iBook G3 Clamshell Hard Drive Replacement

Use a coin to turn both battery locking screws 90 degrees to the left.

Remove the battery cover.

Remove the battery from the computer by pulling up on the plastic tab.

Pull the keyboard release tabs toward you and lift up on the keyboard until it pops free. Note that the keyboard ribbon is still attached to the logic board, so you cannot completely remove the keyboard yet.

If the keyboard does not come free, use a small flathead screwdriver to turn the keyboard locking screw (between F4 and F5 key) 180 degrees in either direction and try again.

Rotate the keyboard away from the screen and rest it face-down on the trackpad area.

Grasp the clear plastic tab on the airport card and pull up and toward the display.

Hold the airport card in one hand and use your other hand to remove the antenna cable.

Remove the two Phillips screws that secure the RAM shield.

Grasp the wire metal bracket on top of the RAM shield and pull upward to remove the shield.

Pull up the keyboard connector cable by its clear plastic loop.

Use a straightened paperclip to manually eject the CD-ROM tray.

Turn the computer over so that the bottom is facing up.

Remove the following Torx screws:

Four short T8 Torx near the battery compartment.

Two long T8 Torx near the hinges.

Pull the CD-ROM drive tray partly out.

Remove the silver Phillips screw from the plastic casing.

Turn the computer over.

Remove the three Phillips screws.

1) With your fingernails, grasp the locking bar on either side and pull up a small amount (about 1/16" or 2 mm).

2) After disengaging the locking bar, slide the cable out of the connector.

Loosen the trackpad clamp by pulling the top piece up slightly, freeing the trackpad ribbon.

Slide the orange trackpad ribbon out of the clamp.

Push out the rim of the lower case and pull up on the upper case, grasping it just to the left of the optical drive.

Repeat the above step on the upper left corner of the upper case, grasping the bottom left corner of the upper case.

Disconnect the audio cable.

Grasp the upper case on either side of the keyboard space and rotate up and away from the screen.

If the optical drive is not open, use a straightened paperclip to open it now.

Remove the 5 mm standoff.

Disconnect the optical drive cable from the logic board.

Lift up on the optical drive while sequentially pushing the small plastic tabs one after another toward the screen to free one side of the drive.

Lift up the side of the optical drive you just freed and slide the drive out and away from the screen.

Remove the following Phillips screws:

Remove the longer Phillips screw from the middle-rear of the modem shield.

Remove the three identical Phillips screws, two on either side of the EMI fingers, and the remaining one on the right side of the modem shield.

Remove the larger Phillips screw that secures the EMI fingers to the modem board.

Remove the EMI fingers.

Peel the modem shield away from the metal framework below, working from the right front and moving to the left.

Remove the Phillips screw from the left side of the modem.

Pry up the right side of the modem.

Lift the modem partially out and disconnect the cable on the left side.

Remove the Phillips screw from the left hinge.

Peel up the airport cable from beneath the yellow tape.

Disconnect the large display data cable from the logic board and deroute it from the plastic and metal tabs.

Disconnect the backlight cable from the logic board and deroute it.

Remove the three small Phillips screws from the clutch cover.

Finally, support the display with one hand while unscrewing the last Phillips screw from the right hinge (push the display gently down to avoid putting pressure on the screw).

Remove the display assembly.

Remove the two small Phillips screws from the RJ-11 board.

Push out the lower case rim and pull the RJ-11 board out of the computer.

Deroute the speaker cable from the metal framework and disconnect it from the logic board.

There are six screws to remove (if you have an iBook without Firewire the screw circled in orange will not be present):

Two short, flat-headed Phillips screws near the battery compartment.

One short, round-headed Phillips near the speaker cable connector. (This is present on some models, but not others - especially the older ones)

One short, flat-headed Phillips between the ethernet and USB ports.

One short, flat-headed Phillips to the left of the hole-y (polite laughter) area.

One long, round-headed Phillips screw near the power receptacle.

Lift the right side of the EMI shield up and pull it out of the computer.

Remove the three 5 mm standoffs securing the hard drive to the logic board.

Pull the hard drive cable up from the logic board, using the plastic loop.

Lift the hard drive, with metal bracket attached, from the logic board.

Take the metal bracket away from the hard drive.

Disconnect the hard drive cable from the hard drive by applying even pressure on both sides while maintaining a firm grip on the drive itself.