Forums | MacLife

I am looking for written instructions, pdf file, step-by-step guide, etc., on how to replace a panel latch on a Graphite G4 350 Mhz (AGP Graphics Tower). I've replaced hard drives and memory, but this looks a little more complicated as it appears one may need to remove the heat sink and main board to get to it. the heat sink has 2 metal straps around it which I need to remove to access some screws which hold the main board and I am not sure how to remove the straps safely as they are bent under a smaller board surrounding the processor. The panel latch is that large piece of plastic which moves up and down when you move the side latch and locks the side panel door shut. Have not found anything on Google yet :0(

(don't need to read below, but perhaps a good LOL)

To make a long story short - hard drive sounds like it going bad on a G4 Graphite 350 Mhz single processor. Took it in to a local Best Buy store as they said they would have to see it to determine if they had a hard drive. Well they found a drive, but before I opened the drive package I did some more research online and found out the 320GB drive they sold me will not actually work unless I buy a 3rd party software + upgrade to X, which I really am not wanting to do as I use this G4 to test vintage applications in 9.0.

So I found a online source which still sells new replacement drives and am set to take the Best Buy drive back as its unopened when what do I discover inside the G4, but a small plastic part. The Best Buy employee (the same one who sold me the drive) had taken it back to the repair station and couldn't figure how to open it. He admitted he was unfamiliar with Macs and asked how to get the back panels off - LOL. He was amazed after I told that all you need to do is pull the latch on the side (that was facing away from him) to open it completely up. I saw he was having a little trouble, but wtf, he busted off one of the corner latching tabs on the panel latch and didn't tell me - no way he could not of known because it was the first thing my eyes saw when I opened my beloved first PowerPC.

Wow I surprised at all the "looks" a computer from 2000 got in the primarily PC Best Buy (nope no Macs in this one) - just goes to show you how far ahead in design Apple is. Too bad I didn't get the clerk that awas arriving when I was leaving as he remarked to me on the way out "Graphite ---- Coool".