Power up my PowerBook so I can Get Rid of It!
May 18, 2010 2:54 AM Subscribe
How do I charge a broken PowerBook G4 with a dead battery (because of bent outer casing)?
All I want to do is get my pictures and documents off this computer and then sell it for parts, but the battery is dead (the casing is bent and the charger doesn't connect). Apple store says $400 to fix casing so I can just charge it up again, which I don't want to do.
Ideas on how to charge the battery for this bad boy as cheaply as possible?
I don't know anyone who has the same model so I could steal their battery, either.
All I want to do is get my pictures and documents off this computer and then sell it for parts, but the battery is dead (the casing is bent and the charger doesn't connect). Apple store says $400 to fix casing so I can just charge it up again, which I don't want to do.
Ideas on how to charge the battery for this bad boy as cheaply as possible?
I don't know anyone who has the same model so I could steal their battery, either.
You could take the disk out and find an adapter that will let you plug the (I suppose) ATA disk to USB. These things cost about $20.
posted by stereo at 3:04 AM on May 18, 2010
posted by stereo at 3:04 AM on May 18, 2010
Sometimes pushing it in and twisting will help; sometimes not. One option that might be simpler is to take the hard drive out of the machine and just load it into an external HD enclosure; you don't care about the machine anymore, just the files, so that shouldn't be too hard. Or you could pay a neighbor kid to do it.
I'm skeptical that there are many parts worth selling on that thing - it's at least 5 years old, no?
posted by spaceman_spiff at 3:06 AM on May 18, 2010
I'm skeptical that there are many parts worth selling on that thing - it's at least 5 years old, no?
posted by spaceman_spiff at 3:06 AM on May 18, 2010
You could take the disk out and find an adapter that will let you plug the (I suppose) ATA disk to USB. These things cost about $20.
This is what I was going to suggest. Or you could just buy an external USB drive case and have an extra drive on hand for backups, extra storage, etc.
posted by qwip at 3:35 AM on May 18, 2010
This is what I was going to suggest. Or you could just buy an external USB drive case and have an extra drive on hand for backups, extra storage, etc.
posted by qwip at 3:35 AM on May 18, 2010
1. Pull out the Powerbook's hard drive (free)
2. Plug it into another computer via USB (~$40)
The $40 adapter will be useful for other repairs where you need to take out the hard drive and do a file transfer or backup, so it may be worthwhile. It's definitely cheaper than a $400 case replacement.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 4:05 AM on May 18, 2010
2. Plug it into another computer via USB (~$40)
The $40 adapter will be useful for other repairs where you need to take out the hard drive and do a file transfer or backup, so it may be worthwhile. It's definitely cheaper than a $400 case replacement.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 4:05 AM on May 18, 2010
I regularly sell broken Mac laptops to a few individuals in the NYC area for parts. If you're in this area, MeMail me and I'll forward on the contact info. You generally don't get much money for them, but it's better than the zero dollars you'd get by putting it in the trash. These individuals then strip them of the useful parts and send the rest to their recycler contacts.
posted by mrbarrett.com at 4:18 AM on May 18, 2010
posted by mrbarrett.com at 4:18 AM on May 18, 2010
PATA to USB for $40?!? Even $20!?!? We can do better than that.
This is what you want. $13 bucks. I have two - one for work, one for home. Both work wonderfully years after purchase. Gigabytes moved across.
If you really want to cheap out, there's a $9 version that just leaves off the SATA.
posted by Pliskie at 11:42 AM on May 18, 2010 [1 favorite]
This is what you want. $13 bucks. I have two - one for work, one for home. Both work wonderfully years after purchase. Gigabytes moved across.
If you really want to cheap out, there's a $9 version that just leaves off the SATA.
posted by Pliskie at 11:42 AM on May 18, 2010 [1 favorite]
This is what you want. $13 bucks. I have two - one for work, one for home. Both work wonderfully years after purchase. Gigabytes moved across.
Yep. Shop around. You can probably get it even cheaper than this if you can borrow one from someone you know who fixes computers. This is a pretty standard tool in an IT shop kit.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 2:49 PM on May 18, 2010
Yep. Shop around. You can probably get it even cheaper than this if you can borrow one from someone you know who fixes computers. This is a pretty standard tool in an IT shop kit.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 2:49 PM on May 18, 2010
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posted by rhizome at 3:03 AM on May 18, 2010