h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I have a four year old G4 Powerbook. Sometimes when I put a dvd in the superdrive it makes a click, click, click, click noise before either spitting the disc out or proceeding to play it. The drive got replaced a couple of years ago so it's not that old, but I do have a bad habit of shutting down the mac with discs in it.

The socket where the power cord plugs in is loose and I often have to turn the plug to get it to work.

When the battery gets low, say down to 15 or 20%, sometimes it goes to sleep without any warning and I have to plug it in to get it to start again. This is different than normal (where it would go much lower and give me a warning message). I am assuming the battery is discharging suddenly for some reason.


So when one of those things finally gives up, am I better off getting it repaired, or buying a new one?

Shutting the Mac down with a DVD in the drive does no harm.

Your power socket needs resoldering. If you have occasion to get the Mac opened up for any other reason, tell the techie and they'll probably do that for free at the same time. (If their soldering iron is already hot it'll take less than ten seconds...)

If the battery is playing up, take a chance and get a used one off eBay. Don't pay very much. If the symptoms with it are the same the problem is with the Macbook and *then* you can consider a new one.

Depends how much cash you have got as well. The white MacBook is the best value according to Mac Reg Hardware - http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2009/02/12/review_laptop_apple_macbook_white/

NZ$1999.00 which equates to around £770 UK. Not sure if that is a good price over there but if I was in the market for a new portable Mac, that would be the one.

t.

Hmm, not sure if I could get a secondhand battery in NZ. Maybe I can borrow one and try it out.

Yes, price. I guess replacing the superdrive is going to be the big expense. I should get a quote in that. Or is it a part I can replace myself? (I'm fairly handy but haven't worked with electronics really).

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Your power socket needs resoldering. If you have occasion to get the Mac opened up for any other reason, tell the techie and they'll probably do that for free at the same time. (If their soldering iron is already hot it'll take less than ten seconds...
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Is that something I can do? The socket isn't working at all now. Have borrowed some tools to open the PB up...

Possibly. Google "Fix power socket (your model number)" and you might be offered a YouTube instructional video.

But it would have been significantly easier if you had resoldered it while it was still working. It's possible that now tracks are actually broken because of the socket moving around.

Thanks Peet Turned out it was the plug not the socket (luckily) and we used a pair of pliers on it for a fix

Apple don't make the socket part anymore either so if it wasn't able to be soldered I'd have had to get a new laptop I'm thinking about buying a secondhand, same-age power book as a parts laptop (very cheap). Main problem is that I don't live near an apple repair centre (and they're clunky to deal with anyway), and the local tekkies aren't that keen on working on them because macs are hard to get into (apparently).

My current plan is to have a backup parts mac, and try and keep this one going until I can afford a new one. My current one needs a new battery and superdrive but otherwise seems ok.

Is it realistic that I can learn to do some of the repairs myself? eg replacing a HDD? Or DVD drive? I'm reasonable handy, am good at learning, have done fine work in the past making jewellery, but don't have much experience with electronics. It seems likely lack of knowledge will be the stumbling block rather than my technical ability.

What do you think?

Replacing a drive is the sort of thing a careful person can pick up in a couple of days worth of trial-and-error. Repairs that require soldering (like replacing the socket) need a bit more building up to, say by buying a couple of small-scale electronic kits to practice on. Even then, soldering/desoldering on a multi-layer circuit board like you would find in a Mac is *much* trickier than soldering on a single-layer board as you get with a kit.

I would say that you can do most things yourself, but it's worth paying a proper shop to do the things that require soldering. (They are insured, so if they screw it up they can replace it; local teenagers aren't...)

Cool. I'll have a look on line and save some good tutorials for if I need them.

The local repair people are really reluctant to do any soldering, preferring to hand it over to the Apple approved repairers who are a long way away and a hassle to deal with. I'll ask about the insurance though, hadn't thought of that

If they're not covered for accidental damage while doing a repair, it would explain their reluctance.