Can I safely replace the left IO board of a 2006 17" MBP with that from an early 2008 model?

[Baldung99]

I've had the bottom half of a 2006 17" MBP and I've been wondering if it works ever since I got it, since it was sold to me as non-functional and I just needed the hinges from it. For what it's worth, it came with some RAM which was dead.

The only reason I'm even considering this kind of thing is that the 2006 IO board has had a damaged Magsafe port - allegedly the previous owner never used the battery and when the connector got flaky, he just removed it and soldered the charger's cable right on the IO board. Now the difference (that I can see) between the two IO boards is, that the ribbon cable is different. However, the power cable (the one that connects on the underside of the motherboard) fits just fine on either board. Considering that only power would be connected, would the laptop have any issues with the missing IO?

I'm already of half a mind to just plug it in and watch the fireworks, but at the same time I'd rather not mess up my only magsafe charger and/or a potentially-working 2006 motherboard - these things are getting hard to find!

 

[B S Magnet]

I've had the bottom half of a 2006 17" MBP and I've been wondering if it works ever since I got it, since it was sold to me as non-functional and I just needed the hinges from it. For what it's worth, it came with some RAM which was dead.

The only reason I'm even considering this kind of thing is that the 2006 IO board has had a damaged Magsafe port - allegedly the previous owner never used the battery and when the connector got flaky, he just removed it and soldered the charger's cable right on the IO board. Now the difference (that I can see) between the two IO boards is, that the ribbon cable is different. However, the power cable (the one that connects on the underside of the motherboard) fits just fine on either board. Considering that only power would be connected, would the laptop have any issues with the missing IO?

I'm already of half a mind to just plug it in and watch the fireworks, but at the same time I'd rather not mess up my only magsafe charger and/or a potentially-working 2006 motherboard - these things are getting hard to find!

The ribbon cable is, if I understand correctly, what passes data from the USB ports to the system (and possibly the digital I/O signals from the two 3.5mm audio ports).

If you have a working battery and you’re not planning to actually use the left-I/O board from a different revision MacBook Pro, it’s possible that testing whether the MagSafe-to-battery connection will work (i.e., the MagSafe light changes to amber to charge the battery, meaning the chip on the battery is communicating with the power circuits on the board), but I’m not sure the incompatible board will let the system POST correctly. I can’t say whether it will cause fireworks or sparks.

 

[Baldung99]

The ribbon cable is, if I understand correctly, what passes data from the USB ports to the system (and possibly the digital I/O signals from the two 3.5mm audio ports).

It seems that the left I/O board controls quite a bit of stuff. On it, it has USB, the two audio jacks, WiFi and express card, the ALS and connectors for both sides of the built-in speakers. It's going to be a crippled machine if the later I/O board stays in.

If you have a working battery and you’re not planning to actually use the left-I/O board from a different revision MacBook Pro, it’s possible that testing whether the MagSafe-to-battery connection will work (i.e., the MagSafe light changes to amber to charge the battery, meaning the chip on the battery is communicating with the power circuits on the board), but I’m not sure the incompatible board will let the system POST correctly. I can’t say whether it will cause fireworks or sparks.

The only one battery I've got appears to be damaged in some way, because whenever I plug it in my late-2007 17" MBP, the machine shuts off. I somehow doubt the boards are that much different when it comes down to the actual power management stuff... honestly, the different ribbon cable seems like a classic Apple move to stop people from just dropping a later motherboard into an older chassis (or vice-versa).

I was just hoping I'd find some other madlad here who's done something similar