Need help repairing old Mac laptop mousebutton

October 28, 2005 12:47 PM

computer repair: I have an old Mac G4 Titanium laptop (first generation I think) with a broken mouse button that I would like to repair myself or have repaired cheaply.

The mouse button still depresses but doesn't "click." The trackpad works fine. If I have to replace the mousebutton component, I have no idea where to look for such an item, or how to find instructions to guide me through the replacement process. I have limited experience repairing hardware, mostly just swapping RAM, harddrives and wireless cards. Any and all advice for fixing this machine would be greatly appreciated.

posted by slogger to computers & internet (9 comments total)

I'd enable trackpad clicking/tapping before attempting to repair the cicruit board. If that won't work for you, then you can probably grab a mini switch mechanism from just about any laptop or mouse. Here's a large picture of the guts of a Mighty Mouse. The part you want looks like the rectangle in the upper-right corner of the circuit board. I'm not sure if it'd be an exact match for what's inside your powerbook (the pins would need to line up with the circuitboard), but it might do the trick.

soldering required.
posted by pmbuko at 1:01 PM on October 28, 2005

pmbuko is probably right -- but keep in mind that repairing a laptop is a whole order of magnitude more difficult that doing maintenance work on a desktop. they're not made to be modular and you run the serious risk of breaking things on your otherwise-functional laptop.

my advice would be that you shouldn't fix what ain't broken. if you must use your trackpad, get a program that lets you tap-click. SideTrack is awesome, and lets you turn the side of your trackpad into a scroll bar, which is incredibly useful.

if you can do without your trackpad, get a USB mouse. if you're often working where you have no room for a mouse, consider a trackball. they're actually pretty easy to use once you get used to it.

bottom line is that unless you're a talented technician, i wouldn't recommend cracking almost any laptop open. you're risking your entire piece of hardware. bring it in to a specialist (Apple Certified or whatever) -- it might cost more, but it's less likely to break your laptop (which is in the end more costly), and even if they do, they'll have to cover the cost.
posted by spiderwire at 1:23 PM on October 28, 2005

www.pbfixit.com has instruction for just about any repair, including yours.
posted by cahlers at 1:50 PM on October 28, 2005

As someone who's taken apart their Titanium and Aluminum Powerbooks many times (replace hard drives, fix broken bits inside; I drop my laptop a lot), I can attest to what a pain it can be to disassemble them. As mentioned, pbfixit.com is a good source for both take-apart guides and parts, and there are others too. powerbookmedic.com being the other I'm familiar with off the top of my head.

To replace a broken trackpad, I think you'd have to replace the entire "upper case" (aka "top bezel"), which, at ~$250, is not a cheap part. No soldering required, just lots of little screws and cables. And it does give you a pretty new exterior in case yours has degraded over time. It may be possible to replace just the microswitch for the button, but unless you find something with exactly the same form factor, it won't work.

If you have an independent Apple repair place near you, visit them and describe your problem. Maybe they have a few throw-away spare parts that would be useful to you. Near me there's Di-No Computers, that is really helpful about things like this and is cheaper than the Apple Store for repairs.

I second the "trackpad clicking & dragging" suggestion. It's what I use all the time, mostly for RSI and speed-of-interaction reasons.
posted by todbot at 2:21 PM on October 28, 2005

Like Cahlers says, check out the instructions on pbfixit.com to get an idea what you're getting yourself into. Aside from keeping track of what screws came from where when re-assembling, the hardest part is usually getting the display cable out through a tiny hole in the top case. If you bend that cable too much then the display will be trash and a new one will cost about $700. That price is what apple sells them to AASPs for. I dunno how much a non-educational apple repair shop would mark-up their parts.

I recommend you take it to a real apple shop instead of trying to do it yourself. Even better: try to find yourself an apple hardware tech that is willing to do the repair for you on the side. Maybe you could even just pay them with beer!
posted by J-Garr at 2:40 PM on October 28, 2005

OK, this all looks much more complicated and costly that I was hoping it would be. Thanks for all the helpful answers!

I do have the trackpad set up to click and drag, but unfortunately my enormous hands always graze the trackpad, causing the cursor to jump all over the screen--a massive PITA while I'm trying to type. Guess it's time to invest in a USB mouse.
posted by slogger at 2:49 PM on October 28, 2005

but unfortunately my enormous hands always graze the trackpad

i believe that Sidetrack -- linked above -- has an option to ignore obviously accidental contact.
posted by spiderwire at 3:14 PM on October 28, 2005

You don't need Sidetrack to turn off "accidental trackpad input"--it's actually in the regular Trackpad preferences, at least in Tiger. Not sure about previous OSes.
posted by bcwinters at 5:53 PM on October 28, 2005

Yeah, that "accidental trackpad input" option in Tiger doesn't seem to do a whole lot for me--my meaty claws still seem to invoke accidental input, thus the reason for my inquiry. I just downloaded Sidetrack, and so far it seems to help somewhat.
posted by slogger at 10:47 PM on October 28, 2005