More of the end of my iBook?

I don’t know if this is an official or an unofficial post or not, but since I posted about the problems of my laptop here on the official blog in the summer, I guess I’ll post again about my latest problems. Assuming my power doesn’t cut out.

We were away seeing family for Christmas. I spent much of my time working on my (still incomplete) class web site for English 444, powered with WordPress on my office Mac, and I had no problems with my iBook G4 at all. Then tonight, after we got settled in the house after being on the road for nine hours, the power on my laptop was off (and I had not turned it off before). I restarted and then, after about five minutes, it shut off on me again.

Well, I did figure out the problem, and the good news is it appears to just be a loose battery. As long as I’m plugged in, I’m fine. My poor and battered and aging (any computer over 3 years old is “aging” in my way of thinking of these things) laptop has had a loose lock for the battery for some time now. I guess the trip and perhaps riding around in the trunk of the car made it worse. The bad news is that I’d really like to be able to reliably use my laptop without it being plugged in all the time. And I’d like to do this without having to spend a whole lot of money on getting this thing fixed.

Anyway, a trip to the Apple store is in my near future. In the meantime, plug in and/or save often.

Update:

I am beginning to think that what I need to do is replace/have fixed the lower part of the case on my computer. And while I’m at it, maybe I can get the touchpad on my computer fixed too. Here’s a handy site on this sort of thing, including tips for “doing it yourself,” something I am not inclined to actually do just yet.

Well, this will have to wait until my winter “cash flow situation” improves a bit. In the meantime, it looks like I’ll be shutting down when moving about and carrying an extension cord in my bookbag when I head off to a coffee shop or something.

7 thoughts on “More of the end of my iBook?”

  1. This was a problem in an earlier version of the iBook. The solution Apple came up with was to produce and install a small foam “shim” that was stuck into the battery receptacle to help the battery maintain contact. You could probably devise a similar item yourself if you tried.

    rbb

  2. Have a 4 year old dual USB iBook with the same problem. A piece of transparent tape on the screw thingy keeps it in the “locked” position.

    Sometimes, low-tech solutions rule. :)

  3. Call M.A.C. Solutions in Troy, MI to see what a new case bottom housing would cost. They replaced one for me for about $80 out-the-door.

  4. I tried a little duct tape actually, but I didn’t try what Anna suggested with the tape over the screw thingy (which is clearly broken/loose and has been for a while now, due to my stupidness of trying to tighten it too much once). And I like the shim idea. So I might try that out and then give this M.A.C. Solutions a call (or the Apple store), though Troy is a bit of a hike for me….

  5. I ended up having to do the transparent tape trick to keep mine from coming unlocked. I wish there was a permanent fix for this type of thing but it seems there is not.

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