Crap. My iBook G4 dive-bombed off my desk and now the power supply

[eyesroll]

connector won't work right. I need to prop the connector up on an angle to get it to light up and charge. I suspect the problem's on the computer end (in the receptacle) and not in the power supply itself.

(The rest of the computer works fine, except it's RAM-starved and the battery doesn't hold much of a charge anymore, which were both existing problems.)

Any ideas how much this is going to cost me to get fixed? I take it it's not a DIY thing. (I' good at taking apart electronics, not so good at putting them back together.)

[politicat]

1. How old is the iBook?

Amazingly, some of that stuff is DIY (as we well know, having replaced many things in 2 iBooks and 2 Powerbooks that we weren't supposed to touch.... not to mention several hand helds, cell phones, iPods.... Why, yes, we DO have a firewire external hard drive in a LEGO case.... ) But beware - it's not exactly easy and there are no guarantees. If you're not comfortable with replacing, say, the thermostat and water pump on your car, and if you don't have a bench for rebuilding your computer, I'd suggest biting the bullet and taking it to the shop for repair. The part runs around $80 consumer, and labor is going to be about 2 hours. Microdoc says it will be about 120 - 59 for labor and 59 for the part. http://www.microdocusa.com/ibooks.html

But if you're comfortable with DIYing, buy the "Chilton" for your model iBook: here's where we got ours: http://www.powerbookmedic.com/Take-Apart-Repair-Manuals-p-1-c-258.html Having the take apart manual has been very handy, especially because we've had some issues with case separations in DH's PB.

Which G4 is it, and have you had access to another powercord to make sure that it's the port and not the cord? (Take it to an apple shop or the Genius bar; both can try a second cord if you don't know someone who has another cord.)

[eyesroll]

2. Odd. The power supply problem seems to have resolved itself.

I got a new battery and more RAM, too, and the computer is behaving like a decent laptop again.

:shrug: