Next Barrage of Powerbook 165 Questions

[jwse30]

So I bought a "new" hard drive for my Powerbook. It's an IBM 240 meg, and I'm installing system software on it as I type this. While I was taking this machine apart the first time, I broke off one of the plastic posts. This afternoon I was taking the drive bracket off so I could replace the drive, and I snapped off two of the plastic posts that hold it in place. Is this a common problem with this model? Are there recommended ways to repair these if needed?

As an aside, another hobby of mine is Lionel trains. There's a pretty common problem with screw mounting posts breaking on one model coal car. The customary repair for that is to glue a thin piece of styrene around what's left of the post, and gluing the rest of the post back onto the post and the styrene "collar" . I've no idea how strong that repair is, or if it could work with this type of plastic, nor do I know if there's room in this machine for this type of repair.

The next question I have is while I was trying to bring back a bit of life to the last hard drive, I dropped the laptop, trying to get the drive to unstick. Apparently I dropped it too hard, as I now have about a dozen small orange spots on the screen which I assume are dead pixels. A search on this forum said "massaging" the screen can sometimes bring pixels back. Can someone describe this procedure to me, and whether it could work with this type of screen?

Thanks,

J White

 

[Paralel]

Just as any FYI, you're better off hitting the side of the laptop with just your open hand to unstick a drive with a stiction issue. If you want to drop it, drop only the drive, not the entire system, and even then, drop it onto a semi-soft surface with some padding around it.

 

[jwse30]

When I dropped it, I dropped it into a pile of big bubble wrap. It was kind of a last ditch effort, combined with impatience.

Another thing I just noticed is that there's a few keys don't work (7,8,9 and ] ). I can't say for certain that they worked prior to me receiving it though. Any tips on anything that may fix this?

hanks again,

J White

 

[Paralel]

Considering how many things could have been knocked loose. I'd probably take it completely apart and check every connector.