01-24-2009, 10:11 PM
Over a year ago, I gave my parents my old 17" powerbook. They love using it but it's recently developed some issues.
First, the airport extreme card went out.
Then, the power adapter they'd been using was one of the iGo Juice ones. They broke the tip. I happened to have a second iGo Juice adapter, plus the tip they needed. I gave it to them. Since they broke the tip, they've not been able to charge the laptop's battery. Since the battery is now drained, we cannot start the computer at all. BF has an old adapter from his g3 ibook and we tried that, just to be sure it wasn't the iGo that was bad.
Of course, no go on this as well. So, after much research (trying to find out what the inside of a powerbook looks like), my guess is that the dc in board is the issue. The "port" had always been loose - meaning, when the cable was plugged into it, it was wiggly. It's no more loose than it always had been, but I think when the tip broke, that was the final straw for the port.
So now I'm stuck with a (mostly) perfectly good powerbook. I had read online that one could buy an external battery charger and just keep charging the battery when needed. That seems like a pretty lame fix. Since the computer's 6 yrs. old, they don't want to spend much to fix it. I'm wondering if this is something I could do for them.
My question is, how difficult is it to take apart a 17" aluminum powerbook? I found one partial take apart manual online, but I'd like to hear of some real-world experiences. Opinion - is this something that's doable? I've never taken apart a powerbook, other than to add ram, but I've taken apart towers before.
First, the airport extreme card went out.
Then, the power adapter they'd been using was one of the iGo Juice ones. They broke the tip. I happened to have a second iGo Juice adapter, plus the tip they needed. I gave it to them. Since they broke the tip, they've not been able to charge the laptop's battery. Since the battery is now drained, we cannot start the computer at all. BF has an old adapter from his g3 ibook and we tried that, just to be sure it wasn't the iGo that was bad.
Of course, no go on this as well. So, after much research (trying to find out what the inside of a powerbook looks like), my guess is that the dc in board is the issue. The "port" had always been loose - meaning, when the cable was plugged into it, it was wiggly. It's no more loose than it always had been, but I think when the tip broke, that was the final straw for the port.
So now I'm stuck with a (mostly) perfectly good powerbook. I had read online that one could buy an external battery charger and just keep charging the battery when needed. That seems like a pretty lame fix. Since the computer's 6 yrs. old, they don't want to spend much to fix it. I'm wondering if this is something I could do for them.
My question is, how difficult is it to take apart a 17" aluminum powerbook? I found one partial take apart manual online, but I'd like to hear of some real-world experiences. Opinion - is this something that's doable? I've never taken apart a powerbook, other than to add ram, but I've taken apart towers before.