This project is to restore a 1999 blueberry coloured iBook G3 Clamshell laptop. I bought this on eBay for $375 AUD in Jan 2025. Unfortunately its one (and only) USB port is failing (any plugged in device works about 10% of the time on boot, but even then stops within minutes). After extensive tinkering, including debugging the USB connection in Mac OS 8, 9, and X (each version provided different error codes and debugging messages), my best guess is a hardware problem. The only other notable issue is the case itself is a bit marked and scuffed, and the plastic appears more opaque than intended. Given these laptops are notorious for how much effort they take to fix, I figure if I'm going to get to the logic board to inspect the USB port, why not clean and retrobright the case too?
Image: Original eBay listing photo
I spotted a replacement logic board (still attached to a tangerine base) for sale for less than $20 AUD (I'm excluding the shipping cost here...), so grabbed it in the hope I can 'simply' swap logic boards rather than actually fix a broken USB port. That said, I don't currently know the state of this logic board... The first step is to clean it up, and take advantage of the opportunity to experiment with cleaning the rubberised plastic and to try retrobrighting, seeing I'd rather find out what not to do on this spare base.
