Ok here's my problem, I have a 17" aluminum powerbook with a broken LCD. I want to have the powerbook work in headless mode with the lcd taken off of the computer. Does anyone know how to start the computer up without the LCD attached, is it even possible. I know that with some older powerbooks they have magnets to tell the computer the screen is closed, but their doesn't seem to be any magnets in the screen. The only thing I can think of is the clasp that holds the screen closed, there is a small circuit board near the button used to release the screen. Thanks for any help.
-Kjell

i'm sure just having an external display connected will make it boot fine.

have you tried at all? it won't hurt anything.

I have the screen taken off and a external monitor hooked up and when hit the power button nothing happens. I've tried holding down the power button, plugging in a usb mouse and hitting the buttons, and plugging in a usb keyboard. I think their is something that needs to be done to tell the computer to not try and send a signal to the internal screen connection. Thanks again.
-Kjell

Please elaborate on the "Nothing Happens" comment. I'm assuming the computer boots up just fine even without the LCD attached and that no video signal is being sent to the external monitor. Am i correct?

Back in the OS9 and older days, you had to select the display you wanted to use, and if it didn't work, you did a PRAM reset to get it to work. Maybe you need to try this.

By nothing happens I mean that I hit the power button and nothing happens, the hard drive doesn't start up, no noise is made. I will try resetting the PRAM, but don't know if that will work because their is no noticeable start up happening. Thanks for all your suggestions.
-Kjell

No ROM tone, no spin up on the hard drive, no fans? If thats the case, I think you have something else to fix before you can start that mod.

*queues 'Taps'

Ya so I did have a bigger problem, when I removed the broken LCD I forgot to plug the keyboard back in. But now their is another problem. When I start the computer up all I get is the grey screen with the spinning thing, i've left this for a while and nothing more happens. I have also put in my panther disk and tried to reinstall, the spinny thing goes for a while and then freezes. I was wondering if the airport or bluetooth antennas need to be hooked up to start up. I have also tried a P-ram reset with no luck. Thanks again for all your help.
-Kjell

You can try a logic board reset, by removing all the power to the board for as long as possible. Remove the spare battery and don't plug it into the A/C converter. Remove the battery on the board (I honestly cannot remember if it has one), and this will reset the board if you wait 10-15 minutes without power. One to five minutes is acceptable, though a little longer does not hurt.

When the machine starts back up, make sure you have a bootable CD in the drive, and hold down the 'C' key. You will want to plug that keyboard in for that part. If that does not work, then you maybe dealing with another issue alltogether. I'm glad you get some video now and what seems to be salvagable machine.

yea, try what whitlock is saying and as for the remote screen, if the screen is removed, the computer would think that it is just open I believe. Therefore, if should be able to be booted. That is, unless there is some sort of hinge with wiring to relay to the computer. But I am almost positive that takes place with the clasp. B)