[wisewoman]

I have hand issues and have mildly dropped the ibook on several occasions but it tangled in a line a few days ago and down it went. Now when I turn it on if I put ANY pressure on the bottom part under keyboard the display gets weird lines and such with no picture. I feel terrible, what a waste. I have an updated powerbook, hopefully will not have to send it back for third time. but I really feel badly that this happened and I know that someone could have benefited from the ibook. Does anyone know if it's fixable? What can I do?

The good news is it sounds entirely fixable.
Most likely what happened is you jostled the video card when it dropped and it isin't sitting properly in the laptop.

The bad news is that I wouldn't have a clue how to work with that particular laptop - I have no experience with laptops, or next to none anyways. With Desktops i could walk you through reseating it but I dont know how to open laptop cases.

The other thing that MIGHT have possibly happened is some damage was done to either the card itself or the connectors, but I doubt it.

Do you know anyone laptop savvy you could take it to and explain this to?

[wisewoman]

Yeah, I have a tech. I hate to spend money on it but I hate to see it wasted too. I too could fix a video card. I am worried that this is about the motherboard being broke. Laptops are fragile and this one has only been dropped a dozen times or so. I am not wearing my splints trying to strengthen my hands. Maybe it's the typing? Wishfull thinking.

You should be able to find instructions for how to install a video card yourself online.

I post sometimes on the MacRumours forum and people there seem to know a bit about DIY stuff. There may even be links on the website to doing that - they have comprehensive instructions on installing your own RAM and upgrading your hard drive etc.

It will make a difference precisely what model it is... But if you know that then google should be able to help you. Some things are easier on some models than others.

Wikipedia can also be quite good with things like that...

[pachyderm]

I am a strong advocate of using user groups. If you can find one near you, you may be able to find help. Here is a place to go to find one:

http://www.apple.com/usergroups/find/

I can give you a few more URLs for places you can hunt for Apple user groups in places like the UK and Ireland, France, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan, if you can't find one in Apple's list.

[wisewoman]

Pachyderm, I found a group sorta near me very quickly, thanks. Alexandra, I am looking now on Macrumors. I would like to put more memory in my Powerbook G4 so I will look at the i book stuff and the Powerbook. Thanks.

Hey. I couldn't quite remember this... But it is coming back to me now. Apparently changing the memory and hard drive and those kinds of things USED to me a major undertaking. Some of the later models have been redesigned such that they are readily accessible once the battery is removed. So... On my model I am able to change the hard drive or the memory and that is considered 'user servicible' which means that I don't void my warantee in doing so. With some of the other models doing such things is considered a major undertaking such that you do void your warantee, however.

If your book is still covered under applecare then I really would get them to take a look at it.

If it isn't covered then I'd be much more inclined to have a go myself.

But anyway, I'm sure you have discovered much more than me about it!

I just had a look because I was going to memory upgrade my MacBook on purchase. The Macrumours people were saying that it was user servicable and I could save some money by purchasing and installing the memory myself. I tossed things up for a while and ended up going with getting the Mac people to do it. Probably not the smartest decision... But that was what I did at any rate.

[wisewoman]

Broken video chip on the logic board, needs new logic board. Bummer.

[(JD)]

If it helps any, I dropped my new camera and now the flash doesn't work. I had a camera with no flash, that's why I bought the new one.

It happens. People drop things all the time. It's a bummer when we do, though eh?

[wisewoman]

Yup, I feel like a clutz.