play with defunct laptop

[danaeris]

once I get my new laptop sorted out and I'm sure I'm done with the old one, would anyone like to tell me how to take it apart or help me take it apart, or do it themselves?

If it can be fixed it'll be worth some money... I'm wondering if cleaning it out with ionized water and letting it dry would make it work again. And if it can't be made to work it can always be cannibalized for the parts and those can be sold. And the rest of it might just be fun to play with/take apart.

Comments

[unseelie23.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure you ever said what exactly you did to fry said laptop. Is this another iBook, or is it some other model of Apple laptop.

The iBook (and 12" G4) is extrordinarily difficult to work in. It's very easy to break the case trying to get it open far enough to get to the drives.

I'd be happy to try, as I've pulled one apart before. Depending on how bad the laptop is, you should still be able to at least pull the drive out and install it in an external enclosure and use it for a backup drive.

Hopefully I'll have a car in a week or two.

[danaeris.livejournal.com]

It's a 2 year old 12" iBook.

[unseelie23.livejournal.com]

So, is it the same form factor as the current iBook, or is the older design (clamshell). If it's a clamshell, I know I can work on it easily.

[danaeris.livejournal.com]

no, its like one of the recent ones (not clamshell)

[unseelie23.livejournal.com]

Okay, that's a bit more work. Not impossible, but certainly more work. If you spilled something on the keyboard/laptop, there's a good chance that it's not resurrectable, but like I'd said before, the drive, battery and ram may still have value. I'll see if one shop I know buys junked iBooks (to salvage the screen, most likely) and let you know, as getting money for it is likely of more interest than an external hard drive.

Besides, if you wanted an external hard drive, those are easy enough to purchase.

[danaeris.livejournal.com]

oh yeah, and I spilled salt water on it when I was cleaning my piercings. just a teeny bit, but apparently it was enough.

I did the same thing to my palmphone, and soaking it in brita water and letting it dry did the trick. so my hope was some ionized distilled water would fix this, but I doubt it.

[random-vamp.livejournal.com]

Did the folks at the Apple store actually take a look at it and crack ti open before telling you how much it would cost to repair?

With spilling salt water the problem could be a number of easily repairable or hard to repair options. I'd discourage you from soaking the thing unless you can find some salt deposits after cracking it open. If you do find such, it might be better to swab it off with alcohol.

I suspect it was more likely a short and burnout of some of the electronics, as salt water is a fairly decent conductor, which would be a lot more effort to repair.