Almost a year ago, while I was in Australia sorting out a new visa and Elisse was in England - to be leaving shortly - her laptop stopped working. When I got back to the UK I had a look and realised it was just the light for the display wasn't on. If you looked closely in bright light you could see what was on the screen, but the light just wouldn't come on. Since it would have cost at least £50 just for the labor to have it looked at and fixed (assuming it could be diagnosed and fixed in under an hour) nothing was done about it at the time.

Since Elisse & I've been both trying to work on Elysian recently, we've found having only one computer has been a bit difficult. I figured that since the laptop was unusable anyway (it's an early model clam-shell G3 iBook - no external video port) I might as well have a go at fixing it. At worst it would still be unusable - just more permanently so. So I went out and bought a screw driver for anti-tamper screws and grabbed a pull apart I've got for the iBook and have it a shot. It turned out there was a hole in one of the wires to the screen bulb. I found this out by electrocuting myself on it - yes, I had the laptop powered up while it was apart, I had no other way of testing the screen lamp.

I've taped it up and it all appears to be working - touch wood - although I did forget to put the metal thing that sits behind the screen back, oh well.