Comments on: Screwed: My Story of Laptop Self-Repair http://regex.info/blog/2008-01-21/698 Not a photo blog, but sometimes I play one on TV Sun, 23 Nov 2008 13:58:41 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.12-alpha by: nils http://regex.info/blog/2008-01-21/698#comment-13600 Wed, 23 Jan 2008 03:17:39 +0000 http://regex.info/blog/2008-01-21/698#comment-13600 I just went digging through my oldest archives, which are on this fly-by-night medium called SuperDisk, a little 120MB removable USB drive, and I found my iBook surgery from my blogger site in 2002. I've uploaded it for comparison: http://www.j-blog.com/nils/photos/ibook/ibooksurgery.html I just went digging through my oldest archives, which are on this fly-by-night medium called SuperDisk, a little 120MB removable USB drive, and I found my iBook surgery from my blogger site in 2002. I’ve uploaded it for comparison: http://www.j-blog.com/nils/photos/ibook/ibooksurgery.html

]]> by: nils http://regex.info/blog/2008-01-21/698#comment-13585 Tue, 22 Jan 2008 16:10:42 +0000 http://regex.info/blog/2008-01-21/698#comment-13585 Sorry to hear about your trouble, but it brings back good memories of my triumphantly successful surgery on my original blueberry clamshell iBook. I used an ice cube tray and took lots of pictures with my first generation 640 x 480 digital camera, so I only had 3 screws left over and it worked like a charm, even the annoying vibration in the CD-Rom drive disappeared. In my estimation you forgot an important -- perhaps essential -- component in any laptop surgery: alcohol. Sorry to hear about your trouble, but it brings back good memories of my triumphantly successful surgery on my original blueberry clamshell iBook. I used an ice cube tray and took lots of pictures with my first generation 640 x 480 digital camera, so I only had 3 screws left over and it worked like a charm, even the annoying vibration in the CD-Rom drive disappeared. In my estimation you forgot an important — perhaps essential — component in any laptop surgery: alcohol.

]]> by: Ask Bjørn Hansen http://regex.info/blog/2008-01-21/698#comment-13582 Tue, 22 Jan 2008 11:39:27 +0000 http://regex.info/blog/2008-01-21/698#comment-13582 I don't know if they have a guide for that particular replacement, but ifixit.com has some amazingly good guides for taking apart various Apple laptops. I used their guide (again) to replace a disk in a 12" PowerBook a few days ago (we gave away our 12" 'books when the Intel laptops came out; but of course when they break they still come back to haunt us....) Anyway - the guide made it super easy to swap the disk and, more importantly, keep track of the screws. They have (for the 12" powerbook) a 3 page "screw guide" with a little place for each type of screw where you can put them as you take them out (tape it to the paper!) The disk replacement is pretty easy, but even that leaves you with 30-40 screws. I can't imagine how much suffering replacing display parts is[1]. - ask [1] Actually, I can -- my first and last "real job" before I started my long cycle of various states of self-employment included repairing Apple laptops. I don’t know if they have a guide for that particular replacement, but ifixit.com has some amazingly good guides for taking apart various Apple laptops. I used their guide (again) to replace a disk in a 12″ PowerBook a few days ago (we gave away our 12″ ‘books when the Intel laptops came out; but of course when they break they still come back to haunt us….)

Anyway - the guide made it super easy to swap the disk and, more importantly, keep track of the screws.

They have (for the 12″ powerbook) a 3 page “screw guide” with a little place for each type of screw where you can put them as you take them out (tape it to the paper!)

The disk replacement is pretty easy, but even that leaves you with 30-40 screws. I can’t imagine how much suffering replacing display parts is[1].

- ask

[1] Actually, I can — my first and last “real job” before I started my long cycle of various states of self-employment included repairing Apple laptops.

]]> by: ksv http://regex.info/blog/2008-01-21/698#comment-13580 Tue, 22 Jan 2008 07:30:54 +0000 http://regex.info/blog/2008-01-21/698#comment-13580 Jeffrey, You should seriously consider a career of humor writer ;) Jeffrey,
You should seriously consider a career of humor writer ;)

]]> by: Steven Levithan http://regex.info/blog/2008-01-21/698#comment-13577 Tue, 22 Jan 2008 06:34:10 +0000 http://regex.info/blog/2008-01-21/698#comment-13577 I used to work in the computer repair business back in Tokyo. We could always tell if a laptop had been opened before (including by us) based on if screws or other parts were missing. I'm pretty sure there's some scientific law which mandates that at least three screws will be left over after any laptop is fully disassembled and reassembled. Fighting science is generally a losing battle. I used to work in the computer repair business back in Tokyo. We could always tell if a laptop had been opened before (including by us) based on if screws or other parts were missing. I’m pretty sure there’s some scientific law which mandates that at least three screws will be left over after any laptop is fully disassembled and reassembled. Fighting science is generally a losing battle.

]]> by: Joanna http://regex.info/blog/2008-01-21/698#comment-13567 Mon, 21 Jan 2008 20:04:38 +0000 http://regex.info/blog/2008-01-21/698#comment-13567 A tip for the next time you disassemble something with lots of screws. Use a muffin tin to store the screws as you go along. Put each set of screws into its own cup as you disassemble each part. Then, when you start putting things back together, you just reverse the order. I read this trick on a web site a few years ago when I was taking apart some piece of equipment. It helped quite a bit. Since then, a muffin tin is an essential part of my tinkering tool set. <span class='jfriedl'>Sure, or an egg carton. The problem here is that I thought there were just four screws, and when I ran into another layer, well, two groups are easy enough to keep track of. But then two groups turned into three into five into 10. I simply didn't pay enough attention before I started. Also, it turns out that the muffin/egg thing is not really appropriate here because there are various types of screws in each step, so you need to be able to remember exactly which screw came from which hole. Basically, you need to tape the screw to a drawing of the parts. (Or, just leave the screw out, which is what Apple should have done in the first place ;-)) —Jeffrey</span> A tip for the next time you disassemble something with lots of screws. Use a muffin tin to store the screws as you go along. Put each set of screws into its own cup as you disassemble each part. Then, when you start putting things back together, you just reverse the order. I read this trick on a web site a few years ago when I was taking apart some piece of equipment. It helped quite a bit. Since then, a muffin tin is an essential part of my tinkering tool set.

Sure, or an egg carton. The problem here is that I thought there were just four screws, and when I ran into another layer, well, two groups are easy enough to keep track of. But then two groups turned into three into five into 10. I simply didn’t pay enough attention before I started. Also, it turns out that the muffin/egg thing is not really appropriate here because there are various types of screws in each step, so you need to be able to remember exactly which screw came from which hole. Basically, you need to tape the screw to a drawing of the parts. (Or, just leave the screw out, which is what Apple should have done in the first place ;-) ) —Jeffrey

]]> by: Marcina http://regex.info/blog/2008-01-21/698#comment-13566 Mon, 21 Jan 2008 18:10:28 +0000 http://regex.info/blog/2008-01-21/698#comment-13566 Actually, he doesn't worry about keeping the motherboard cool anymore, since a few of those screws are from the smoke detector he had to disable in order to run the computer in the house. Actually, he doesn’t worry about keeping the motherboard cool anymore, since a few of those screws are from the smoke detector he had to disable in order to run the computer in the house.

]]> by: Mel Lammers http://regex.info/blog/2008-01-21/698#comment-13564 Mon, 21 Jan 2008 17:38:47 +0000 http://regex.info/blog/2008-01-21/698#comment-13564 So what keeps the motherboard cool? The disk drive? Perpetual motion? Mel So what keeps the motherboard cool? The disk drive? Perpetual motion?
Mel

]]> by: Sean Phillips http://regex.info/blog/2008-01-21/698#comment-13558 Mon, 21 Jan 2008 14:30:45 +0000 http://regex.info/blog/2008-01-21/698#comment-13558 It's not just apple that does this... I have a similar story from an IBM T40 that I took apart about 2 dozen times trying to get it to work. I eventually decided that it was a similar microcrack issue because it only works when the whoel thing is taken apart. As soon as I put any of the shell pieces back on, the thing flaked out again. It's still sitting in a heap of parts and pieces waiting to go on eBay "as is" for someone else to use as parts. I have batteries to go with it that are probably worth more than the labtop... It’s not just apple that does this… I have a similar story from an IBM T40 that I took apart about 2 dozen times trying to get it to work. I eventually decided that it was a similar microcrack issue because it only works when the whoel thing is taken apart. As soon as I put any of the shell pieces back on, the thing flaked out again. It’s still sitting in a heap of parts and pieces waiting to go on eBay “as is” for someone else to use as parts. I have batteries to go with it that are probably worth more than the labtop…

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