I keep an old Dell laptop around the house for random chores where a PC outperforms a Mac, and as a guest computer. Some people have special towels for their guests. At the Kohler household, you get a computer to use (and towels).

However, the Dell has had a problem for a while with the hibernate pin. I don't know if that's the technical name for it, but what I'm referring to is the small plastic pin that, when compressed, tells the computer that the lid is shut. Around a year ago, I managed to shear the pin down to half its normal size which led to the pin often becoming stuck in the computer. This was a problem because the computer would get locked in hibernate mode. Digging the pin out of the hold with a fingernail each time I opened the lid was becoming a major pain.

My pin related pain became much worse yesterday when I managed to push the pin deep into the computer, making it impossible to retrieve.

The pin was obviously a liability. I could decide for myself when I wanted the computer in sleep mode if I could only get the pin out of the picture. So, I decided to open up the laptop one screw at a time to go after the darn thing. This turned out to be a bigger pain than I imagined as I removed screw after screw after screw only to find out there were still more screws holding it together.

Only then did it occur to me that I OWNED this computer and had no plans to ever sell it. In fact, selling it would hardly be worth the effort since it's three years old. That's when I realized I should stop being so delicate with the thing and start cutting.



I drilled a few small holes, then used a scissors to snip out a piece of the case to gain access to the pin. Problem solved. It looks like my F4 key has taken a beating from Alt-F4'ing so much.

Here is the removed sheared pin: