Titanium G4 PowerBook LCD Screen Issue

Hi there,

I have a Titanium G4 PowerBook with an LCD screen (hardware) issue. It's showing a solid bar on the bottom third of the screen, which causes the screen to appear lighter and there seems to be some screen flickering there occasionally also. I used to be able to position the screen at different angles and it would disappear, but now it's there pretty much all the time. I tried to open it up at both of the hinges, and also had a look inside the bottom of the PowerBook, but I did not open up the LCD screen/top half of the computer. The cables looked fine, not frayed, and seemed to be connected alright, and when I tried to turn on the computer and then tried tugging and jiggling the cables to the LCD screen at the hinge(s), this did not affect the appearance of the bar on the screen, as it continued to show as stated above.

I was wondering if anyone might know what might be causing this issue, and if there's anything I can do to fix it –when I've asked around, computer technicians (Mac) say either that it's not worth fixing, it would cost too much, and/or they don't have the parts.

I'm a little nervous about opening the LCD portion of the computer, as it's old and might break, and I don't want to take anything apart that I might not be able to put back together again. I'm not really technically inclined, but have done a little under the hood, if you know what I mean (mostly on desktops).

I'm not quite ready to upgrade to a newer model, as I have several Classic programs and files, and don't want to lose them –so, any advice would be greatly appreciated.

BTW, does anyone know of any programs that might be available (either free or for purchase) that could run Classic programs on later Mac OS's (such as for OS 5 and/or greater) or be able to convert them to files accessible on these later OS's (such as Adobe Photoshop/Illustrator and design and layout software files) –or will all of my old programs and files no longer be accessible if I upgrade to a newer computer/OS?

Thanks.