{"id":698,"date":"2008-01-21T21:56:44","date_gmt":"2008-01-21T12:56:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2008-01-21\/698"},"modified":"2008-01-21T21:56:44","modified_gmt":"2008-01-21T12:56:44","slug":"screwed-my-story-of-laptop-self-repair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2008-01-21\/698","title":{"rendered":"Screwed: My Story of Laptop Self-Repair"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f\/2.8 @ 55mm — 4 sec, f\/11, ISO 100 —\nfull exif<\/a><\/span>\nSurplus<\/span>\nParts left over after performing surgery on my old laptop computer\n<\/div>\n\n

As I mentioned yesterday<\/a>, my 18-month-old MacBook<\/a>\ndied yesterday. I think<\/span> the disk controller went bad, taking out the hard\ndrive as well (the big disk that I'd installed myself<\/a> early on). Apple's\nproducts are wonderful when they work, but their laptops have a history<\/span> of\n“longevity issues.” I guess<\/span> that's what happens when you push the envelope\nas far as they do. I wholeheartedly<\/span> recommend their laptops, but be sure to\nbuild into the cost the extra few hundred dollars for the extended\nwarranty, as I did<\/span> when I bought<\/span> mine.<\/p>\n\n

Apple is picking it up tomorrow for repair.\n(UPDATE<\/b>: and they returned it – fixed – 47 hours later<\/a>!)<\/p>\n\n

My Old iBook<\/p>\n\n

I really dislike working via Windows, so I thought<\/span> to dust off my old\niBook, which the MacBook replaced 18 months ago. The iBook<\/span> had developed a\nproblem<\/span> with the screen backlight, a well<\/span>-known iBook problem that I'd had\nfixed once under warranty, but which came back again a year<\/span> or so later,\nout of warranty.<\/p>\n\n

The fix involves replacing a small and inexpensive bundle of wires\n– between the body and the screen – that get pinched due to an\n“overly aggressive” design when the laptop is opened and closed\n(where in this case “overly aggressive” is a euphemism<\/span> for\n“poor”). I've had the parts on hand for ages, so I took<\/span> the\nopportunity yesterday to finally get around to making the repair.<\/p>\n\n

The short story is that it was much more involved an operation than I\nrealized<\/span> until well into it, involving the dismantling of the top-front\nshell, top-back shell, back shield, lower-top shell, lower-bottom shell,\nlower shield, and display hinge. Prior to this, I hadn't<\/span> realized most of\nthose parts even existed, much less that I'd have to deal with them. Each\ninvolved a dozen<\/span> different screws of at least half a dozen<\/span>\nrandomly-different types.<\/p>\n\n

An hour and impressive<\/i> disarray later, I had the<\/span> umpteen\nmajor pieces of the iBook laying in piles all over my already way-too-messy\noffice, and I could<\/span> finally get around to actually swapping out the broken bundle\nof wires.<\/p>\n\n

Then it came time to try to put it all back together.<\/p>\n\n

I'm Screwed<\/p>\n\n

An iBook has a lot<\/i> of screws. Fully half the weight of the entire\ncomputer consists of nothing but screws. Not only many<\/span> screws, but many\ndifferent types of screws. A few of<\/span> the many types are easily\ndistinguishable, but for the most part, they all look more or less\nidentical at first glance, their differences waiting to ambush you the\nmoment you try to use them.<\/p>\n\n

These many screws were in all kinds of small piles in whatever bare\nspots I could<\/span> find on my desk, but, alas, I neglected<\/span> to label them as I\nremoved<\/span> them, and as such, I froze<\/span> like a deer<\/span> staring down headlights when\nit came time to take the first step in the long journey of rebuilding the\nthing. Which screw goes where? I had<\/span> no<\/b> idea. (Hey, there's\na reason<\/i> I'm a software<\/span> engineer rather than a hardware<\/span> engineer \ud83d\ude42 )<\/p>\n\n

Luckily, I'm a smart<\/span> and resourceful guy. I mean,<\/span> I can put<\/span> together a\nchild's<\/span> toy without reading the instructions, and I can<\/span> get myself un-lost\nwithout asking for directions, so this laptop issue should be a piece<\/span> of\ncake. I recovered<\/span> my composure and decided to wing it, figuring it out as I\nwent.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

One thing that hindered my progress was the stupidity of the Apple\nhardware engineers, who used a lot<\/span> of screws and random parts where they\nare not required. By the time<\/span> I had<\/span> the thing put back together (taking\ntwice as long as it did to take it apart), I had an<\/span> assorted pile of\nleftover screws and parts that I had<\/span> decided were not necessary (or that I\ncouldn't<\/span> figure out where they went). There were a few<\/span> more pieces lost in\nthe plush carpet of my office as well.<\/p>\n\n

I saw with great satisfaction that the screen light came on right away the first\ntime I powered<\/span> it on. My fix worked<\/span>.<\/p>\n\n

Sadly, something else didn't work, and it wouldn't boot. I decided<\/span> to call it a night.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

Today<\/p>\n\n

I took it apart again today, re-seated the hard disk cable, and while it\nwas half open on my lap, tried booting again. It worked<\/span> perfectly.<\/p>\n\n

I got it put back together again, the process having resulted in half a\ndozen<\/span> additional screws added to yesterday's “left over” pile.<\/p>\n\n

All buttoned up again, I powered<\/span> on to find.... the backlight didn't work.<\/p>\n\n

Much wailing and grinding of teeth later, I realized<\/span> that the problem\nwas another well-known iBook issue: a defective<\/span> design resulted in\nmicro-cracks in the motherboard such that any pressure applied to a certain<\/span>\narea of the case caused the backlight to turn off. My iBook<\/span> was at the\npoint that merely putting the case on caused the problem: the case put\nslight pressure on the hard drive, which put pressure on the motherboard.<\/p>\n\n

Those Stupid Apple Engineers<\/p>\n\n

Again, the problem was the inept engineers at Apple, who mounted the\nhard disk with rails that floated the disk over the motherboard. Remove the\nrails and let the disk sit on the motherboard directly, and you've gained a\nquarter<\/span> inch of space that was needlessly wasted. This means that the case\nno longer presses on the disk, and so the motherboard is no longer\nstrained: problem solved. An additional<\/span> benefit is that the motherboard now acts like a big<\/span> heatsink for the hard drive, keeping it refreshingly cool.<\/p>\n\n

I wish I hadn't wasted the better part of two days on it, but it's\nsatisfying to be writing this blog post via my self-repaired and\nnow-considerably-lighter iBook. The picture<\/span> at the top of the post shows the\nsurplus parts (not counting those lost in my carpet), including the\nsuperfluous disk-mounting rails.<\/p>\n\n

As an Apple shareholder, I can only<\/span> hope that they've since abandoned\nthis wasteful use of needless screws and small knick-knack parts. Heck, they\ncould avoid using screws altogether by simply using big gobs of glue. I'll\nhave to suggest that to Steve Jobs the next time we chat.<\/p>\n\n\n