Oh, Dear... She broke the iBook. Any advice?

[otterpop]

So my wife has a terrible habit of setting her ibook (14" g4) on the arm of the couch while she goes off and does other things. No matter how many times I remind her that it is not safe, she continues to do this.

Previously, she broke the power adapter when the entire weight of the iBook landed on it. The 2nd time, she dropped it on the other side and it "only" killed the hard drive. This time, I think she's finally done it.

She did this once yet again, and broke the power adapter off worse than I have previously seen. The arrow-shaped portion of the barrel connector tip is broken off of the connector, and I fear it may be stuck inside of the connector on the iBook.

SO... is there a foolproof way, considering the tiny size of the opening, to tell if the point is in there? My thought is that I could put some superglue on the tip of a toothpick and stick it in there, let it set for a minute, and try to remove the tip end. Can anybody suggest a better method?

Assuming that it is not able to be removed... has anyone had much luck with removing the power connector and installing a new one? or is this a complete logicboard / complete system replacement time?

Here's the pic of the broken tip

 

[NewMacbookPlz]

With my iBook, the tip of the connector broke off without me doing ANYTHING after 3 years of use. I'm pretty sure it was in the computer, because it just stopped charging all of a sudden.

I bought a new one, stuck it in, and it worked fine. YMMV, but that was my experience with the issue.

Conversely, you can tell her it's permanently broken to teach'er to quit doing that with the laptop

 

[lostime]

just replace the DC board $30
http://www.ifixit.com/iBook-Parts/iBook-G4-14-Inch-DC-In-Board/IF184-003

set aside a day to take the thing apart, have lots of containers on hand for screws (I think there are 40) here is a guide.
http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Repair/iBook-G4-14-Inch-1-42-GHz-DC-In-Board/726/1