Powerbook, quality problems?

[Maju]

I bought my powerbook 15" last Febuary. It worked fine until I upgraded to 10.3, then it started getting very hot. So I started spending a lot of time searching forums on how to fix this.
Btw, running verify and repair permissions seemed to help for a while, not it´s hot again....And I don´t have the faulty batteries, either...
Any suggestions on how to FINALLY solve this??? (tried Macjanitor, doesn´t work)
All this about getting coolpads, using magazines or other gadgets pp have suggested is complete stupidity! It´s a LAPTOP, right. Never experiensed this with any pc laptop, all though that´s the only possitive thing about those awful machines.
Now, the next thing was the squeaky hinges. Again, loads of time trying to solve that! Don´t want them to brake, right!!!
I bought some oil, like sewing machine oil, no squeaking anymore.
Yesterday i discovered a new squeaky sound, now it´s the spacebar!
Man, what next!!!!
So, anybody else have this problem and a solution?
I don´t dare to take the spacebar out and put oil on there. Any ideas?
What pity for such a otherwise great computer!
Cheers,
Maju

 

[rman]

Looking at your heat issue. It is not a quality problem. All, laptops and I mean all laptops get hot. Some get hotter than others. I have three laptops, an iBook, a PowerBook and a thinkpad. Only two of them get quite hot (PowerBook and the ThinkPad). The iBook is usually just very warm.

I have read that when you install OS X 10.3 there maybe a heat issue. If you are not at 10.3.5. Try bring your system up to that level. It should resolve your problem. Also, it depends on what you are doing if your system gets hot. I do a lot of DVD encoding, so I expect my system to be running hot from time to time.

 

[Maju]

Thanks for your reply rman. I´m on 10.3.5, so that´s not the problem.
Update regularly and all that. Also discharge the battery completly, bla bla
(etc), but it still gets hot. Espesially when charging. It did get better when I ran verify and repaire permissions though.
Any ideas about the squeaky spacebar? A wee bit of the sewing machine oil? Can it damage the computer?
Btw, hinges still aren´s squeaking.

 

[m1k]

Try putting your processing power to reduced if you're not doing much. My PowerBook gets warm when I'm just typing a report for an hour, but when I play games, maaaan, it gets hotter than a stripper in Chernobyl. I'd say don't worry about it. Laptops are supposed to get hot.

Good luck!

 

[TylerMoney]

I don't know....my hinges are perfect...and the heat...well, it's never bothered me...my powerbooks never gotten too hot...it's gotten warm sure, but not bad....and during the winter....like I've said before, it's wonderful.

 

[Maju]

Try putting your processing power to reduced if you're not doing much. My PowerBook gets warm when I'm just typing a report for an hour, but when I play games, maaaan, it gets hotter than a stripper in Chernobyl. I'd say don't worry about it. Laptops are supposed to get hot.

Good luck!

Thanks. Yeah, I´ve tried that too, but then I read somewhere in my search for solution that "automatic" was the best, and now it´s warm, not hot. It only gets hot when charging and if I play games etc.

 

[Maju]

I maybe should have mentioned that I live in south-east China (am Swedish, though) and maybe this tropical weather is a reason why hinges and keyboard gets squeaky. Also, if parts or such are being produced here....there´s a reason for worry. I know, I work with quality control.

To Tylermoney: If you check other sites or forums about the heat and hinges issue, you´ll find that there´s a lot of pp with the same problems.
So, you´re lucky! No reason to be rude

 

[Patrick A]

Squeaky spacebar

I just got a new PowerBook G4 1.5 Ghz 15", and I have the same problem with the squeaky spacebar. It drives me insane - it's like fingers on a chalkboard.

Did you find any solution Maju?

Does anyone else have this problem with the recent PowerBooks?

Patrick

 

[Maju]

Nope, no solution for squeaky spacebar. I fixed the squeaky hinges with sewing machine oil and that worked great. Don´t dare to put that on the space bar though, also don´t dare to take it (the spacebar) out, the little plastic thingies look pretty flimsy.
So, anybody have a solution for this???

 

[Osiris22x]

My Powerbook had the hinge squeek as well. I ordered the AlGlide kit from RadTech and it's perfect again. As for the heat, it's a side effect of having a metal case. All laptops get very hot (much hotter than your Powerbook, actually) but you never feel it because the plastic casing doesn't transmit the heat very well.

There's really nothing you can do about it. I put mine on "Reduced" power while on battery, and it seems to be bearable. I've also learned to type with my wrists in the air, instead of resting on the laptop (got tired of being burned).

I know these are all silly excuses for what's supposed to be a quality laptop...but I'd rather do these things, than go back to a PC.

Just my two cents.

 

[m1k]

My Powerbook had the hinge squeek as well. I ordered the AlGlide kit from RadTech and it's perfect again.

Same problem, same solution.

As for the heat, it's a side effect of having a metal case. All laptops get very hot (much hotter than your Powerbook, actually) but you never feel it because the plastic casing doesn't transmit the heat very well.

I'd much rather have a sexy, hot laptop than have an ugly warm laptop. When I'm using the PowerBook for word processing and internet, it almost never gets hot because I set the processer to 'automatic'. But when I'm playing games, the fan sounds like an elephant making out and the PowerBook gets hotter than a stripper in Chernobyl.

 

[csuazo]

I too have the squeaky spacebar...only every once in a while though. It does grate the nerves. Any recommendations on how to un-squeak it?

 

[xwonderboy85x]

Like the others have said... that's kind of the point of having an aluminum case. Aluminum transmits heat very, very well making the case warmer or even hotter than normal. That just means it's getting the heat away from your internal components, which is good. Unless it's unbearably hot, I wouldn't worry about it. Just keep the processor on "automatic" if it bothers you.