PB170 Screen on the Fritz

[Scott Baret]

My PowerBook 170 has developed a bit of a screen problem. It displays gibberish unless I keep adjusting it. Eventually the screen will get to be OK but sometimes it will revert back or flicker in certain areas. I sometimes have to hit the top part of the laptop just to get the screen to stabilize or I have to open and close the computer multiple times for it to work right.

My first guess is a loose display connector, but before I dive inside this machine is there a chance it could be something else?

 

[tomlee59]

Chance? Yes. Likelihood? No.

This behavior is extremely common among the 1xx series 'books. The flex connector develops flakiness after some time, and needs periodic cleaning. Just pull out the cable, take a soft pencil eraser and clean the exposed contacts, blow/brush away any residue, and then reassemble. That usually takes care of things for a good long time.

 

[Scott Baret]

Sounds good to me, maybe I'll even pop in an extra RAM SIMM while I'm at it since I'll have it open...if only the iBook G4s were as easy to work on as the 1xx machines...

 

[tomlee59]

Sounds good to me, maybe I'll even pop in an extra RAM SIMM while I'm at it since I'll have it open...if only the iBook G4s were as easy to work on as the 1xx machines...

The iBooks are indeed a large pain in the fazoo to work on, aren't they? I enjoy working on most things, but iBooks are an exception.

 

[Franklinstein]

I've done enough iBooks of all types that they don't bother me anymore. I can usually get and out of one of them in a flash without leaving a trace, besides a stray fingerprint or two.

But yeah, I concur on the display cable; it's an easy fix. Not so true with the occurrence of tunnel vision, however...