100 % of the screen FLICKERING

Question

Hi, there. I have searched this forum (and others) and still I don't know what to do. There's a very interesting thread about one third of the screen flickering, and there's another one about heating problems with laptops issues, but still no solution (if there's going to be any).
Well, my Powerbook G4, 17", 1GHz, 1 GB, OS 10.4.0 (i reinstalled it, erasing the internal harddrive, starting from scratch, but when the problem first occurred I was using 10.4.3) started suddenly to show a very annoying and flickering image on its full screen. There were black and perhaps other color lines, moving all around on a blue background, but covering the whole screen, and impossible to see anything on the screen, at all. It was like a VHS with a dirty or damaged head drum (sort of).
I took it to an authorized service provider and they said they couldn't tell, because they were not prepared for repairing my case there so they needed to send it to an Apple Central Service or something, which might cost me an starting $150 just for checking what's wrong, and then, as they almost believe the problem was, $1500 for changing the internal screen, and who knows how much more if the logic board is also damaged, although according to their preliminary test it wasn't a logic board issue, because - they said - an external monitor could be used, but not the internal one.
So, I would like to know what's really going on, to consider my options, because spending a starting amount of $1650 on this machine is insane.
I performed the hardware test (using version 2.0.1 from my original OS-Jaguar installer DVD) and everything passed, including logic board, I mean, everything that is tested. I performed the extended test.
When this flickering image is present I can hook up an external monitor and the external one looks OK, with the usual aqua blue Mac OS background, and I can notice the pointer moving in its area with the mouse while the main screen is flickering like crazy, but as the default connection is in extended format, I can't have access to System preferences/displays to set displays to mirror and perhaps use my laptop as a desktop, which is one of the options I am considering for trying to extend a little bit the life of this very expensive and now perhaps useless investment. Of course, I should have paid for the extended warranty, I know, but it's too late now.
The last time this problem happened, yesterday, I just put down the screen and closed the laptop, leaving it in sleep mode for a few hours, when I opened it again, the screen flickered in the same manner for a few seconds, but then went back to normal, and remained OK during the whole hardware test.
Any Mac guru who might send some light here?
Thanks

Answer 1

Alejandro --
You're absolutely correct -- when I wiped the dust away with my hand, it moved the display module on its hinges just enough to restore continuity. It has since happened several times, and moving the display module just the smallest bit brings the screen back immediately. Clearly, it's an intermittent in the flex cable that connects the logic board to the display module. That flex cable passes through one of the display module's hinges (the left one, I believe), which is covered by what Apple calls a "clutch cover" (Apple P/N 922-4635).
Apparently, the flex cable only flexes so many times before one or more of the flat signal leads in the flex cable breaks. Because the plastic (Kapton?) flex cable matrix in which the leads are encapsulated holds the broken ends of the lead very firmly, some positions of the hinged display module bring the broken ends in contact with each other, and the display is immediately activated.
Though I'm sure Apple Care, your local ASP, and the Apple Store all want to sell you either a logic board or a new display module -- both of which are staggeringly expensive -- there's absolutely nothing wrong with the logic board OR the display module. I don't think it's a coincidence or oversight that Apple's .pdf docs -- the ones available to mere consumers, anyway -- showing exploded views of the PBG4 show NO separate part number for the combination flex cable and socket that you can see in these documents attached to the left-side hinge of the display module.
I'd love to hear Apple's justification for trying to make their customers -- who show their loyalty by paying the highest prices in the industry, $3000.00+ for my fully-loaded PBG4 with SuperDrive (which also failed about 14 months after it was built, BTW) -- spring LARGE money for a new logic board or display module when what you need is a $10.00 cable.
Now WHY do you think Apple would do that? They constantly harmonize about how much they value and respect their loyal customers -- I've used Macs exclusively since 1989 -- but when problems arise, Apple IS right behind you -- attempting to pick your pocket.
I've owned many Macs, from a new IIci, through the PowerMacs, a blue & white G3, and now the PBG4. I've never had a major component, hardware, or logic board failure on any of them... until now. When my SuperDrive failed, I went through Apple, my laughable ASP, and the Apple store. They quoted me prices ranging from $800.00 to $1500.00. I ended up going to PowerBook ResQ, who picked up my PB on a Tuesday and had it back in my hands two days later; new SuperDrive, shipping both ways, and the shortest possible downtime, all for less than $300.00.
If an independent ASP can do it, why can't Apple, with their greater resources?
Don't even mention AppleCare, which besides being nothing other than a cash cow fed by the insecurities of non-techie buyers, is perhaps the slowest service provider in the known universe.
Am I angry? You bet. I could have bought two or three equally-competent PC laptops for the price I paid for my PBG4, and because the computer hardware world is 80% PC, there's real competition for service. But to do that, I'd have to live with Windows -- the world's largest computer-related scam -- or fiddle-dee-dee around with Linux, which I simply don't have the time for.
Apple knows it's got its customers trapped, and, not content with the ridiculous prices they charge for what is increasingly sub-standard hardware, they take every financial advantage out of those trapped customers that they possibly can.
If anyone knows where I can get a replacement logic board to display module cable, I'd be delighted to hear about it.
Bart Brown
PBG4 Mac OS X (10.3.9)