How To Fix A Broken PowerBook Power Supply Cable
6:27 am, February 9th, 2009, Giles Turnbull
Beatrice Murch is not a woman who lets a minor problem like a broken power lead get in her way.
She’s just posted a fantastic story book photoset on Flickr, showing just how she fixed her PowerBook power supply when the cable broke, as shown above. So she did what a lot of geeks might do: she took it apart. (AFTER safely disconnecting it from any sources of actual electricity — see warning from Safety Police, below.)
And lo and behold! It worked!
A note from the Safety Police: DO not disconnect and mess around with stuff that carries electrical charges unless you KNOW WHAT YOU’RE DOING and take all appropriate precautions to prevent death or injury from electric shock. Electrocutions are your own responsibility. And painful. Beatrice, I should point out, is clearly an experienced hardware hacker and therefore does indeed know how to stay safe. Make sure you do too. Safety Police out.
(All pics used under CC license. Thanks Beatrice!)
Posted by Giles Turnbull in Hardware, Hardware Hacks, How tos | Comment on this article
Well, I hope Beatrice will be luckier than me. I did this for my PowerBook 15″, it worked fine for a week or two then something burnt on my motherboard, it wasn’t charging neither running on AC. Only the battery power was working, but I had to recharge it somewhere else… The motherboard change cost me ~700 euros a year and a half ago.
I have to admit my fix was a little dirtier than hers.
I agree with the Safety Police !
musyne, on February 9th, 2009 at 7:00 am
You scooped me! Hah, I love it! Thanks for the write up. I posted a quick blog post on my lj pointing back to you.
Beatrice M, on February 9th, 2009 at 9:24 am
Only 700 euros? I think maybe I’ll buy a new charger.
Partners in Grime, on February 10th, 2009 at 6:42 pm