Several Powerbook Problems

[bslax28]

I have a PB 12", 1.5 Ghz, and I have a whole bunch of problems. I'll just go ahead and list them:

-Recently hte battery life decreased dramatically. It used to hold up for 2 1/2 hours, now its right around 1 hour.
-If left off the power source, it will just turn off after a few minutes of being idle. However, in energy saver, it is not instructed to do this.
-The latch comes out when I close the screen, but it never hooks on its first try. It usually takes about a minute of jiggling the latch to get it to hook
-Sometimes the touch bad becomes extremely unresponsive, and will drag very slowly and awkwardly. This tends to happen when I start using the computer after not using it for a while, although it does happen intermittently throughout normal use.


I've searched for most of htese problems and foudn nothing. I take good care of my powerbook, so I'm really frsutrated by all these problems. I'm going to take it to the Apple Store when I go home next week, but until then, any suggestions?

 

[matticus008]

Battery: How old is the PowerBook? After 350+ power cycles, it's not uncommon to notice a sharp decline in battery life. If you don't know how to work with Terminal, get something like coconut battery to tell you the number of cycles and a (rough) estimate of your battery life.

Touchpad: they're sensitive to static electricity. If you walk across carpet and touch the touchpad, you could scramble it, even if it's not enough for you to feel the "zap." Place your palm over the touchpad for about 4 seconds to reset it and see if that helps when it becomes unresponsive.

Latch: I don't know. The alignment could be off or the magnet has become loose or partially demagnetized. Without seeing it, I have no idea. Maybe someone else has an idea.

Hope these help you out.