Poision PowerBook

Well, after breaking the display hinge on my 15" PowerBook, I decided that it was time to take the dive and take apart my precious machine. I really wanted the cool Apple Logo mod for the screen and I also wanted to see if I could clean out my keyboard. Then I thought, you know, I have really been wanting to make my backlit keyboard glow a different color! So, without further ado, here is how I made my backlit keyboard glow red!

Step 1: Unplug your computer and remove the battery! You never want to be working on the internals of a computer if it has power, trust me and the bunch of other people who have been shocked in the past! It isn't fun...

Ok first off, there are 3 philips head screws on each side of the 15" PowerBook which you must remove. Next, unscrew the two hex screws at the top corners near the screen. Then, look to the back of the laptop, you will see two philips screws on each side. Finally, remove the four screws on the bottom of the computer closest to the display hinge. As I write this, I realize that I had already partially taken apart my laptop and thus I am not 100% sure this is all of the screws that must be removed, I seem to remember needing to remove the battery and remove two screws from there as well, but that could have been for something else...



You can now (carefully) pull up your top assembly. Take care not to rip out the two cables that are connected. Lift the top assembly up toward the screen and look at how the two cables are connected. The left one simply pops up and can be detached safely just by pulling up. The one on the right (the wider one) must be carefully detached by pulling it towards the screen. I think there are some plastic clips on the side that help hold it in place. I wound up breaking both of them off accidentally but I was still able to reconnect it later without any problem (save that I got a cut underneath my fingernail)! Anyway, once you have those two cables disconnected, you should be able to take the top off and to a place with a bit more working room.

The next step is optional, but I would recommend it. I went ahead and removed all of the keys from my keyboard and then cleaned them. I hear that you can sit them to soak in some solvent, but I just used a spray and a t-shirt to do the job. They look sooo much nicer now. Also, you may want to leave them off until you get your keyboard looking just like you want because you will have more room to work with.

Next, flip your keyboard over and look at the underside. You may see a few screws and be tempted to just unscrew them. I found it much easier to remove the black, sticky "tape" off first so that I could get to all of the screws. I think there are around 15-20 and I know that I had quite a hassle taking them off. Don't miss the ones underneath the cable. If you have a few that are stuck, try using some needle nose pliers to get the screw loose, that worked out ok for me (I wound up scratching up the underside a bit, but since no one is going to see that, I didn't really care). You do not need to take the tape off that surrounds the LED which provides light to the optical fibers and lights the keyboard. While you may be able to actually change the LED, this guide simply shows you how to put a pass through filter inbetween your keyboard and the light. It is much easier than you would think, and probably a lot easier than getting your hands on the right color LED.

After you have all of the screws taken out, you should be able to flip your keyboard back over and actually peel it up. Work from one corner, and if you need to, use a screw driver or something similar to push it up from the back using the screw holes that are now available. Eventually, you should be able to peel up the entire keyboard, but, it is connected in the bottom middle to the cable that you unplugged a few steps ago. I couldn't find an easy way to disconnect it, so I worked around it. Now, if you have taken your keys off, it will help you get to the bottom fiber optic cables a bit easier, but if not, you can work around it as I did.

Now, after this point, I tried a variety of different solutions. First, I went out and bought some overhead transparencies. Then I used a Sharpie to make it blue and cut it to the size that I needed. It worked pretty well except for the fact that the keyboard didn't sit down all of the way (because the screw holes couldn't punch through and it was slightly to big so it blocked the heat vents). Next, I tried buying some colored transparencies (the type you put term papers in) and that didn't work because they were not dark enough and the color didn't look blue enough.





After that, I tried red because I thought that it would contrast better and it did! I cut a bunch of strips that were approximately the same size as the fiber optic cables and put them in there, very carefully putting the keyboard back down. It worked much better and looked way cooler. But, the keyboard didn't sit down all the way and I could still see some of the original white shining through. When I peeled it back up, I noticed that some of the pieces had moved around a bit. So, I taped them in place! This helped some, but still was too thick and my keyboard was not laying down flat. I took up all of the pieces that I had so carefully cut and decided to simply put a few strips of tape on top of the fiber optics. I tested a small portion to make sure that it came off when I needed it to (don't use really sticky tape otherwise it will peel up the fiber optic cables). Also, if you do need to peel it up, start from the left side because that side is connected to the light source and should be able to withstand more force.



Ok, so I now had the tape on there, but it was clear tape. I couldn't find any colored tape, otherwise I would have tried that. So, I went back to the Sharpie idea and very carefully (using a piece of paper to keep me from coloring my laptop) colored the tape red. It isn't quite as red as I would like it to be, but all I should have to do is go back over it one or two more times to get it a nice dark red. This method also allows you to change the color if you want by peeling up the tape! You could also do some pretty neat stuff because you can color the tape however you want (gradient, classic Apple, or a cool pattern)!

In the end, I think that this is the best method for changing the color of your Backlit Keyboard. You can now, work backwards and put the screws back in and everything, or leave out the screws to the back of the keyboard so that you can always peel it up if you want. It doesn't move around or come up for me and I left my screws out. However, you almost certainly want to put the black sticky things back on the underside, otherwise, some of the white will shine downward and you will be able to see it through the speaker holes! Hope this helps and encourages some of you to change the color of your keyboard!

If this mod has helped you, you think it is really cool, or you are just rich and like throwing some money at random people, I am trying to save up for a new MacBook Pro since my PowerBook is kind of falling apart. If you wish to donate, please visit my website at http://www.fangiotophia.com.