I just inherited a Macintosh laptop from a friend who has a daughter who just graduated. Her schooling required a Macintosh laptop but it broke so they bought another one. If I could get the old Mac to work then I could use it.

The journey to recover, as it turned out to be, was not easy but it was successful. The obvious issue was a broken screen hindge. However, this did not affect the computer’s performance. There power cord between the wall and the power adapter was missing. I tried Radio Shack and misfitting my video camera cable but none fit properly. I finally took bare, leftover wire from when I built my garage to make the connection. Finally, the power supply was able to reach the computer! But, the old Macintrash would not power on. Hmmm.

Lastly, I took my digital voltmeter and realized that the electricity stopped where the power cord plugged into the computer. The power jack was broken as well. So, I ripped apart the laptop, cut the powercord to expose the wires, and soldered the wires directly to the electrical connectors inside the laptop. It’s really not pretty but it did power up.

Tada! A working Mac – with the exception that my friend has a password login. So, yet another day to wait until I got the password. Now it’s working.

Onto the Macintosh training conveniently provided by for free by Robert Half.