[trulyjulie]

man oh man... at times i think i must be cursed! not
only did i DROP and dent my beautiful 12 inch
powerbook last week, now i have little beads stuck
inside of my superdrive!
i was carrying my powerbook in a shoulder bag
which i did not realize had these tiny broken pieces
of glass beads in the bottom of it. when i pulled out
my laptop, i noticed that some of the pieces had
become lodged into my CD opening, and they fell
inside when i tried to dislodge them. when i gently
shake the laptop, nothing comes out. they are surely
stuck inside somewhere. i haven't yet tried sticking
a CD into the slot.. i will pretty soon and i'll post an
update about what happened.
but for now, these are my questions:
1. is the CD drive a box that is segregated and self
contained? i mean, is it possible that the beads have
migrated into other parts of the computer?

2. if the beads have migrated, could this cause some
serious problems to have foreign objects floating
around inside?

3. do you think that my applecare will be able to
help at all with this problem? i know that applecare
isn't supposed to help you when you have problems
due to accident or neglect (or acts of God).
perhaps if the CD drive doesn't work i could just
tell them my drive isn't working and act as though i
didn't know about the beads? it sounds quite
dishonest, but all they really need to do is open it up
and remove the little things.

4. would it be hard to do that myself? i really don't
want to mess up my computer.


i would so very, very much appreciate some answers
to these questions if you have them. thanks so
much

--julie (the clumsy and cursed)

[Evinyatar]

Originally posted by trulyjulie:
1. is the CD drive a box that is segregated and self contained? i mean, is it possible that the beads have migrated into other parts of the computer?

Yes, the drive is self contained and the beads are unlikely to move anywhere, which is just as bad since that decreases the chances of you being able to shake them out.

2. if the beads have migrated, could this cause some serious problems to have foreign objects floating around inside?

The beads could seriously jam and damage the drive mechanism. I strongly suggest against sticking a disc in there until the beads are removed!

3. do you think that my applecare will be able to help at all with this problem? i know that applecare isn't supposed to help you when you have problems due to accident or neglect (or acts of God). perhaps if the CD drive doesn't work i could just tell them my drive isn't working and act as though i didn't know about the beads? it sounds quite dishonest, but all they really need to do is open it up and remove the little things.

That might work, and I suggest you give that a try. Worst case scenario is that you'd end up paying for a new drive instead of being given one, but you're probably going to have to replace it anyway.

4. would it be hard to do that myself? i really don't
want to mess up my computer.

I wouldn't try that, since you'd have to open up the CD drive and you'd probably end up with lots of "spare parts" (especially considering how much luck you've been having with your PowerBook ).

[SplijinX]

You may also want to try bringing it into an Apple Store and telling them there is something loose in the CD Drive and that you are afraid it will mess up your disks.

But then again, they may think that it is resulting from your powerbook being dropped. How bad is the damage from the drop?

I agree with Evinyatar about not doing it yourself. Taking it apart and putting it back together requires quite a bit of skill. It's definitely not like installing a drive into a desktop - have it serviced by a pro.

Once you get your baby patched up, look into getting a sleeve or case for future protection. Best of luck on getting your powerbook fixed.

[buffalolee]

If you are brave, you can open up your PowerBook and get it out. All you need are some torx screwdrivers.

[Evinyatar]

Originally posted by buffalolee:
If you are brave, you can open up your PowerBook and get it out. All you need are some torx screwdrivers.

Getting the PowerBook apart is one thing, getting the optical drive apart is quite another.

[f1000]

If it were my machine, I'd tilt its chassis so that the beads could fall towards the slot and then I'd use a vacuum cleaner to suck them out (using a crevice attachment).

I doubt anything inside is going to be damaged by a regular vacuum cleaner, and I've vacuumed Macs and PC's before without any problems. If you try my idea, keep the computer plugged in to help dissipate static.