Finally acquired a PDQ (aka Wallstreet II)!

[Emehr]

After months of lusting for one, I finally got my mitts on the last of the ADB PowerBooks. It's the 300MHz model and the lot came with plenty of extras: DVD drive w/card, Wireless card, Firewire card, original install disk, Mac OS 9 install disc, Jaguar install disks, Airport base unit (original), misc. documentation, internal + external Zip drives, a plethora of Zip disks, and a whole bunch of other goodies!

:'( Now the sad news. The lot came in three boxes and the box with the Powerbook was dropped on its corner. Hard. I carefully dismantled the laptop to assess the extent of the damage. The corner with the IR port took the brunt of the fall. The left hinge broke in two spots. It was dropped so hard the ribbon cable on the back of the LCD popped loose. Fortunately the screen still works.

The real stomach-turner is that this thing was in cherry condition. I bought it from the original owner and he took really good care of it. All it took was one negligent postal worker to scar this otherwise pristine book. It was adequately packed, a reasonable fall wouldn't have caused any damage. This thing was either thrown or dropped from 15 feet in the air. Fortunately it was insured, so I'm going to take it in and see how much of a pain it's going to be to collect anything from them for repair.

Surprisingly, besides the broken hinge, it is otherwise perfectly functional!

 

[MacJunky]

Since you have had and eventually will have it open again, could you please add some observations here?

viewtopic.php?f=21&t=11280

 

[Emehr]

Since you have had and eventually will have it open again, could you please add some observations here?viewtopic.php?f=21&t=11280

Sure! When I have it open to replace the screen I'll contribute what I can. Aside from the smidgen of research and newly-acquired take-apart skills, I'm fairly new to the Powerbook G3 scene.

 

[Unknown_K]

Wallstreets have a bad hinge design, many died years ago from broken hinges that took out the video cable, and many these days have atleast one bad hinge that keeps the display from staying up at anything less then 90 degrees. I have Thinkpads much older then wallstreets that don't have those issues.

 

[Byrd]

That's a shame - was the plastic around the hinge damaged too? Hopefully you can find a donor WSII/PDQ and transplant a new hinge on. Must have been a hefty fall - these machines are built like a tank, Apple's strongest portables around I reckon!

JB

 

[Sludgedragon]

I might be able to provide a donor Wallstreet, if you're interested. I'm not sure what I have on hand, but I have more than one in various states of nonfunctionality and it would be good to get them put to good use. If you want, I can dig them out and look at them.

 

[Emehr]

Here's the damage (sorry about the blurry shot)...

[edit: okay, I'm apparently having issues linking to flickr...stay tuned

here's the link for now: http://www.flickr.com/photos/42914112@N03]

The hole on the exterior is where a case screw goes. There's a nice crack going from there to the hinge area. Not sure if the IR stuff is damaged. I don't have a way to test it and honestly I'm not sure if I'll ever use it!

I might be able to provide a donor Wallstreet, if you're interested. I'm not sure what I have on hand, but I have more than one in various states of nonfunctionality and it would be good to get them put to good use. If you want, I can dig them out and look at them.

If you have a cosmetically nice 300MHz Wallstreet that would be awesome. I appreciate the offer! I'd like to keep the sticker on the bottom consistent with the machine (I'm anal like that, :lol: ) and, unfortunately, the bottom case half took most of the damage.

I basically just need a new shell and hinges and this PowerBook will be happy again. I purchased an LCD on ebay for the hinges but I can't really tell the condition of the case.