[filmerp]

My 17" Powerbook no longer closes because the latch that holds the screen closed doesn't appear to maintain its hold any more. Thus, putting the PB to sleep requires me to weigh the cover closed with a book, otherwise it pops back open and stays on.

It won't even stay closed when I put it into my Marware sleeve-- it's open just enough to wake up and drain the battery. I purchased this thing in December.

Has anyone else experienced the latch failing? I know, it's not as serious as the hinge issue, but still damn annoying.

[SwissXDesign]

Yes, unfortunately this has also happened to me. It's very annoying when travelling from one place to another, but it's such a shame that it happened to you, only having had your PowerBook for such a short amount of time (my PowerBook is the first rev B, 3 years old already).

Does anyone have a fix for this issue or am I forever cursed to finding tape to stick the lid shut? Apple doesn't seem to have a knowledge base article, although I may have missed it...

[t4r1q]

Isn't this covered by AppleCare? I hope it is!

[spatterson]

Originally posted by SwissXDesign:
Does anyone have a fix for this issue or am I forever cursed to finding tape to stick the lid shut?

Its best to just send it to applecare... don't risk your warranty over it.

Originally posted by t4r1q:
Isn't this covered by AppleCare? I hope it is!

Its best to call them... But if you recieved it like that then they should.

[shrink]

This just happened to my computer 17" 1Ghz tonight...and I'm less than 1-month out of warranty! No AppleCare here, but my credit card company will cover the repair. I just hate being without my computer.

[t4r1q]

Hey Shrink, could you explain how the credit card insurance/warranty works? All you have to do is purchase something with it? How do you go about getting it covered by the credit card company (ie. phone them)?

Thanks

[nate_02]

The latch on my 15" was bad and Applecare replaced it.

[shrink]

Originally posted by t4r1q:
Hey Shrink, could you explain how the credit card insurance/warranty works? All you have to do is purchase something with it? How do you go about getting it covered by the credit card company (ie. phone them)?

Thanks

Actually, it depends on your credit card company/type of credit card. All you need to do is call them and they'll confirm the coverage. Then you just take the computer in for repair, pay for it with that same credit card, send 'em a receipt, and they'll credit the repair cost.

This whole saga ended up very well. I took the computer in to the Apple store at Chestnut Hill in MA today. The Apple genius initially said they'd make an exception and fix it for free since it was less than a month out of warranty. I dropped it off and a few hours later, they called me and said they fixed it. Another employee pulled out the battery and just pushed the latch back out and all was good again. No charge at all.

Thumbs up to the Chestnut Hill Apple Store for some great service!

[Lancer409]

cool beans, glad they took care of it. does anyone know if it's under applecare though? i usually have to push down a bit before i hear that click of the latch locking in .. i use a radtech screensaver cloth thingy .. but i line it up right, iono

[Mackill]

I had a similar problem with my 17" 1st edition Powerbook (now have 1.5Ghz 17") and went to the Apple store. After seeing the problem, one genius told me it had to go to Texas because the whole bottom chassis had to be replaced. I contemplated being without the Pwrbook for two weeks (MINIMUM) and decided to live with the problem.

Went home and took out my Pwrbook from a Halliburton DZ case and the lid was securely closed and locked down! I pressed the latch release and then closed the lid down again and no problem.

Maybe the latch just had to be cleaned. Maybe shooting some compressed air into the top latch area/nook might dislodge some crud/lint that accumulated there. Also, I would not use anykind of lube on the latch, especially spray, for the chance of it getting on the screen externally and internally. To this day, the lid's latch is okay. Just my 2 cents.

Thanks for the read though.
Sincerely,
Mackill

[vexingv]

havent experienced this myself (12" rev c) but hopefully applecare can handle this. in the mean time, i was going to suggest to disable the lid awake feature. that way, you can press it down and have it go to sleep without it waking up if the lid pops up.

i'm going to cut and paste directly from a previous post ( i cant remember who sincei just saved this for future reference for myself):


In the terminal type: sudo pmset lidwake 0

Switch it on again with: sudo pmset lidwake 1

You get more info with: man pmset