i have a g4 powerbook and the lead has suddenly come loose to the socket and now won't charge. when i tried to hold the lead more firmly to the socket, it just sparked but still wouldn't work. i would appreciate any help, i have some vital stuff on there!

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i have a g4 powerbook and the lead has suddenly come loose to the socket and now won't charge. when i tried to hold the lead more firmly to the socket, it just sparked but still wouldn't work. i would appreciate any help, i have some vital stuff on there!

i have a macbook air too and was in the process of transferring stuff from the old mac to the new one when this occured. six months ago the previous lead broke in the computer and i had to source a new one, which was very difficult and expensive, and now this one has broken too, nothing happened, it just stopped working and now of course i can''t switch on the computer, let alone use it. i just need to be able to transfer the rest of the stuff off its hard drive which wouldn't take long, but i just don't know how i'm going to get back into the powerbook now. any solutions or ideas would be much appreciated. thank you!

PowerBook, iOS 5

Posted on Mar 15, 2014 4:50 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Allan Jones

Level 9

68,648 points

Mar 15, 2014 7:24 PM in response to Mutuality

Assuming the battery is not working, I know of no other way to access the data without ripping open the PowerBook. Third-party adaptors are still available and the price is much less than Apple used to charge:

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/NewerTech/APLPBI65W/

The other option is, as I hinted above, to open up the PowerBook and extract the hard drive. Once out of the powerbook you use a device like this:

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/NewerTech/U3NVSPATA/

It allows you to attach the bare drive from the PB to a USB port on teh MacBook Pro. The drive will appear on the MBPs desktop just as if it were and external drive in an enclosure.

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Answer 2

Mutuality Author

Level 1

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Mar 16, 2014 5:37 AM in response to Allan Jones

thank you allan i appreciate your response. i might see if i can get a new lead as i've no idea how to open up the powerbook.

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Answer 3

Jan Hedlund

Level 7

22,201 points

Mar 16, 2014 6:15 AM in response to Mutuality

Hi,

Are you sure that the problem really is with the external power adapter (and its cable/plug)? Generally speaking, many laptops (Mac or PC) have DC-in jacks (inside the computer) with soldered pins that work loose. The typical sympton is that the supplied power is depending upon the position of the plug. Often, someone with basic soldering skills can carry out a repair by simply resoldering the pins in question.

Otherwise, you would have to use a generic hard drive adapter similar to the one Allan suggested (the second link above).

For computer disassembly instructions, you may want to have a look at (for example) the ifixit.com guides.

Jan

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Answer 4

Jan Hedlund

Level 7

22,201 points

Mar 16, 2014 7:24 AM in response to Jan Hedlund

Correction

>The typical sympton is that the supplied power ...

The typical symptom is that the supplied power ...

Addendum

Some laptop computers have a separate DC-in board that can be replaced, without resoldering any pins.

As you can see from the ifixit.com guides in question, the level of difficulty regarding access to the DC-in section or the hard drive depends on the exact PowerBook G4 variant/model.

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