All programs quit unexpectedly. Please HELP!

Question

My iBook is nearly 3 years old now, but I've been having this problem since 2 months after my purchase date and it has slowly gotten worse over the years. It didn't really bother me until this last year when my work load increased and the crashing became more and more frequent (because I am working more?).
All programs quit unexpectedly--MS Word, Safari, Explorer, Firefox, AIM, iPhoto, Adobe Reader, etc--a lot! It doesn't seem to matter if I have 1 thing running or 5 or 10. For example, I will have one fairly sizeable word doc open and be cutting and pasting a small (10 words) amount of text and it will quit. Or I will go to save it (which I am now obsessed with doing every 5 minutes) and it will quit.
I have taken my computer in about 5 times in the last 9 months to have this issue resolved, but to no avail. They say, "Seems like a software problem" and come up with nothing. They've run the hardware tests and find nothing. They've checked for viruses, corrupted files, etc and always find nothing. They can't replicate the problem even though it happens to me at least twice in an 8 hour day. They've erinstalled OSX and that didn't help either. I feel like I am going crazy--especially in light of the amount of Word data I have lost in the last year.
Among other issues I've had--the motherboard (it was "fried" meaning the computer wouldn't even turn on) was replaced last March and the hard drive (it would make a weird grinding noise and then the programs would close) was replaced in November. I was hoping these replacements would solve my problems, but they clearly haven't.
Are there Lemon Laws for computers? What can I do?! I don't have the money for a new computer
Other potentially useful info:
I had them upgrade the RAM to 512 when I bought it
I have a 30GB of which about 8GB are free
They tell me the RAM tests fine
My warranty runs out at the end of February :/
I am so sick of visiting the Mac "Geniuses" that I now go out of my way to an authorized dealer instead because they don't treat me like I am totally insane. PLEASE HELP!
iBook G4    

Answer 1

Sorry to hear about the problems you are having with your iBook.
I would inspect the RAM chips in your computer. You could have gotten a foul RAM chip or installed the wrong type of RAM (even though it may fit in the slot, it may not be the one specified for your model of iBook).
I would also try reinstalling OS X again, completely wiping the drive clean before you do so.
If that doesn't work, you could try resetting the PRAM and NVRAM (look in the knowledge base for documents on how to do this; it is an easy search).
If you are still having trouble, get on the phone with Apple and try to arrange a hardware repair and/or replacement.
The best of luck to you and your problem. I hope that your issue is resolved in the near future.
DV Guru