I've replaced the LCD, not working right.

iBook G4 1.33mhz 1.5 mem 12" screen.

I dropped this computer screen side down on a barbell which shattered the LCD pretty good. Computer ran otherwise fine and you could still navigate things sort of from the top left few inches of screen, so it should be running fine.

Got another iBook G4 and removed the LCD from it with instructions I found online, and swapped them out. This was a simple process of four screws on the casing, and four screws on the screen bracket, and just two connecting cables. I've done the wiggle the wire game and I know I got all that done right.

When I power up, I simply get a grey screen, much like the one before you see the pop up question mark when it can't find a source drive. And that's it. About ten minutes later she'll cut to black. Nor does the OS seem to be booting beyond the initial chimes of power up.

I bought this other LCD screen used and I do not know the condition of this screen before hand. However, the grey image is clear and bright. There was mention in the tutorial of making sure the model numbers were the same, and they are most definitely not. But since they both came from iBooks I assumed all would be well.

So, am I missing a crucial step of resetting something or should I just get another LCD screen?

The computer also gets a lot louder, with the fan noise and what not, louder than ever it's run in all the time i've had it. It's working hard doing nothing.

Can you hook up an external monitor, disconnect the LCD and see if it boots?

i've been trying to figure out how to do that. I don't have any monitor or serial ports on this machine, and all my monitors are the traditional sort with the pin connections. I put the old screen back into it and now IT's just white and locked in limbo too. The HD or OS is good and confused or something.

same model is the easy way to confirm compatibility, on the screen you will find a number such as xga, xga+. you want them to be the same if you not able to find this just post the two model numbers on this forum and i will confirm it for you. also, ibooks are hard to see but the gray screen might actually be a shade of white which means the screen is not hooked up right or incompatible.

uh... It is fairly whiteish. When I first powered it up, it was dark gray and flickered horribly, then flashed to black a bit before finally settling on the gray. Only then it got whiteish. It still goes into a dim mode before hibernating and still brightens up once you hit the esc button. I'm mean, it's acting normal, just not working normal. Anyhow, the specs...

Golly, there's barcodes and numbers all over this thing. Any kind of clue what I should be looking for? I don't see an xga anywhere. Here's the biggest ones:

Original: Chi Mei Optoelectronics N121X5 -L03 Rev.C1
Replacement: LG Phillips LP121X04 (C2) (K2)

ok the screens are compatible with each other but i did notice the laptop you are working with and when i change screens on the ibook 12 it was difficult to find a completely compatible screen. i recommend buying an exact replacement. If you decide to replace the screen here is one on ebay, it is brand new, and the exact screen.
CHI MEI N121X5-L03 REV.C1 LAPTOP LCD SCREEN 12.1" XGA - eBay (item 350197942911 end time Jun-03-09 02:46:43 PDT)

(Thanks for the link. I'll certainly try that if I can't wrestle this out.)

I only replaced the LCD, but it came inside the whole lid with the hinge assembly and all. Would I get different results if I cracked the computer open and fully installed it, wiring the individual wires straight to the computer? I just assumed that wires were wires and it wouldn't make difference, but does it?

from my experience it is usally better to use the cables that came with the new screen(if you have them) unless the screen is exactly the same i had some computer with very simular screens replaced them and they had issues, i replaced the cable with it and it worked fine.

So it is worth a try but will most likely not improve, you never know.

Well, I tore the whole computer apart (wanted to get at the HD anyhow) and wow, the wire connectors on the lid/shell don't even match what's attached to my motherboard presently so yeah, that's a totally an incompatible piece of hardware. Or so I guess. It's certainly an incompatible LCD. Oh well, live and learn and now I do it right. Thanks for all the help. This forum is the best place ever.

OK. I finally got the new LCD in, which IS new, and according to the manufacturer, compatible with my model number. I'm still getting the blank white screen. I can hear the HD starting up like it usually does, there's just nothing making it's way to the screen. Further, when I put the old shattered LCD back in which used to work despite looking dreadful, it now brings up a blank white screen as well. Is there something I need to reset somewhere or something? I even tried throwing in the OSX disc and trying to boot or access that and nothing. I'm simply getting no visuals whatsoever.

Sort of sounds like what I'm currently going through. Turns out I bent some of the pins in the connector on the logic board when trying to install the new cable.