Why my Macbook Pro won't latch shut

Question

I don't recall dropping my MBP, but suddenly the screen refused to stay latched at all and would easily fall open inside my bag (and wake up the mac) if nothing was pushing against it. I decided to find out why.
I found that the hooks in the top part of the case would come down normally, but even then they would not latch. I opened the case, and found that parts of the latching magnet that the hooks hook on to had broken off, on both sides too:
(image) http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/6349/latchui4.jpg
The mechanism is part of the lower case. To find the model number of your case, look here on the bottom of it:
(image) http://img392.imageshack.us/img392/9913/modelnomu4.jpg
As you can see, in my case (MBP 15" Santa Rosa 2.4Ghz) it's A1226 and these can be found on eBay starting at US$50 or even less. Because the CD slot in my case is also bent such that a CD won't come out anymore I'm considering replacing it (and while I'm at it, i'll probably get a big harddrive and a $55 RAM upgrade to 4GB too. And maybe a new logic board as my graphics chip is unreliable.)
Just thought I'd share in case anyone is experiencing similar problems

Answer 1

I don't recall dropping my MBP, but suddenly the screen refused to stay latched at all and would easily fall open inside my bag (and wake up the mac) if nothing was pushing against it. I decided to find out why.
I found that the hooks in the top part of the case would come down normally, but even then they would not latch. I opened the case, and found that parts of the latching magnet that the hooks hook on to had broken off, on both sides too:
(image) http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/6349/latchui4.jpg
The mechanism is part of the lower case. To find the model number of your case, look here on the bottom of it:
(image) http://img392.imageshack.us/img392/9913/modelnomu4.jpg
As you can see, in my case (MBP 15" Santa Rosa 2.4Ghz) it's A1226 and these can be found on eBay starting at US$50 or even less. Because the CD slot in my case is also bent such that a CD won't come out anymore I'm considering replacing it (and while I'm at it, i'll probably get a big harddrive and a $55 RAM upgrade to 4GB too. And maybe a new logic board as my graphics chip is unreliable.)
Just thought I'd share in case anyone is experiencing similar problems