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WindowsUser12

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 18, 2020
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Okay, So basically I am trying to get this ibook g4 open so i can get to the hard drive. Yet, I don't have any torx screwdrivers. I only have phillips, and flathead. Does anyone know how to open the bottom case with phillips, and / or flathead?
 
I'd just get a cheap torx set at walmart and call it a day. They are cheap and you'll most likely need them in the future. Otherwise, maybe drill the screws out? But I'd prefer you get the torx, yank the drive, then sell the PC to a collector haha
 
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Okay, So basically I am trying to get this ibook g4 open so i can get to the hard drive. Yet, I don't have any torx screwdrivers. I only have phillips, and flathead. Does anyone know how to open the bottom case with phillips, and / or flathead?

Torx screwdrivers are cheap.

I would recommend using the right tools rather than stripping a screw.
 
If you attempt to use something other than proper torx tools, you will simply have considerable difficulty and in the end (if you do somehow manage to get the screws removed in some way) you will surely damage the screws and make them unusable when you go to reassemble the laptop.

Don't even consider doing it without getting the proper tools.
 
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Harbor Freight has cheap tools, get the whole set, you will never know when you will need them. I broke a lens on my right side mirror on my ML350, needed a Torx to change it.
 
I do agree, 100% just get one form walmart.

That said, when I was 13 I opened my iBook G3 using a small flat head. It seemed to do the trick. For reference I am 26 now. Lol. Still not recommended in case one strips, which it probably will.
 
I do agree, 100% just get one form walmart.

That said, when I was 13 I opened my iBook G3 using a small flat head. It seemed to do the trick. For reference I am 26 now. Lol. Still not recommended in case one strips, which it probably will.
I had to be careful with computers when I was young. My dad didn't like me opening them or messing with them, even though a few of them were mine.

I had a TRS-80 CoCo overheating during a game once so I set up this small portable heater and used the no-heat, fan only option directly into the air intake slot of the computer. He asked me about it, I told him it was overheating. He wasn't happy but let it slide.

Then there was the time my Commodore CM-141 (monitor) had the switch go out. I asked him to fix it but he wouldn't touch it. So, I took it to a Commodore shop (I had a driver's license and access to a car by then) and paid them. They put in this big old ugly red switch, but it worked.

There was the time I fixed my C-128 keys by using cut up bits of toothpick. I'd press down on a key and it wouldn't register, so I stuck a short bit of toothpick in there and it triggered the switch. By that point I guess my dad didn't care.

When I got my first 286 though is when I learned there are different size screws. The ones to get the lid off are bigger than the ones for the card slots :rolleyes:

PS. Over the years I 'liberated' a lot of my dad's tools, which is how I have jeweler's screwdrivers and wire strippers. He never said anything.

Did I mention my dad was an electrical engineer? ;)
 
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