How should I fix a bent Powerbook casing?

October 18, 2006 3:25 PM

Part of my Powerbook's aluminum casing is bent, keeping me from plugging in an external monitor. Is this a DIY, an Apple store fix, or am I just SOL?

It's a Powerbook G4, around 18 months old, and ... I dropped it. A thin piece of the aluminum above the monitor port (I believe this is DVI?) is bent out into the space where the plastic part of my DVI-VGA adapter should go, keeping me from plugging a second monitor in.

I thought about tapping it with a hammer to bend it back in, but I really can't afford to lose this laptop, and the idea makes me pretty nervous. Would that be safe? Would the guys at the Genius Bar be able/willing to fix it? I know it wouldn't be covered by my Apple Care plan, but what would it cost me in the end, and would it void my warranty?

posted by spaceman_spiff to Computers & Internet (8 answers total)

Aluminum is very soft and as long as you're careful I can't see how you can make things worse, so I'd say go ahead (NB I am a semi-anonymous idiot on the internet).

If you take it to the Apple Store, they'll want to replace the whole casing, which is a time-consuming (=expensive) job because all of the internal components are mounted to it.

You've already voided your warranty.
posted by cillit bang at 4:09 PM on October 18, 2006

You haven't actually voided the warranty -- go to the Apple store and get them to attest to the fact that the damage has not affected the operation of the computer.

This will not get them to fix the damage you caused, but it gives you recourse if/when something else breaks and it's apple's fault and not yours.
posted by o2b at 4:14 PM on October 18, 2006

If you're brave, try to find an take-apart manual on the internet for your laptop and see how hard it is to take your case off and repair on your own.

Or try taking it to a 3rd party Apple repair shop. Depending on the shop, they might fix your dent with for a minor charge.
posted by Cog at 4:21 PM on October 18, 2006

Best answer: I have several times bent my powerbook case back into shape by shutting it down, covering it in a wadded up t-shirt, bracing it against a couch pillow and walloping it with a ball peen hammer. Haven't broke the thing yet!
posted by shanevsevil at 4:28 PM on October 18, 2006

Instead of a hammer, you can try using needle-nose pliers to reshape the offending metal.
posted by pmbuko at 6:13 PM on October 18, 2006

Best answer: I had a bulge in mine that I (lightly) wacked in. The case is suprisingly soft. My advice is to use a regular screwdriver and firmly press.
posted by rdurbin at 7:17 PM on October 18, 2006

I had the exact same problem: dropped it, port unreachable.

The easiest way to bend it back is to open the case, that way you can even bend it using your bare hands. If your dealer doesn't want to fix it under warranty/applecare, that is.

Even after opening my dealer honored my warranty to replace a part that failed unrelated to this.

I used this guide to find out how to open my PB. The trickiest thing is opening the part trought the slot of the optical drive. In the end I just lightly snapped it open, without breaking anything. YMMV.
posted by lodev at 11:54 PM on October 18, 2006

Response by poster: For anyone who comes across this in the archives: I banged it in. The panel is still a bit bent-looking, but I can screw the DVI-VGA adaptor in enough that it works (and I'm going to leave it in for a few days on the off chance that that will encourage it to flatten even more).
posted by spaceman_spiff at 8:44 AM on October 29, 2006