VRAM bad on 12" PB...What's the next best move?

[swindmill]

My PB died yesterday, and after running the Hardware Test I discovered it was the VRAM. I've looked for logic boards and it doesn't look like I'll find one for much less than $450. I have just finished school for good, so my need for a notebook isn't as great as it was, although I'd still like to have one. My plan had been to buy an iMac when the were updated, at which time I might be earning money for the first time in my life. The idea was that I would have my PB for portability. Now, my PB is dead. I now have an external HDD, with most (hopefully) of my data, but no Mac to access it. I really do not want to spend $500 to fix my 2.5 year old PB, but that is the cheapest option right now, aside from a used PPC Mini, which would be temporary. I guess I'm just looking for opinions on whether the PB is worth fixing, and maybe some advice on what the next move might be. I never planned on the iPhone being my primary internet device....

 

[interairproxima]

Unless you want to get a new laptop, it looks like the $500 logic board is the cheapest. You could get a mini, but that would be more baggage. If you really needed it, you could buy a refurb or used MB.

 

[jvencius]

How badly do you NEED a 'puter at home right now? If you have most of your data backed up on the external HDD, and don't need access to it, you might consider using the computers at the public library or elsewhere and waiting until the iMac is updated/released since then you won't have to deal with the hassle/expense of a temporary solution.

 

[NtotheIzoo]

My PB died yesterday, and after running the Hardware Test I discovered it was the VRAM. I've looked for logic boards and it doesn't look like I'll find one for much less than $450. I have just finished school for good, so my need for a notebook isn't as great as it was, although I'd still like to have one. My plan had been to buy an iMac when the were updated, at which time I might be earning money for the first time in my life. The idea was that I would have my PB for portability. Now, my PB is dead. I now have an external HDD, with most (hopefully) of my data, but no Mac to access it. I really do not want to spend $500 to fix my 2.5 year old PB, but that is the cheapest option right now, aside from a used PPC Mini, which would be temporary. I guess I'm just looking for opinions on whether the PB is worth fixing, and maybe some advice on what the next move might be. I never planned on the iPhone being my primary internet device....

Im in the same situation. You could try something like this.

The following is what they sent me:

Thank you for your email regarding about using our laptop repair service. The problem of your computer could be caused by bad IO chip set (input/output) or bad video controller.

In general, the cost to fix the motherboard is $100 to $350 (part and labor). We cannot give you an exact quote until we know the specific components to replace to the motherboard. 60% of the time, the cost is in the mid- range. 35% of the time, the cost is below the mid-range. 5% of the time, the cost is above the mid-range.

We will replace the TI chips, Texas Instrument, which is better than the original one (China made chip). The same problem will not come back again.

We offer 90 day warranty for all our services.

We offer free diagnosis

best of luck and keep me informed of your decision. If i ultimately send mine in, i'll let you know.

 

[swindmill]

I suppose I don't absolutely need a computer right now, but just 1 day without it has seemed a little backwards, so I can only imagine how 2-3 months without it could be, but buying something I don't necessarily want isn't a great solution, I suppose. If I don't fix the PB, I'll probably hold on to it in hopes that I can eventually fix it and not need to buy a new notebook. In the meantime I could sell my ACD and adaptor (g4 style) in order to start acquiring funds for an iMac. That would be the responsible thing to do, but it would not be easy to pull off...

That logic board solution sounds like it might be a good option for saving my PB. I wish the place wasn't across the country, b/c shipping cost and time could be an issue. Does anyone know anything about the success of repairing logic boards?

 

[RGunner]

I would truly suggest...

an older 'used' mac (say a loaded B&W)...

or a refurbed intel mini (@$519).

repairing your PB is not a wise choice, disclose what is wrong with it, take lots of pictures and Ebay it pronto.

 

[swindmill]

If I sell the PB, what do I do about the HD? There is about two months of data on it that I would like to retrieve, but it's nothing too important. The main concern is that it be wiped clean before selling. Either way, I imagine it is going to have to be removed.

 

[RGunner]

if it were mine (and this is my opinion only)...

you have two options...

1) remove HD and sell as is (sans HD), ifixit.com has tutorials

2) purchase replacement mac, and then boot PB into Firewire disk mode, chances are if you can run the HW test cd, then you can utilize the machine to act as a firewire drive to reformat the drive, or extract data if need be.

 

[swindmill]

2) purchase replacement mac, and then boot PB into Firewire disk mode, chances are if you can run the HW test cd, then you can utilize the machine to act as a firewire drive to reformat the drive, or extract data if need be.

That is a good idea. Both of my parents have Macbooks, so I could probably use one of those to do this. Ideally, I would access my HD from the Macbook and then back up my user folder to my usb HD, in order to have the most recent clone of my user folder (rather than the existing, 2 month old back up of my system folder). Is this possible? Any method of getting a copy of my user folder onto my USB HD, using a Macbook, would be fine, so if the above is not possible please recommend something else.

After getting this accomplished, I guess I would just be using Disk Utility on my drive (or the Macbook's?) to reformat the internal HD.

Thanks to everyone for the help and suggestions so far.