I recently acquired a 867Mhz DVI Powerbook with a broken-off right screen hinge from work. The machine belonged to one of "those people" who like grabbing the screen and vigorously slamming it open and shut. (You know darn well people like that wouldn't treat them that way if *they* had spent the two grand for for the machine.) The hinge jammed halfway one day, and *snap*. You would think AppleCare should of covered a jammed hinge, but they really turned into pri**s when they found the hinge had physically snapped off in the process, and refused to repair it. Yah Apple. (Dell would of fixed it, you know.)
Screw 'em. Free Powerbook for me. So I've been looking at MacDan's Titanium display page:
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/macdan/tibook_display.html
Trying to decide whether I'd be capable of replacing the hinge myself. (I'm torn.) I have lying around a complete LCD assembly from a non-DVI 667, which in theory I could use as a hinge donor. The questions:
1: Does anyone know if the cast metal hinge part from the earlier model would fit the later benzel? It *looks* like they sell the same replacement part for all models, but I'm not positive.
2: What are my chances of getting the cast hinge bit out of the older benzel in one piece? (It's glued in there, after all.) Would I be better off opening the front of both benzels and swapping the newer panel into the older back leaving the two intact hinges on it?
Anyway. Should I forget the whole thing and see if one of those places that does hinge replacement would take the older panel as partial payment for the labor, or it it not *really* quite as awful as it looks? ;^>
--Peace
would you be interested in selling the whole powerbook?
It would depend on the price, but not particularly, no. Having it prevents me from doing something idiotic like buying a *new* Apple.
--Peace
1 - all Tibooks use the same hinge parts. Note they are left- and right-handed, so you'll need the specific-handed replacement hinge.
2 - chances are quite good of getting the hinge out intact, by carefully peeling it out. (dang it, I really should update my page with such infos, just haven't gotten around to it)
However, if the pre-DVI panel is in otherwise good shape with hinges uncracked and still firmly glued in place, I'd suggest swapping the DVI LCD into the older back panel. The proper repair has the whole thing apart anyway, and the most serious issue is ensuring the hinges are properly glued into the back panel.
hth,
dan k
So at this point... starting would pretty much involve seeing if I can successfully tear down the spare panel without mangling it.
I'll think on that for a while. Honestly the teardown of the rest of the system to get the video cable and whatnot across is almost intimidating me more then the panel glueing portion of the work.
You can do the swap without having to pull the logic board. Leave the existing data cable in place and instead open the display and disconnect it there. The sleep LED and backlight cables can be disconnected from the MLB without pulling the MLB. Still, removing the MLB makes things alot simpler in the end.
Actually, even pulling the MLB ain't too hard at all. The biggest issue is replacing that confounded heatsink 'goop', a waxy substance between the processor and heatsink. I haven't yet found a source for a decent replacement. I've managed to salvage old 'goop', enough for the few complete systems I've rebuilt. I've also purchased generic 'pads', but it ain't the same. It would be real nice to have the pukka Apple stuff.
dan k