PowerBook G4 Aluminum 12" 1-1.5 GHz Fan Replacement

Use a coin to turn the battery locking screw 90 degrees to the right.

Lift the battery out of the computer.

Remove the four Phillips screws from the memory door.

Slide the memory door away from the memory compartment.

Remove the long black Phillips screw next to the memory card.

Remove the small EMI finger beneath the black screw.

On the keyboard, remove the F1, F2, F11, and F12 keys.

This is scary - take a deep breath before continuing. Place your index finger under the upper left corner of the key and lift up until you hear a click. Then, transfer your finger to the left edge of the key and lift up to pull the key off.

You're freeing the two tabs on the left of the key from the two small holes in the plastic scissors mechanism.

Use your fingernail or a small flathead screwdriver to peel up the gray stickers covering each of the screws.

Remove the two short Phillips screws.

Lift the keyboard by the 'esc' and 'eject' keys and gently lift up until the keyboard is vertical.

Grasp the keyboard connector ribbon near the connector and disconnect it from the logic board.

Remove the three 2.5mm Phillips screws from within the battery compartment.

Turn the computer 90 degrees clockwise and remove the two Phillips screws from the casing.

Outside case screws are aprox. 1/4 in long

Turn the computer 90 degrees clockwise again, and remove only the bottom screw on either side of the hinge.

Turn the computer 90 degrees clockwise just one more time, and remove the two Phillips screws on the exterior wall of the battery compartment.

Note: For reassembly the two screws have long necks.

Turn the computer over and open it up.

Remove the following 14 screws:

Six 2.5 mm Phillips on either side of the keyboard area.

Five 4.5 mm Phillips on the left half of the keyboard area.

One 7 mm hex in the upper left corner of the upper case (a T6 Torx driver will do the job nicely).

One 15 mm Phillips in the upper middle of the keyboard area.

One 16.5 mm hex in the upper right of the upper case (again, a T6 Torx driver will work well).

Peel up the two pieces of foil tape on the left side of the keyboard area.

Carefully disconnect the microphone and power cables from the logic board. Using your fingernails or a dental pick, carefully pry the connectors from their sockets. Make sure you're pulling only on the connector and not on the socket.

Starting at one of the upper corners near the screen, work around the frame, separating the upper case from the lower case.

Using a screw driver, gently release the two grey plastic clips inside the battery compartment in order to remove the right part of the upper case.

There are two more grey plastic clips holding the left part of the upper case. They are not easy to release as they are hidden from view prior to disassembly. They are in the same position as the two in the battery compartment, but on the opposite side of the trackpad. Try to stick a flat pry tool into the clip holes and push the clips inward (toward to screen) so they disengage and release the left part of the upper case.

Lift the upper case off the computer.

Peel back the yellow tape securing the inverter cable near the fan.

Remove the following eight screws:

One 4.5 mm Phillips near the modem.

Three 6 mm Phillips near the display.

Two large 7.5 mm Phillips with attached springs.

Two 13 mm Phillips, one on the lower left side of the heat sink and one between the fan and the optical drive.

Peel up the Bluetooth cable on the right side of the fan.

Lift up the inverter cable with one hand, and carefully thread it around the heat sink. The inverter cable is still attached to the logic board, so be careful not to put too much strain on the cable.

Support the heat sink with both hands, and carefully lift it out of the computer. Be careful not to bend the copper heat pipe connecting the two sections of the heat sink.

Remove the single Phillips screw securing the hall effect sensor board to the optical drive.

Deroute the cable connecting the hall effect sensor board to the DC-to-DC board.

Use a spudger or the tip of your finger to disconnect the hall effect sensor cable from the DC-to-DC board.

Use the orange plastic loop to disconnect the hard drive cable from the logic board.

Remove the two Phillips screws securing the hard drive bracket to the metal framework.

Lift the hard drive up and out of the computer.

Use a spudger or the tip of your finger to disconnect the sleep light cable from the DC-to-DC board.

Remove the following five secrews/standoffs from the DC-to-DC board:

One 3 mm Phillips in the lower right corner.

Two 3.5 mm Phillips on either side of the battery contacts.

One 10 mm Phillips in the upper right corner.

One 14 mm long 4 mm standoff in the upper left corner. You can remove this standoff either with a 4 mm nut driver or needlenose pliers.

Remove the silver EMI fingers located near the battery contacts.

Use a spudger to pry up the end of the DC-to-DC board closest to the display and remove the board from the computer.

Remove the three Phillips screws securing the modem and modem shield to the logic board.

Disconnect the modem from the logic board by lifting the bottom edge of the modem. Don't remove the modem entirely just yet as it is still connected to the RJ-11 board.

Turn the modem over and disconnect the RJ-11 cable.

Carefully disconnect six indicated connectors from the logic board. To disconnect the four white connectors, use your fingernails or a dental pick to carefully pry the connectors from their sockets. Make sure you're pulling only on the connector and not on the socket.

Lift up microphone cable from the lower left corner of the fan, and disconnect the two sections of the cable.

Deroute the microphone cable from its channel in the metal framework.

Remove the following nine screws:

Four 3 mm Phillips allong the left edge and near the fan.

One 4 mm Phillips in the bottom left corner.

Two 6 mm Phillips near the left hinge.

One 9 mm Phillips in the top left corner of the fan.

One 12 mm Phillips just above where the hard drive was located.

Peel up the yellow tape securing the display data cable to the metal framework, and deroute the display data cable from its slot in the framework.

Remove the newly revealed Phillips screw near the RJ-11 board.

Lift the RJ-11 board up from the left side, and remove the single Phillips screw hidden beneath.

Lift up and remove the silver EMI fingers located above the ports on the left side of the computer.

Pull back on the orange optical drive cable with one hand, and use your other hand to lift the front section of the metal framework over the optical drive cable.

Deroute the microphone cable from its channel in the upper right corner of the framework.

The metal framework should now be free can be removed from the computer. Be careful when removing the metal framework that none of the cables get caught on the framework.

Turn the metal framework over and remove the three Phillips screws securing the fan to framework.

Lift the fan off the metal framework.