so here’s the rest of it. i went to the shop to get the mac back and i payed 42 euros for a 1400 euros repairing diagnosis. 1400?! well, that was my reaction too, might as well buy a new one, i thought.
basically i had to replace the logic board, the extra memory my friends offered me, the keyboard, the trackpad, the optical drive… you name it.

i got home in the evening and was getting ready to de-wire it piece by piece and take a good look inside, save the data, etc.
i was looking at it on my table and thinking how stupid the accident had been, and out of the tiny little bit of hope or disbelief i had left, i just put the battery back on and touched the power button.
and it worked.

i choked at the familiar noise and light on the screen. i think i stared at it for a while before actually putting my hands on the keyboard for typing the password. and it also worked. the keyboard, the touchpad, the memory, it was all there. the ‘a’, ‘s’, ‘c’ and ‘m’ letters on the keyboard were even missing – which prooves it is my ibook :D i didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, so i did both. :P

well, it’s not 100% working. the dvd drive still has the ally mcbeal cd stuck inside (thanks lulu! :P) which isnt detected by the ibook – something broken or just disconnected? the right shift key doesnt seem to be working and the computer wont always go to sleep when i tell it too, or when i close the lid.
but 1400 euros? please…

i went back to the shop yesterday and got my money back. naturally.
“apple authorised service providers”? yeah, right. did they even bother to open my computer? i have my doubts. maybe it was just there somewhere in a shelf, for a week (!!) and they thought they could trick me into buying them a new one. and all they had to do was to turn it on.

does anyone know the right means to tell apple about this?

(some people have asked whether it smells. yes, it does. :)
no stains, but a little smell, when you snif the keyboard. now i have a ibook that matches my website – how cool can that be? :P)