Hi,

both of my hinges of my Titanium G4 550 broke when the PowerBook fell on the floor.

The insurance company refuses to pay because they say that it is not possible that the hinges break «only by falling down».

Now I need to prove that there are other people out there like me who have a similar problem.

So please send me a short email and explain to me how your PowerBook hinges broke: garyc@earthling.net

Thanks so much,

Gary Czychi

My Powerbook G4 667MHz was tethered to an ethernet cable. It dropped about 30 inches onto a carpeted floor when someone walked past the cable. One hinge was clearly damaged, but the unit was functional immediately after the incident. After two months, the backlight failed because of the torque on opening and closing the screen. This is a known Powerbook Titanium problem and the new version of the Powerbook has a completely different hinge design. There are numerous reports from unhappy Apple Powerbook owners along these lines and it is an expensive repair - even without the display failure. There are quite a few reports of this problem on various bulletin boards.

My Powerbook G4 (original version from 2001) suffered a left-hinge failure simply by opening the case. There had been *no* physical trauma to the PB before this point. The hinge seized, causing the hinge casting to snap on either side of the actual hinge area, and the LCD display case bent closest to the hinge.

These hinges are a major weak link in the Powerbook G4's design, and can (and do) fail under normal use, necessitating an extremely expensive repair, considering the relatively low value of the part that actually breaks.

Hi, the same just happened to me too, and I've browsed through this forum while looking for a price for repair (to Dublin, Ireland!) from PBM. What did you do? What's the reasale value on a Tibook with a snapped hinge (LCD is fine, but some buckling of lid at affected hinge).

cheers,
David

One of my PowerBook G4's hinges broke one day so I took it apart to see why. I couldn't remember there being any reason for this to happen. I found that the metal rod that goes through the hinge part had seized up and would not rotate at all. No wonder the hinge broke. It couldn't deal with the stiffness of the interior part.

Apple replaced the display with the hinges but it didn't mesh with the old bottom part. Therefore, it wouldn't close completely meaning that it doesn't properly go to sleep. The computer now overheats if I don't keep a close eye on it.

Also, my cd burner no longer allows cds to remain in the machine. It just spits them out.

I have to get a new machine. I am not sure what to get but it has to be a Mac because of my work.

Karen
karenatrest@hotmail.com

One of my PowerBook G4's hinges broke one day so I took it apart to see why. I couldn't remember there being any reason for this to happen. I found that the metal rod that goes through the hinge part had seized up and would not rotate at all. No wonder the hinge broke. It couldn't deal with the stiffness of the interior part.

Apple replaced the display with the hinges but it didn't mesh with the old bottom part. Therefore, it wouldn't close completely meaning that it doesn't properly go to sleep. The computer now overheats if I don't keep a close eye on it.

Also, my cd burner no longer allows cds to remain in the machine. It just spits them out.

I have to get a new machine. I am not sure what to get but it has to be a Mac because of my work.

Karen
karenatrest@hotmail.com

Anybody had experience replacing the hinges on the display? My left hinge broke yesterday and I want to do it my self. these guys sell a hinge for about $134 which is expensive but still cheaper than a new PB.

I'm experienced with fine electronics and have the torqx screwdrivers, so let me know...

We've had quite a bit of experience with these (we've done hundreds of hinge repairs.) Our manuals cover to procedure, but you can post your questions here as well.

-Bradley
PowerbookMedic