101 uses for a dead G4 PowerBook

[Chester Lapeza]

I had this happen to my wife's iBook. You could just look inside the 
socket and see the little pin staring back at you, but completely 
unreachable by any means, right? The power adapter plug is toast, all 
that's left is a bent sleeve and a wisp of wire sticking out, right? 
This is salvageable. (Now you just have to hope the socket itself is 
OK, with no broken leads or solder points...)

You need a tiny set of alligator forceps, like these :
http://www.widgetsupply.com/page/WS/PROD/hemostat-forcep-alligator/BBB45

Ask a friendly medical-type to borrow a pair. Every ER has them readily 
available for removing Q-tip cotton tips or bugs or beads out of 
people's ears / noses / etc. Get the tiniest you can find. It'll take 
you all of 30 seconds to get that pin out.

HTH,
Chester

On Feb 14, 2005, at 7:28 PM, Christian Boyce wrote:

> Actually, it's not really dead. The problem is that the AC adapter 
> broke its little pin off inside the PowerBook, and I can't get it out. 
> Apparently the female end is soldered to the logic board so the repair 
> is about $800. That's nice.
>
> Naturally I'm looking for someone here to say something like "take the 
> screen off, mount it on the refrigerator, connect it to an X10 video 
> thingy and you'll be able to see whether there is any sodypop without 
> opening the door." That would leave 100 more uses for the rest of us 
> to come up with.
>
> Anybody have a suggestion for me? Seems like a shame to waste this 
> thing. It worked right up to when the adapter broke off inside the 
> machine. Good keyboard, screen, processor, etc. And, since it's 
> already not working, I am completely willing to do major surgery to 
> it. I am hardly worried about breaking it.
>
> cb
>
> -- 
> Christian Boyce
> Macintosh Consultant to the Stars
>
> Christian Boyce and Associates
> 400 S. Beverly Drive, Suite 214
> Beverly Hills, CA 90212
>
> (310) 452-3720
> http://www.christianboyce.com
>