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The real reason you shouldn't operate the PowerBook with lid closed

alex_ant

alex_ant

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Feb 5, 2002
2,473
0
All up in your bidness
It's not heat...

The LCD in my nearly 4 year old TiBook was never that great to begin with, but after all this time it's dim as hell and looks like total ass. So I got a nice LCD monitor and I made a little pincer-stand to hold the TiBook upright next to it with lid closed... which I've been doing for the last 2 months. Well, today I open it up for some maintenance only to discover that the whole inside of the machine SMELLS LIKE BODY ODOR!!

Now I'm a very clean person. I wash thoroughly every day, sometimes twice a day. But it appears that the oil and bacteria from my fingers, in this warm environment, has found ideal conditions in which to flourish... an environment that is in fact just like an armpit. Cuz that's exactly what it smells like.

I wonder if Speed Stick would harm the key caps?
 
Guess you'll just have to take the PB to the shower with you. J/k. Thats really wierd. You need to get that fixed because if I sat beside you and smelled that, I wouldn't believe you when you told me it was your computer.
 
Buy a new keyboard for the old lady and get an iSkin. You can wash it when you need to, which sounds like every time you bathe!
 
Do old Tibook screens really get dim and why? and what model do you have 400 500 550?
 
OP: Cleaner + Febreze, and maybe some silica? (silica = the moisture removal packets in shoe boxes and beef jerky)

California: All displays get dimmer as the backlight ages, not just TiBook screens.
 
Spray it in lynx deodorant. Maybe it will work better on a computer than it will on a human. (Talking about the smell, and the 'attention') :D
 
California said:
Do old Tibook screens really get dim and why? and what model do you have 400 500 550?
Click to expand...
550, it's dim as hell, or maybe it just appears that way compared to a brand new Dell. No, I think it really is dim as hell. I don't remember it always being this way, I think I would have noticed. And the color is terrible too... and the low resolution... yikes! I think it's time to go back to the Dell. :D
 
All TFT screens get dim over time. It takes a while to kick in. Basically the backlight starts to get dimmer until it's dead.
 
After G said:
OP: Cleaner + Febreze, and maybe some silica? (silica = the moisture removal packets in shoe boxes and beef jerky)

California: All displays get dimmer as the backlight ages, not just TiBook screens.
Click to expand...

febreze is just a nazal anesthetic, it'll still smell but your nose will be out of action.

also lcd's can have thier backlights replaced http://www.lcdpart.com/doc/ccfl.html
 
But how do you install a new LCD light in an old Tibook I wonder? Have to rip apart the whole screen to do it? I'd like to try, or have an Apple Tech try -- what do you think?
 
California said:
But how do you install a new LCD light in an old Tibook I wonder? Have to rip apart the whole screen to do it? I'd like to try, or have an Apple Tech try -- what do you think?
Click to expand...
The screen is sandwiched together with glue. I think there are two separate backlights and they are at the bottom of the screen. You'd have to take off the lid (much more of a pain than it sounds), pry apart the screen, find a pair of compatible backlights, and put it all back together. Apple would probably charge several hundred $$$...
 
Man that is just sick. Lesson to all I guess, please disinfect your keyboard before closing it up for days on end. Or at least let it breath for several hours each week.

Thankfully I finished my plate of food before reading this most disgusting thread!
 
.Andy said:
I almost threw up in my mouth.

*NOTE TO ALL*
Do NOT buy a TiBook from alex_ant if it appears in the marketplace....

;)
Click to expand...

i will never buy a second hand powerbook period after reading this.....

at least with a desktop it's relativly cheap to get a new keyboard.

man, that is off! :mad:
 
alex_ant said:
The screen is sandwiched together with glue. I think there are two separate backlights and they are at the bottom of the screen. You'd have to take off the lid (much more of a pain than it sounds), pry apart the screen, find a pair of compatible backlights, and put it all back together. Apple would probably charge several hundred $$$...
Click to expand...


I replaced the backlight on my wife's ibook in July (made a HUGE difference) along with the airport cable (they break over time in the ibook hinge area). It was a 6 hour process due to my extreme caution and slow methodical style. But it was in the end not overly complex, and I saved about $300 by doing it myself. YMMV
 
thats really wierd. do you clean your PB on a regular basis? i have a 12" PB that i keep closed and hooked to a monitor when i am at home in the evenings. during the day i keep it open and use the keyboard when i am at work/class. i clean my entire PB with simple green (actually mentioned earlier in the thread) and a lint-free papertowel (yes, they make them for cleaning electronics) i never have any stink, and even better i never get the deposites people often talk about on the palm rests of the PB. come on, its common senese, you clean/dust your workspace (such as your desk) you clean the inside of your car, especially the stearing wheel/ gear shift which you touch the most, so why dont you clean your keyboard? makes sense to me. or am i the only one that does not live in their own filth? (no offense intended)
 
"...I replaced the backlight on my wife's ibook in July (made a HUGE difference) along with the airport cable (they break over time in the ibook hinge area). It was a 6 hour process due to my extreme caution and slow methodical style. But it was in the end not overly complex, and I saved about $300 by doing it myself. "

Chomomma, I'm impressed. What model ibook was this? And I've heard Ibooks are the hardest to take apart.
 
Man In Black said:
WHat the heck is so disgusting about this?? :confused:
Click to expand...
I was thinking the same. It's not the nicest of subjects, but it's just sweat, you wash it off your body every time you shower. Anyway, public computer terminals and ATM keyboards and such, should be much worse since a lot of different people use them. A laptop will only have the germs of one person, mostly.

If you buy a used laptop, clean it with an appropriate detergent and/or some antiseptic, maybe leave it for a while and clean it again if you're paranoid, and no harm can be done.

Maybe perform a full keyboard cleaning session.
 
i wonder if you could lock your powerbook in a closet with a dehumidifier running 24x7 and maybe an ultraviolet light for maybe a week, seems that should cure it by killing all the bacteria... lol :p
 
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