ibook smell

From the infamous Seinfeld episode:

Jerry: Boy, do you smell something?

Elaine: Do I smell something? What am I, hard of smelling? Of course I

smell something.

Jerry: What is it?

Elaine: I think it's B.O.!

Jerry: What?

Elaine: It's B.O. The valet must have had B.O.

Jerry: It can't be. Nobody has B.O. like this.

Elaine: Jerry. It's B*.*O.

Jerry: But the whole car smells.

Elaine: So?

Jerry: So when somebody has B.O., the "O" usually stays with the "B".

Once the "B" leaves, the "O" goes with it.

My brothers ibook was stinking up the room. We figured out it was his hard drive cooking. It was going out on him, bad bearing or something. We replaced the hard drive with a new one and there is no smell and the computer runs much faster.

When plastic gets very hot it can emit bad smells. At work a breaker box breaker was shorting out and the entire building smelled like there was a dead animal somewhere. It was horrible. It was the plastic cooking. New breaker = no smell.

Timothy,

"FIX!!!" is a bit of a dramatic statement. You have obviously not read this entire thread. I have.

There are various causes of an iBook stinking up the joint, but the primary one discussed here seems to be some sort of problem with the keyboard. Either the plastic is deteriorating and causing the stench or the labels beneath the keyboard are a contributing factor (or both). Most people have discovered that replacing the keyboard solves the problem (at least for awhile, if not for good).

I'm glad that your brother has solved the smelly problem with his, but it is not a "FIX!!!" for most of the iBooks in this thread, fortunately. It's cheaper and easier to replace a keyboard than a hard drive.

Hi!!.... un saludo desde Guadalajara Mexico!!

anyway... I have the odor issue very much time..... and today... my new keyboard came from the store... fifteen days after my buy.. is here... I install in the iBook, and the smell is gone... just a few hours in proof but so far... is odorless..... I´m not agree for the apple politic thath.. this is a defect in the design!!.... no one of the user here make a mistake in the use of the machine and a problem is resented... in few words... I´m a mac lover... but still think thath I don´t have to purchase from my own pocket a new keyboard because one enginer of design decide to put a defective material in mi lap... its no fear.. anyway... just for orientation of the people that have this problem.... NOTHING BUT THE BUY OF A NEW KEYBOARD SOLVE THIS PROBLEM... 90 dlls.... 1651 mexican pesos.... and so far is the real aswer.

Bye and thanks for the advices to everyone... honor mencion to Ronda!!!.. thanks 🙂

I'd like to collect hard data on this topic. Please email dan_knight (at) mac.com with the following information if you have a stinky keyboard:

1. CPU - G3 or G4
2. CPU speed
3. CD-ROM or non-CD-ROM version (because iBook G3/700 with CD is the same as iBook G3/800 with Combo)
4. screen size - 12" or 14"
5. keyboard info - perhaps Apple used keyboards from more than one maker. As I don't own a dual USB iBook (I want to be able to present these findings on Low End Mac), I don't know whether this is the case or not.

I'd like to compile this information to have a better feel for which models tend to stink. From a quick scan of this thread, it appears to be all speeds of 12" G3 dual USB iBooks.

Thanks in advance!

Dan Knight, publisher, LowEndMac.com

I just bought an iBook used (G3) and I noticed the smell, too, but not on the keyboard, only on the touchpad.

I cleaned it several times with antibiotic wipes and it almost completely eliminated the smell.

FWIW, I noticed the smell right way, 2 days before my airport card arrived and a week before my extra RAM arrived.

Definately NOT plastic smell. It's human.

As for someone's pheromone hypothesis, I have a desktop G5, too. 😉

iBook G3 Mac OS X (10.4) used iBook

Oh god that be hilarious..

I've received several emails and gathered what data I can from postings here. My findings based on 20+ reports: The "BO" keyboards can be found on 12" and 14" G3 iBooks ranging from 500 MHz to 900 MHz. There are no reports of smelly G4 iBook keyboards.

Dan Knight, LowEndMac.com

Dan,

I don't know if you've read this whole thread or not, but I have. More than once.

Yes, the general consensus is that it is the keyboard.

There seems to be no common cause. We have three G3 Dual USB iBooks (and one iBook G4), and not a stinker in the bunch. We eat chips and popcorn while using them (not advisable, I know), and still no stench.

It may be a combination of factors causing this. All but one of ours is left on 24/7, so there is no heating up/cooling down, which, I suppose, could be a factor.

I have a hunch, based on experience here, that the problem is pretty limited or we would see even larger numbers of reports of this problem.

Undoubtedly, the iBook G4 keyboard has been redesigned. It has its own keyboard problems, as you probably know. The letters wear off. As I type this on my iBook G4, my "A" key is entirely blank, my "N" key is reduced to a dot that resembles a period, my "E" key only has the bottom line, making it look like a hyphen, the "S" on my "S" key is missing its top half, the "C" key has the top third gone, and the top of the "O" is missing on the "O" key. I'm a touch typist, so it's not very bothersome to me, but I will be calling AppleCare and asking for a new keyboard before my warranty is up.

Over in the iBook G4 forum, as you can imagine, there is a long thread about letters wearing off the keyboard.

I don't know if you're interested in the iBook G4's, too, but if you are, you may want to head over there and check out that thread, too.

I have to chime in on this. I am shocked that people are still posting about this after so long. Ronda, you mentioned a 'limited' number of reports on this issue, but most people aren't 'power-posters' like you. I've been a Mac user since 1988 and this is my first post, and you can bet it's not my first problem. With that said...

I'm troubleshooting my mom's iBook G3 (it's been buggy from Day One -- I've been through at least a dozen Macs and have never seen one so unstable.) And yes, it smells like a minivan full of teenage football players after a game. Skanksville! Nastiness! How can anybody work with that funk in the air?! I think the stench started in the last year.

It could be coming from anything inside. The glue theory sounds like a viable one to me. I'm going to attempt to remove the label(s) and glue and plan to report back the result. But I have to get the darn thing up and running again first. Then I'll tackle the funk and give more details on the model.

Just wanted to add another report to the very long list.

PowerBook G4 Mac OS X (10.4) G4 PowerPC 533

Hi, and welcome to Apple Discussions.

You're shocked that people are still posting about this? Why? The problem doesn't go away spontaneously, and it stands to reason that the older they get, if they are ever going to stink, they will.

That said, a good number of posts in this thread are comments joking about it (not at all funny if this happens to YOUR iBook), and people offering ideas for alleviating (if not solving) the problem.

The only sure fix that has been reported is replacing the keyboard. I'd be sure to ask about the smell, specifically, if you are buying a used one, though.

Yes, it does smell like BO, yes, it is something overheating, yes, it is the cooling fan, yes, mine has failed and blown the video card.

Take this smell seriously, or your ibook will die!

ibook G3 Mac OS X (10.4.4)

does anyone know exactly what is being outgassed from the keyboard?

i can't use my ibook anymore without getting a headache and watering eyes - the gas/smell is that bad!

i've got chronic fatigue syndrome and i'm pretty sensitive to some chemicals.

Whichever chemicals are involved in the deterioration of the ibook plastic, i'm getting increasingly sensitised to - they're actually making me ill!

and i'm in the middle of writing my college dissertation - help!





12" G3 ibook Mac OS X (10.3.9)

Hi, and welcome to Apple Discussions.

This thread was started nearly four years ago, and, until now, nobody has ever reported that this smell led to the death of the iBook.

It sounds like your iBook has experienced the logic board problem. Enough Dual USB G3 iBooks suffered from this problem that Apple began the iBook Logic Board Repair Extension Program in January of 2004.

This problem is separate from the "smell problem." It seems to be your misfortune that you have experienced both, but they are not related. Many have had the logic board problem without the smell (myself included). And many have the smell problem with no logic board outage. The two are unrelated.