Step
1
Take apart your card. If you do this carefully you can put
it back together - make note of its orientation outside the
casing as well.
Step 2
Prep the ibook by removing the battery, keyboard, ram
shield, top plastics along with the modem 'fingers' and
gently pull the protecting foil away from the modem.
Details of this can be found on the iFixit site.
I've placed the card into its
'functioning' position so you can see what the main problem
is - its length is of such that the antenna end extends
into the modem, particularly the large metal 'brace' that
as far as I can tell serves to anchor the surrounding
structures.
Although the brace looks impressive ...everything still
stays in place once it's gone - so that's what we'll do
next - remove it.
Remove the screws attached to the brace then remove the
screws that hold the brace down. The brace will not shift
because of a 'post' that is recessed into it from the
bottom - so you have to not only pry the brace toward you
but upwards as well in order to clear this post.
One thing that this bridge
does do is serve as a spacer for one of the optical
drive/ram shield mounts - you'll need a replacement for
this and I used a small washer that was the right width.
Now for something strange ...attach the KEYBOARD.
Now for something stranger ...attach the RAM SHIELD.
One small thing though ;-) in my haste I attached my ram
shield without realizing that it covers the 'trackpad
ribbon connector' - this was of course a set back when I
went to plug my trackpad in (thinking I was nearly
finished) ...so needless to say it was a Homer Simpson
moment - D-oh! I didn't however redo the earlier pictures
with the ram shield modification - but I just indicated
where you'll have to make the 'snip'...
Step
3
Now you must loosen the remaining front modem screw and
gently lift it up, attach the antenna to your wireless
card, snug the bottom of the card into its connector and
then slide the top of the card under the modem.
It's not so much to do once you actually get in there and
see how it has to fit. If you notice I've taped the card
innards with electrical (black) tape for obvious contact
reasons.
The modem should now be
anchored with its 3 remaining screws. Screwing down the
modem will put some pressure on the antenna post, but only
enough to keep it snug. You should also note that the upper
left corner of the card fits under one of the metal screw holes that held
down the brace we removed.
You can now place the modem
foil back into position and place the 'fingers' across the
top with tape. These fingers will no longer serve their
electromagnetic purpose, however they are glued to a
keyboard support pad which I choose to keep.
Here's the near finished job
with the modification to the ram shield. Small wire cutters
worked well on the shield and the metal is soft enough that
a knife could be used in a pinch. Cut this shield
before
you install it.
The job is pretty much done.
Be careful with your keyboard as you snap the top plastic
section back into place. Snapping this thing in and out of
position is always the worst part of any clamshell
procedure ...you just know that after a dozen or so
removals/installs that something is going to end up
cracking. Notice in the picture below that the trackpad
ribbon is no longer concealed by the ram shield.
Take a look under your own keyboard now for the comparison.
Here's the extra parts. The
two small metal hunks are from the ram shield.
That's it kids.
Cons:
- adding ram means taking off the ibook main cover
- your ram shield is permanently altered
- the missing parts affect the structure
Pros:
- you're wireless for less $
- the card can be updated via Apple firmware
- the missing parts have no real affect on the structure
Thanks to a few great sites for the information/inspiration
they provide...
ifixit
xlr8yourmac
macmod
repair4laptop