Update:
My apologies. I may have misidentified the port in question. You said to be careful of the center tab, but that is not the port in question. See attached pic.
I looked for the smaller swabs without luck. So I armed myself with q-tips, rubbing alcohol and a can of multi-purpose duster for electronics. Thinking that might be a better solution for blasting it out as it has a directional tube so I can really get in there. No dice. The diameter of the q-tip "stick" is way too big to get into the connector, nevermind the swab.
So I called the Apple Store just to see what they might suggest. Basically, they told me that I could bring it in and their techs would do what they could. Not sure what that means, as I wasn't able to speak with a tech. It was also mentioned that there were no guarantees as this was a legacy, classic, vintage... - I can't remember exactly the word she used to express to me this machine was old! I asked if it would cost anything, she didn't know.
Unfortunately, where I am located now is quite some distance from the closest Apple Store. Based on the phone call, it really didn't seem as though the trip would be worth it.
I did look up this MB to see what an aftermarket unit would go for: $50-$125. Not too bad. But again, I don't know the history of those boards and I may end up in the same boat. Nevermind that I don't want to climb inside this thing if I can avoid it.
At this point, I am wondering if maybe there was another way to connect an external monitor using a different port? And if that is possible, would I be coming up on some other limitations on resolution? I need to do a little more homework to that extent.
In the meantime, I'd love to hear anybody's 2 cents on this.
