r/macintosh

I tried a 5300cs color LCD assembly: the backlight turns on, but there’s no image. So I’m guessing the color dual-scan display/cable isn’t plug-and-play with the base 5300 logic board.

Now I’m looking for the correct grayscale 5300 LCD/cable, unless someone knows a way to make the 5300cs screen work.

This is from Apple's official Documentation site, and the title on the next page after you select it also says GHz (the full tech specs do not though)

Small update on my PowerBook 5300 resurrection project.

At first I thought it was a regular PowerBook 5300, because the front label is missing and the screen looked like the 9.4" monochrome one. But after powering it on and testing it more, it turns out it is actually a PowerBook 5300c.

I still don’t have the original charger, so I powered it with a bench power supply. It seems to turn on, but the internal display flex cable is cut. I tried to repair the flex, but I couldn’t make it work.

To test the machine, I made a homemade passive DB-15 to VGA video adapter cable, and I was finally able to get an image from it.

I also cleaned the machine with isopropyl alcohol, removed the bad Li-ion battery pack, and checked some parts. The floppy drive seems to work, which is a nice surprise.

For now the next step is waiting for a replacement display flex cable that is on the way. After that I’ll try to get the internal screen working again and continue testing the machine properly.

Yes I know the AMD GPU has failed, but when I try turn on the Mac booting off a USB external hard drive with Mountain Lion on it, this is what displays on the screen, and holding option does not open up the boot menu and I can’t perform an NVRAM reset either. I am pretty sure the keys are working though. All help is appreciated!

Hi, I wanted to share my next project: trying to resurrect a PowerBook 5300.

I know this model has a bit of a reputation, but that’s also why I think it could be a fun project. I don’t know yet how bad the condition is or what will need to be fixed, but I want to try to bring it back to life.

For now my plan is to inspect it, check the power/battery situation, clean it, and see if the machine can show any sign of life. If it’s possible, I’d like to document the process and post updates.

I’m not an expert on these machines, so if anyone has advice, things to check first, or common issues with the PowerBook 5300, I’m all ears.

Hi, I have bought a 2010 Core i5 A1286 MacBook Pro on eBay, but it turns out that half the keyboard does not work, including the power button which is why it needs the battery unplugged to turn on. The trackpad works fine, but everything to the right of number 6 doesn’t work. I also have a dead 2009 A1286 MacBook Pro, and I suspect that it may be a issue with the ribbon cable from the logic board to the keyboard, so I would like to know if there is a way to replace just the ribbon cable instead of the whole keyboard (and if it will actually work as I know that top case swaps are incompatible but I think just keyboard swaps should work) and any tutorials that may show it, thanks!