[geeks] aak! Tadpole 3GX parts/manual?

[der Mouse]

Back on 2010-01-25, I wrote

> I have a Tadpole SPARCbook 3GX.  Just today, I went to close the lid
> and, with an unpleasant cracking sound, the right hinge broke.  [...]

I accepted Michael Parson's very kind offer to send me a replacement
bezel.  It arrived a few days ago, while I was out of the city; I just
got back and replaced it, and my 3GX is now back in working order, yay!
Thank you very much, mparson!  I owe you a beverage of your choice or a
lunch or some such next time we're in the same city.

The replacement bezel came with hinges attached, and, now that I have
something to compare with, I realize the old hinges were very stiff;
this is probably how come the part that broke got overstressed to begin
with.  The new hinges move much more smoothly and with far less effort.

I've also taught myself to take the screen apart enough to replace the
bezel, of course; in the process, I've learnt that there's a connector
between a pc board and the LCD unit proper that, if slightly loose, can
cause a very odd failure mode: colours are weird and the display gets
shifted left roughtly 40 pixels and up maybe 10-15 pixels.  I also
learned why I had trouble taking the screen apart before; there are two
more screws hidden beneath rubber covers up near the latches that hold
the lid closed, which I missed before (I found the two lower down
beneath round plugs).  Once I got past that, the various things written
by people who've pulled the main unit apart supplied what further info
I needed, and the rest was fairly smooth sailing.

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