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Sub · Feb 25, 2007, 12:35 PM

Hey there,

I had my friend over and was showing off my 12" book on top of my desk, we put on painkiller (judas preist for you losers who don't know) and I had my sony powered SUBwuffer powered up, and a bin of marbles spilled on a shelf about 3 feet above my open book. One of them fell directly on my touchpad, now it doesn't work.

This is obviously a hardware problem. Some people would say it's not worth fixing, but I really love the size and look of my book and want to replace it. Does anyone know where I can get a new touchpad for cheap, even if apple is my only option. Or how to open up my book and fix it (pillowcase), because if apple is going to charge a ridiculous amount, then I might as well try it myself. I have been inside a 15" Powerbook and many pcs, but I have never opened a 12".

There are also a few "cosmetic" errors that I would really like to get fixed. So another thing I am considering, since I love my powerbook so much, is replacing the case, I was going to buy a Macbook, but decided not to, as I do not need one, so I have the cash for everything.

This is important because it was the first Mac that I bought myself. Before that, it was a pismo my parents got my in high school. That one I gave away and regret, so I want this to last as long as possible.

Thanks for your help .

slpdLoad · Feb 25, 2007, 12:46 PM

iFixIt has disassembly guides if you want to try and take it apart. It could be that you just knocked the little ribbon connector loose from the motherboard.

Sub · Feb 25, 2007, 01:57 PM

Thanks.

Sub · Feb 25, 2007, 05:30 PM

Do you think that if I took the case apart I could find anything that is stopping it from working, or would it just be wasted effort?

slpdLoad · Feb 25, 2007, 06:57 PM

By just taking it apart, you can really only see whether or not the trackpad is properly connected to the motherboard. That was just a guess on my part, since that's the only thing that I would think could really go wrong with a trackpad.

That iFixit site sells a replacement part for almost every piece of a 12" PB. Looks like it would cost about $70 for replacement "upper case" which would have a replacement trackpad.

Sub · Feb 25, 2007, 08:23 PM

Yeah, it isn't bad in terms of price, but I don't know when they will have more in stock. I will just open it up then. If anyone is going to stop me, IM me [blacksubbath]

Sub · Feb 25, 2007, 10:44 PM

Ok, I opened it up, checked all the cables: Mic, Caps Lock, Keyboard and trackpad, unplugged them all, and plugged them back in. The trackpad worked for a second, then stopped, so I unplugged just the trackpad cable and back in again, with no success at all this time.

During this process a few keys were broken, I saw all the scratches and dents all over the thing, I have abused the hell out of it, physically. I think I'm going to get a Macbook after all.

Thanks for reading. I took pics of it all.

Jesse