So, I found this thing inside my friend's PowerBook G4, underneath the keyboard. Definitely not an apple part, nor part of a stock installation (five other identical laptops lack it of course) It was wrapped in scotch tape, tucked underneath some shielding. It had a battery, I removed it. What the hell is it and what would it do? I can identify an antenna on the underside, a cap near the top probably to stabilize power and RF output, but what else?
It's an LCD Inverter (per a Google search and the related GCMK-G2X). Is this a refurbished PowerBook?
It's not an LCD inverter. I looked that up, it's totally different - this has a button-cell battery tab; no way it's going in any vaio. There are no contact points for connections like that anyway. It's not refurbished.
Your call. I would have assumed that the part number being used as an LCD Inverter in a number of devices would rule out a product with the same part number being used as anything else.
PIC? Looks like a microcontroller... Meaning it could be anything. And if it's connected to nothing, huh... What does it contain, exactly?
http://www.pchub.com.cn/uph/laptop/72-1308...PCG-536D—html?? Part of this maybe? It's a Vaio part after all. EDIT: ARG the stupid filters. try this link: Code (ASM): http://www.pchub.com.cn/uph/laptop/72-13084-1162/--Vaio-PCG-Z505GAM-PCG-536D-DELETE ME-.html? There! Just delete the "DELETE ME" and it should work. (keep the dashes)
Maybe it has to do with extending wireless ranges (does the G4 PB even have onboard WLAN)? I can assume that the battery that came with is probably dead due to so many parts connected to it...
Guys. It is not an inverter nor a Vaio part. That's just concidence. The board looks incredibly finished and there are no contact points to which other things could connect.
So it was wrapped in scotch tape, but loose inside the laptop...? The hell? I'm probably gonna sound paranoid here, but if there's nothing it hooks up to inside the laptop, it has its own battery and what appears to be an antenna... Well, it kinda sounds like a tracking device to me. Was the laptop bought from a private seller or anyone who would have direct access to it before sale? Again, more paranoia, but I could imagine an unscrupulous pawnshop-type seller adding a tracking device to expensive products so he can steal them back at some point later.
If it was a company laptop, it could be a tracking device added by the company to track their laptops in case one got stolen.
Could just be a broadcaster so they could track when the laptop passed near an exit/enterance, like RFID type shit.
