Powerbook Hinges

colm_c

One of the hinges on my powerbook g4 (titanium) seems to be royaly screwed.

I can source the new hinge online, but from my inital impression it seems difficult to install... would it be worth paying someone to fit it? I've rang one place in Dublin and they said 'ooh we would have to replace the entire top LCD' which to me is a little overkill... and I can imagine the charge would be more than the cost of a new mac mini...

Anyone have any experience with these?

TheWolf

What model and size powerbook is it exactly, do you know colm? Might be able to help you there

Wibbs

It seems to be Apple's ridiculous policy to replace the entire screen in situations like this. If I remember, the cost would be around the same as a Mac mini(in Ireland at least, overseas the replacement is cheaper. surprise surprise). In fact a year ago in some places, it cost nearly the same as a brand new powerbook! It's even more irritating when you consider that those hinges are very delicate from the start and sooner or later the chances of failure are very high. If you have a powerbook G4 titanium* always put it in a carrying case with the hinges facing up. You may notice that when the new PowerBook(12/15/17) appeared it replaced the old design with the much more robust iBook layout.

Changing the hinge yourself is tricky if you're not experienced as even getting the screen off is a delicate operation in itself and I've seen too many people ruin the screen in the attempt(inc. Apple techies). To replace the hinges you have to pretty much fully take the screen apart. This increases the chance that you may bend or tear a component. I've also seen the backlight blow during this procedure for no obvoious reason. I have the take apart data sheet somewhere I could PM it if you or a PC techie you know wants to have a go.

I seem to recall websites in Britain and the US that will change the hinges at a reasonable price so a google may not be out of order.

*TheWolf, the G4 titanium always had a 15" screen. Different specs but same screen and hinges. Some v slight differences in the screen but the hinges are the same throughout the range

TheWolf

Ah right yeah, wibbs, my bad

And yeah, it really is a pain in the whole replacing the hinges. It's not necessary to replace the whole LCD, you can replace the hinges by dismantling the display first. Someone probably didnt feel up to it though - as wibbs said the LCD's are a colossal pain in the hole to do.

Never heard about the whole backlight exploding thing myself though

colm_c

My Powerbook is a 15" Titanium g4 1Ghz + 1GB RAM with super drive...

I've done some more investigation on the machine itself, and it looks like the hinge itself isn't broke, it's more the top case is separating at the bottom and the side and as result the hinge has become loose.

So it seems the glue that holds the 2 pieces of the top part of the case has been worn away / disappatted...

So my first port of call is to get some new glue, take the display off and glue it back together, hopefully this should work...

If not, I may look for a second pair of hands / eyes to help out (I'm looking at you wolf!!) with putting in new hinges, as I can source these online...

Wibbs - That data sheet might come in handy if you could PM it to me that would be great.

Or for $10 I might do this: http://www.photo.is/titanium.html or maybe not...

Wibbs

TheWolf wrote:

Never heard about the whole backlight exploding thing myself though

Well not quite exploding. I've just found that the backlight is very delicate and very little can disturb it leaving you with a dead screen.

colm_c, I'll dig up that pdf for you

EDIT. Well I'd love to send it but I dunno how to send attachments in a PM

colm_c

I'm PMing you my email...