MacBuild Laptop Build

Building a laptop in MacBuild is a fairly freeform process. Aside from the Laptop Build Checklist, there is no standard method for resolving or repairing laptops with issues. It is not uncommon to swap optical drives and displays in an effort to turn two broken laptops into one working one. We presently only build up a few different models, so it's easy to learn the basics of working with each type.

Laptop Build steps

The idea behind the steps in the Laptop Build process is to provide volunteers with an easy, worry-free way to acquire the skills they need to successfully build Apple laptops. The step sequence is as follows:

1. Harvesting
2. Evaluation
3. QC
4. Build

Harvesting

The idea behind harvesting is to get volunteers used to working with Apple laptop hardware by having them disassemble and pull out reusable parts that can be put to use in other Apple laptops. Given the intricate nature of these systems, volunteers can cut their teeth on machines destined for recycling or as-is sale without worrying about damaging machines.

We should only harvest components from laptops when we have a need for individual parts and don't have a backstock, as it's easier to get rid of laptops when they're in one piece.

When there is no need for additional parts, only the HD, RAM, and AirPort card should be removed, and all screws and adapters removed from the HD should be taped to the inside of the HD cavity in the laptop.

When there is a need for additional parts, this harvesting process should be followed:

Evaluation

The Evaluation process involves sorting through the incoming stack of Apple laptops and determining whether or not they should be built or have parts pulled from them. The Evaluation flowchart documents the procedure.

What we build

We presently work on translucent white iBook G3s and better, PowerBook G4s and better, and any newer models that come in. The specs we build the most common models to are as follows:

Specs

iBook

iBook G4 Specs Processor: G4/933 MHz - 1.42 GHz RAM: 512 MB or better Hard drive: 20 GB - 60 GB Optical drive: Whatever it comes with Wireless card: Airport Extreme Note: 800 MHz iBooks can be built "as-is"

PowerBook G4

PowerBook G4 (Aluminum) Specs Processor: G4/867 MHz - 1.42 GHz RAM: 512 MB or better Hard drive: 30 GB - 80 GB Optical drive: Whatever it comes with Wireless card: Airport Extreme Note: 800 MHz PowerBooks (Aluminum) and all PowerBooks (Titanium)can be built "as-is"

What we don't build

We don't build anything below the specs listed above.

Tips

• Use a guide - some procedures for removing/exchanging parts are very complicated, so it's always good to have documentation. iFixit's guides for laptops are particularly good, as they provide not only fairly easy steps to follow but also make note of the different types of screws and parts removed in each step, which makes it easy to keep track of.
• Keep track of your screws/part - it is not uncommon to end up removing 50+ screws from a system when swapping a HD in a laptop. You can use either an ice cube tray or a screw guide from iFixit (it should be linked in PDF form to whatever guide you reference) to keep track of what came from where.
• Allot sufficient time for a project - working on Apple laptops can be very time-consuming due to the level of deconstruction one has to go through to swap parts. For example, swapping a hard drive in an iBook can easily take over an hour and a half if you've never done it before (or if you don't do it on a regular basis). If you decide to start a project, make sure you have enough time to at least put the system back together before you leave or develop a good system for keeping track of your progress.

Laptop Build Checklist

Steps	Notes/Detailed Instructions	Done
Make sure that covers are available for open bays	If covers are missing, check parts storage for replacements
Install hard drive	Refer to MacBuild Spec Sheet for appropriate size
Install RAM	Refer to MacBuild Spec Sheet for appropriate amount
Clean/dust inside	If necessary
Attach network cable and power cord
Clear the PRAM	While starting up, hold the Option+Apple+p+r keys. Continue holding the keys until the system chimes three times. Release the keys after the third chime is heard.
Set the system clock in Open Firmware	While starting up, hold the Option+Apple+o+f keys. Release the keys when the Open Firmware prompt comes up. Run the following command: decimal dev rtc [sec min hour day month year] set-time All values aside from the year should be two-digit numbers in 24-hour format. The year should be a four-digit number. Additionally, the clock needs to be set to UTC, so remember to add 7 hours to the current time if on regular time or 8 hours during Daylight Saving Time. For example, to set the clock to 1:58 PM on September 18th, 2009, the command would be decimal dev rtc 00 58 20 18 09 2009 set-time:
Reset the NVRAM	While starting up, hold the Option+Apple+o+f keys. Release the keys when the Open Firmware prompt comes up. Run the following commands in the specified order: reset-nvram set-defaults reset-all The system will reboot after the reset-all command is entered.
Install Ubuntu	Please note that any values not explicitly defined here (HTTP proxies and such) should be left blank. Make sure network cable is attached Insert Ubuntu CD Use 8.04 for iMac G5s Use 9.04 for all other systems Start up the system while holding the C key on the keyboard At boot: prompt, press Enter; eventually the install screen will appear Select English as the language for the installation and United States as the country Enter No for keyboard detection, and select USA for all keyboard language options If prompted for which network device to use, select the wired network When prompted for a hostname, delete the current entry and enter macbox in its place Select Pacific as the time zone When prompted for HD partitioning, select the Guided - use entire disk option, and confirm the HD the changes will be made to (there should only be one option available unless there are multiple HDs in the system) When asked about writing the changes to disk, select Yes At this point, the base system will begin installing, so prepare to wait for a few minutes When prompted for the user's full name, enter oem When prompted for a username for the account, enter oem When prompted for a password, enter freegeek. You will be asked to verify the password after entering it. Enter freegeek again. If the passwords don't match, it will prompt you for a password again If asked to provide a HTTP proxy, leave it blank and press Enter If asked to download additional language support, select Yes If asked to encrypt the user's home directory, select No When asked if the system clock is set to UTC, select Yes When installation is complete, select the Continue option to reboot the system
Start up Ubuntu	Let the system use its default options in the bootloaders during the startup process If the system has problems starting up, refer to the Special Configurations list
Enable the Ubuntu startup splash screen	In a terminal, edit the file /etc/usplash.conf as root sudo nano /etc/usplash.conf Change the xres value to 1024 Change the yres value to 768 Save and close the file Ctrl+o, then Ctrl+x Update the startup files with the changed resolution values with the command sudo update-initramfs -u The command takes a couple of of minutes to complete
Install extra apps, as necessary	Use System -> Administration -> Synaptic Package Manager If the machine has a CD-RW or DVD-RW drive, select package k3b
Test USB/FireWire ports	USB: Plug in a USB mouse See that the cursor moves and can interact with things Repeat with all USB ports FireWire: Plug in an external FireWire drive Insert a data CD in FireWire drive See if it mounts on the desktop Repeat with all FireWire ports If all ports of one of these types don't work, the machine should be recycled
Test PCMCIA slot	If avaliable Plug in a PCMCIA wireless card See if it lights up Repeat with all PCMCIA slots
Configure/test sound control	Open sound preferences Place cursor on sound icon in top menu bar Press F12 key Select Preferences In the Preferences window upper drop-down menu, make sure the Alsa mixer item is selected In the lower combo-box menu, select PC speaker In the oem home directory, open the Examples sub-directory Select the 'Ubuntu experience.ogg' file When the video starts, verify that the sound slider (click sound icon) varies the volume.
Test CD data and sound	Insert, play, and eject a music CD Insert data CD, inspect directory contents If machine has a DVD drive, insert a data DVD, inspect directory contents If machine has a CD-RW or DVD-RW, use k3b to erase a CD-RW disk, and create/burn a new data project.
Test battery life	To start the battery test: Make sure battery is fully charged Open a web browser and go to http://llama.freegeek.org/~serge/batterytest.sh Save file to disk Insert an audio CD into optical drive Launch audio player, play disc, and set on repeat In a terminal, navigate to the directory you saved batterytest.sh to and run: sh batterytest.sh Disconnect power supply Leave the system running until it powers off To check the results of the battery test In a terminal, navigate to the directory you saved batterytest.sh to and run: sh batterytest.sh Record the results on the "printme" report generated in the next step
Generate "printme" report for system	Make sure you are on the local wired network Configure system so it can use network printers In a terminal, generate a lshw XML file for the printme process lshw -xml > printme.xml Open a web browser and go to http://data/spec_sheets/new Fill out the form with the following: Enter your volunteer ID in the Volunteer ID field Job should be left as Quality Checker System ID should be left blank Type should be changed to Laptop Keeper label type should be set to No Sticker Notes should include the following information: System type, processor speed, # of processors Amount of system memory Type of optical drive Any components that show up in lshw (modems, certain wireless cards) that aren't supported by Ubuntu should be listed Any special issues the machine has upload the XML file, and print out the report
Clean outside cover	Clean case monitor face, connector panel, keyboard, and trackpad as well
Attach "printme" report to system
Bundle system with power supply

Special Configurations

Steps	Notes/Detailed Instructions	Done
Starting up Ubuntu on a difficult system	There are startup options set by default in the bootloader, so startup will usually not require any input. However, the following are the default options that you can enter yourself if you don't want to wait for the bootloader to do it automatically. For the first-stage Ubuntu bootstrap, enter l for Linux For the yaboot boot prompt, enter Linux for the Ubuntu install that was just completed (it's case-sensitive, so make sure the L in Linux is capitalized) Some systems will not boot properly due to video issues. These systems will usually hang with a white or black screen after the yaboot boot prompt. For these systems, providing it with Linux video=ofonly at the yaboot boot prompt should fix the problem. If Linux video=ofonly does not work, try using Linux nosplash vga=1 instead.
If necessary: permanently make the video=ofonly or nosplash vga=1 addition to yaboot	If you needed to use the video=ofonly option to get the system to start up properly, you can permanently make the addition to yaboot. This is how you do it: In a terminal, edit the file /etc/yaboot.conf as root sudo nano /etc/yaboot.conf Locate the line that reads image=/boot/vmlinux Move the cursor to the end of the line that starts with append The line, in its unaltered state, should read append="quiet splash" Make the necessary change: For video=ofonly, add video=ofonly' to the end of the append line (make sure to add it within the quotes of the original append entry The line should now read append="quiet splash video=ofonly" Fpr nosplash vga=1, delete splash at the end of the append line and replace it with nosplash vga=1" The line should now read append="quiet nosplash vga=1" Save and close the file Ctrl+o, then Ctrl+x Update the bootloader with the changes to yaboot by running the following in a terminal: sudo ybin -v Restart the system to test the change
If necessary: enable the Ubuntu startup splash screen	Sometimes a system will show a blank screen during startup instead of the normal Ubuntu splash screen. If this is the case, we can enable the Ubuntu splash screen by doing the following: In a terminal, edit the file /etc/usplash.conf as root sudo nano /etc/usplash.conf Move the cursor down to the first empty line Type xres=1024, press Tab, and type yres=768 So the line should read: xres=1024 yres=768 If you happen to know the native resolution of the display, you can try using that instead Save and close the file Ctrl+o, then Ctrl+x Update the startup files with the changed resolution values by running the following in a terminal: sudo update-initramfs -u The command takes a couple of of minutes to complete