Black Screen Saver & Fan Noises

My computer just yesterday started making loud fan noises. I've done some research on the computer and it seems to be quite a common problem with iMac, however, I have been unable to find solutions. It started after I watched a DVD on my computer and had to change the sleep and screen saver settings (or at least that's the trend I noticed). After the movie was over I shut down my computer and when I restarted it the next day, boom, loud fan. I was wondering if it had anything to do with the screen saver settings because that's all I could think of. Before, I had the black blank screen saver and now I can't find it on my computer. I don't want a screen saver with pictures, just the blank one--what it did before going to sleep. I've restored the energy saving settings.
Any ideas? I thought the DVD issues was related perhaps.
The fan (or what ever it is) noise is driving me crazy! As soon as the computer goes to sleep, the fan noise stops.

Yeah, I think that is this one...
http://eshop.macsales.com/Descriptions/specs/Framework.cfm?page=imaclate07.html
Boot off your Install Disk while holding down the *d key*, (not c key), then run the extended Apple Hardware Test. Some disks require you to use the Option key at bootup to select AHT. Some models have a separate AHT CD.
Also, under the Apple icon at top left>About this Mac>More info...>Hardware>Serial-ATA, does it say "S.M.A.R.T. status: Verified"?

Similar Messages

HP Pavilion g6 wont start up after updating windows, no blue/black screen or fan noise

Clicked update and shutdown on the laptop last night, tried to turn on this morning getting no response at all, power button is intact its not damaged or overheated any ideas?

Hi @ESAWatson91 ,
Welcome to the HP Forums!
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I understand that after doing an update and shutdown, that when you try to power it on you are getting no response at all.
First I would try a hard reset. Performing a Hard Reset or Forced Reset.
If that did not help, please provide some more information.
Do see any power lights on the adapter?
Do you hear the fan or hard drive spin up?
Do you hear any beeps or see any flashing lights?
If you would like further assistance please provide your exact model, the OS and reply to my questions.
How Do I Find My Model Number or Product Number?
Good Luck!
Sparkles1
I work on behalf of HP
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Won't start up, black screen, only fan noise: want to recover: help

So, this may be the end of the powerbook 17".
And unfortunately, the last time I backed up was 2 months ago on a now dead Lacie external.
No kidding.
It won't accept a startup cd, it won't even grab a cd into drive.
So, what's the chance I can recover and how do I do it?,

Try things in Apple doc.#300537.
Cheers!
DALE

Black screen and fan running full- bore

Computer was running fine when I closed the lid (no shutdown) to put it to sleep for the night. Next morning as usual I opened the lid but the screen showed no signs of waking up. The battery was apparently dead so I plugged it in. Pushed the power button and the fan came on full-bore and the screen never showed a sign of coming to life. Restart, no help. Attempted to zap the PRAM but no signs that the key commands were recognized. (2 month old keyboard after the computer took a nasty fall and the old one popped out damaging the ribbon cable connector). Inserted a disk I thought would allow the computer to boot off of, it did some spinning but no change in computer's operational status. Eject button or key commands now fail to get the CD out. The only way to restart is to press power button until computer goes off then press again to start. The fan just keeps on running but nothing on the screen.
Connected computer to external monitor, no help, even after restarting. The monitor is connected to a G4 platinum tower so I know it works.
I also don't see a way to eject the inserted CD manually as command E, eject button, won't eject it.
I'm at a loss! First time a Mac has gotten the best of me. None of my years of little trick gathering has helped.

I tried holding down the trackpad button (forever), no help.
Was the computer all the way off (no lights, fan, sounds, etc.)?
Hold down the power button for ten seconds to shut everything off. If that doesn't do the trick, unplug the power adapter and remove the main battery. Then put them back, hold down the trackpad button, and start up. Is your CD ejected this time? If not, shut everything down again.
If it's a bootable CD, try booting to it after resetting the PRAM: hold down the p and r keys while starting up, and keep holding them down until you've heard three or four startup chimes (if you hear any). After the chimes, release those keys and immediately press the c key to force the PB to try to start up from the CD. Any luck? If the CD isn't a bootable one, of course there's no point in trying this step.
I tried restarting in the firmware mode (command, option, O, F), no help.
I don't know anything about that, so I'm no help with it either.
Before the black screen problem I noticed the battery would run down to zero overnight when the lid was closed and computer was sleeping. I'm not sure this is normal.
Definitely NOT normal, and this is undoubtedly a clue to what's wrong. Something is allowing the battery to drain when it shouldn't. (Batteries, actually, since the backup battery will also drain completely within 10-15 minutes after the main battery, if no AC adapter is connected.) This strongly suggests a short circuit to me. But tell me: do you always leave the Powerbook sleeping on battery power overnight, without the AC adapter connected? Or does the battery drain even with the adapter connected? That would point to a fault in the adapter or in the charging circuitry inside the Powerbook.
A short circuit might leave marks on the surfaces that are coming into contact and shouldn't be. Check the inside of the bottom panel, the logic board surface components, the underside of the keyboard, and whatever else you can see for visible signs of shorting. If you can see that something has been shorting against the inside of the bottom panel, as has occasionally been reported here, cover the affected spot with a small piece of electrical tape to insulate it. Tighten all visible screws — you'll need Phillips #0 and Torx #8 drivers. Look for empty screw holes: a screw wandering around loose inside could cause untold damage.
My AC adapter appears to work fine, it, like the battery, is only a couple of months old. Thing ringlight shows normally.
By "normally," do you mean orange while charging, green when the battery is fully charged, and never flashing, red, or off? That's what normal is.
If you haven't tried to recharge your internal backup battery as described in step 6 of the "Testing Backup Battery" article I linked above, do. Of course you won't be able to see or set the date and time or verify that the battery has been charged, but you can at least do what is supposed to charge it and hope for the best. Again, if it is discharged and hasn't been recharged in the course of all your machinations so far, everything else you do is doomed to fail until it gets recharged.
If after that nothing has changed, you might try disconnecting the backup battery from the logic board. Doing so will sometimes allow a PB to start up that has been prevented from doing so by a stone-dead backup battery. Consult the iFixit Guide for your particular Tibook model to find out exactly where the backup battery connector is in it. In my 1GHz Tibook, it's a small white connector under the right-hand Shift key, with red, white and black wires attached.
If none of this helps, I'm afraid you're due for a trip to the repair shop.

Black Screen After Fans Run at Maximum

Hello,
I inherited an iMac and it an issue. It boots up fine but within the first five minutes the fans start to slowly ramp up to full speed. After about five to ten minutes of the fans running at full speed the screen goes black and I lose control of the computer. I cannot see anything on the screen, not even the cursor moving. I am also not able to shut down the computer using keyboard shortcuts. I have to hold down the power button.
The computer actually is still working to some degree after the screen goes blank because I have had a video playing from a USB stick and I could still hear the audio after the screen blacked out. I once had a Youtube video playing via the WiFi and when the screen went black the sound stopped.
I took the computer apart thinking that maybe it was full of dust. There was very little dust and blowing it out did not make a difference.
I have done a SMC reset and and a NVRAM reset and neither made a difference.
I installed a temperature monitor and the following is the output in degrees F a little before the computer goes to a black screen:
AC/DC Supply: 99
Airport Card: 141
Ambient Air: 76
CPU Heatsink: 93
GPU Die: 262
GPU Heatsink: 254
GPU Proximity: 223
Hard Drive Body: 102
LCD Proximity 94
Misc: 103
Optical Drive: 99
When the computer is running properly all four diagnostic LEDs on the logic board are lit. When the display goes black LED number 4 turns off leaving the other 3 on. Based on the Mac diagnostic instructions, if the fourth LED is off the issue is with the LCD panel or there is no video signal being generated.
I suspect that the video card is not working properly due to the high temperatures. It looks like the heat from the die is making it to the heatsink so I think that the thermal paste on the GPU is okay.
The computer is an iMac model EMC2134
OS X 10.8.5
24" Core 2 Duo with ATI Radeon HD2600 256 MB video card
I also ran EtreCheck and the output is below.
I would like to repair the computer even though it is old. I however do not want to bring it in to a repair shop. What do you think is the issue and what leads you to that conclusion?
Thank you,
jbr
EtreCheck version: 2.1.8 (121)
Report generated February 24, 2015 7:56:31 PM CST
Download EtreCheck from http://etresoft.com/etrecheck
Click the [Click for support] links for help with non-Apple products.
Click the [Click for details] links for more information about that line.
Hardware Information:
    iMac (24-inch Mid 2007) (Verified)
    iMac - model: iMac7,1
    1 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo CPU: 2-core
    4 GB RAM
        BANK 0/DIMM0
            2 GB DDR2 SDRAM 667 MHz ok
        BANK 1/DIMM1
            2 GB DDR2 SDRAM 667 MHz ok
    Bluetooth: Old - Handoff/Airdrop2 not supported
    Wireless: en1: 802.11 a/b/g/n
Video Information:
    ATI,RadeonHD2600 - VRAM: 256 MB
        iMac 1920 x 1200
System Software:
    OS X 10.8.5 (12F45) - Time since boot: 0:4:59
Disk Information:
    WDC WD5000AAKS-00V1A0 disk0 : (500.11 GB)
        disk0s1 (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB
        Big iMac (disk0s2) / : 499.25 GB (337.62 GB free)
        Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted> [Recovery]: 650 MB
USB Information:
    Apple Inc. Built-in iSight
    Alps Electric Hub in Apple USB Keyboard
        Logitech USB Optical Mouse
        Alps Electric Apple USB Keyboard
             Patriot Memory 7.92 GB
        PATRIOT (disk1s1) /Volumes/PATRIOT : 7.92 GB (7.62 GB free)
    Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller
    Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver
Gatekeeper:
    Mac App Store and identified developers
Kernel Extensions:
        /Library/Application Support/Kaspersky Lab/KAV/Bases
    [loaded]    com.kaspersky.kext.kimul.44 (44) [Click for support]
        /System/Library/Extensions
    [loaded]    com.kaspersky.kext.klif (3.0.2d239) [Click for support]
Startup Items:
    Panasonic_LPD: Path: /Library/StartupItems/Panasonic_LPD
    Panasonic_MFS_PushServer: Path: /Library/StartupItems/Panasonic_MFS_PushServer
    Startup items are obsolete in OS X Yosemite
Launch Agents:
    [not loaded]    com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist [Click for support]
    [loaded]    com.adobe.CS5ServiceManager.plist [Click for support]
    [loaded]    com.hp.help.tocgenerator.plist [Click for support]
    [loaded]    com.kaspersky.kav.gui.plist [Click for support]
    [running]    com.logmein.logmeingui.plist [Click for support]
    [not loaded]    com.logmein.logmeinguiagent.plist [Click for support]
    [loaded]    com.panamfs.help.agent.plist [Click for support]
    [loaded]    com.panamfs.secureprint.agent.plist [Click for support]
Launch Daemons:
    [loaded]    com.adobe.fpsaud.plist [Click for support]
    [loaded]    com.adobe.SwitchBoard.plist [Click for support]
    [loaded]    com.bombich.ccc.plist [Click for support]
    [running]    com.kaspersky.kav.plist [Click for support]
    [not loaded]    com.logmein.logmeinserver.plist [Click for support]
    [running]    com.memeo.Memeod.plist [Click for support]
    [loaded]    com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist [Click for support]
User Launch Agents:
    [loaded]    com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist [Click for support]
    [loaded]    com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist [Click for support]
    [loaded]    com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist [Click for support]
User Login Items:
    LMILaunchAgentFixer    Application (/Library/Application Support/LogMeIn/LMILaunchAgentFixer.app)
    magicJack    Folder Hidden (/Applications/magicJack)
    autorun.ico    Windows icon image (/Applications/autorun.ico)
    AdobeResourceSynchronizer    Application Hidden (/Applications/Adobe Reader.app/Contents/Support/AdobeResourceSynchronizer.app)
    MemeoAgent    Application (/Library/Application Support/Memeo/Memeo LifeAgent/Agents/MemeoAgent.app)
Internet Plug-ins:
    JavaAppletPlugin: Version: 14.9.0 - SDK 10.7 Check version
    FlashPlayer-10.6: Version: 15.0.0.189 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]
    QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.7.1
    AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: Version: 10.1.6 [Click for support]
    Flash Player: Version: 15.0.0.189 - SDK 10.6 Outdated! Update
    AdobePDFViewer: Version: 10.1.6 [Click for support]
    LogMeIn: Version: 1.0.465 [Click for support]
    SharePointBrowserPlugin: Version: 14.4.5 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]
    iPhotoPhotocast: Version: 7.0
3rd Party Preference Panes:
    Flash Player [Click for support]
    Growl [Click for support]
    StuffIt AVR [Click for support]
Time Machine:
    Skip System Files: NO
    Auto backup: YES
    Volumes being backed up:
        Big iMac: Disk size: 499.25 GB Disk used: 161.62 GB
    Destinations:
        Mars Backup [Local]
        Total size: 499.76 GB
        Total number of backups: 26
        Oldest backup: 2013-04-09 03:34:37 +0000
        Last backup: 2013-06-25 21:20:55 +0000
        Size of backup disk: Adequate
            Backup size 499.76 GB > (Disk used 161.62 GB X 3)
Top Processes by CPU:
         5%    mds
         4%    WindowServer
         3%    mdworker
         2%    Memeod
         1%    kav
Top Processes by Memory:
    283 MB    kav
    215 MB    firefox
    47 MB    mds
    47 MB    Dock
    43 MB    WindowServer
Virtual Memory Information:
    2.24 GB    Free RAM
    1.27 GB    Active RAM
    268 MB    Inactive RAM
    518 MB    Wired RAM
    324 MB    Page-ins
    0 B    Page-outs
Diagnostics Information:
    Feb 24, 2015, 07:50:04 PM    Self test - passed

As old as your iMac is, have you cleaned out the dust? Dust buildup can lead to over heating issues. Remove any and all things plugged into it including the power cord, Remove the RAM access grille. Vacuum all openings starting with the RAM access area (air intake). Vacuum all ports and plugs, DVD slot and the opening across the top of the rear of the body. Blow compressed air through all your openings and vacuum again to remove any dust you loosened. Reinstall the RAM grille. Plug in the keyboard and mouse if not bluetooth. Insert power cord...
You are now in a perfect position to do a
SMC RESET
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964
Shut down the computer.
Unplug the computer's power cord and ALL peripherals.
Wait 15 seconds.
Attach the computers power cable.
Wait another 5 seconds and press the power button to turn on the computer.
It is the 5 second timing that initiates the reset.
Here is a link to a Widget to monitor your temps and other operations:
http://islayer.com/apps/istatpro/

IMac Black Screen with fans running...Static damage?

Upgraded the RAM and replaced the Superdrive in my late 2006 17" core duo imac last week. It was on and worked perfectly for a week and now the screen went black but the fans stay on. If I damaged it with static a week ago would it just now exhibit?

In addition to reseating or repalcing the RAM do a
SMC RESET
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964
Shut down the computer.
Unplug the computer's power cord and ALL peripherals.
Wait 15 seconds.
Attach the computers power cable.
Wait another 5 seconds and press the power button to turn on the computer.
The 5 second timing is important to a successful reset.

Black Screen, high fans, then restart

Hi,
A few days ago, my iMac went to a black screen out of nowhere and began having three or four 2-second pulsations of extremely high fan spinning. When the loud fanning ended, the computer restarted and I went on without seeing any obvious issues with my computer. I was not running any huge applications, maybe a few safari windows at the most, and it just happened. I thought that there was no issue, but today the computer did the same exact thing about 15 minutes after I started Word. The screen went black and the 2(or more)-second pulsations were back, but they lasted 2 or 3 times longer, about 20-30 seconds in total. The second time in 3 days has me fearing more than just an unproblematic crash. Has anyone experienced an issue like this, and how did it get fixed? If not, does anyone have an idea about the cause, or may it just be a symptom of a greater problem? Any ideas help. Just to add, I recently posted a message asking for normal computer temps, and my GPU temp seems to be a bit above normal (consistently at 62 celsius).
Thanks,
Matt

wmatt2010 wrote:
All of these seem to be down a bit. Can you recommend a better
(maybe more in-depth?) temperature monitoring application?
Nothing wrong with iStat Pro, but I use Bresink's HardwareMonitor.
It monitors temps, fan rpm, volts, amps, etc. and can display charts
of the measurement trends over time. IIRC, it cost about USD $10,
and you can try it out in advance with the free evaluation copy.
There's also a trimmed-down freeware version, TemperatureMonitor,
that only monitors temperatures.
http://www.bresink.com/osx/HardwareMonitor.html
http://www.bresink.com/osx/TemperatureMonitor.html
Explore the Bresink site, there's lots of other kool stuff there, too.
Looby

IMac 2007 20'' black screen and fan loud

Hi, I have a imac from 2007 and i got it from an other person that said to me that the problem was the rams, and i got the rams and the screen continues black and the fans loud.
Thank you.

Hello brunofig132,
Thank you for using Apple Support Communities.
I understand that your iMac is booting to a black screen and loud fans. The following article provides steps to troubleshoot the startup process for your iMac. It should give you an indication of what might be causing the problem.
Your Mac won't start up in Mac OS X (Mac OS X 10.3.9 or earlier) - Apple Support
Regards,
Jeff D.

Black screen, full fan crash 30 seconds after boot

weve got a brand new 17" MBP.. (1GB RAM, 7200RPM Drive)
It crahes approx 30-40 seconds after boot up. The crash is a Black screen and the fans go on full blast. I have to hold the power button down to turn off.
all updates as of 8-4 were loaded (including the firmware update)
The problem started after the updates were updated.
here are the things Ive already tried:
- removed 3rd party RAM
- reset PRAM
- reset Power (hold down power button w/ no batteries attached or external power)
- booting into Safe mode
- doing the hardware tests. (it crashes 30 seconds into the test)
any ideas? I dont think I can reload the OS at this point.
Mac Book Pro 17" Mac OS X (10.4.7) 100GB 7200, 2.16, 1GB RAM (2GB w/ 3rd party)

Xyne wrote:
Of those packages, I would investigate pm-utils and maybe upower. Follow this flowchart from "I don't have the old package(s).".
You could also try getting the old versions from an unsynchronized mirror: https://www.archlinux.org/mirrors/status/
I don't think that pm-utils is the problem. FWIW upower is OK here on an i686 (xfce too).
About the chart -- hmm... What kind of screwed mind does it take to follow it completely? I usually skip to the vodoo part directly.

TS1411 black screen start up noise won't start

Black screen unable to start my other imac, can someone please help? thank you Jayne92

Boot up holding command-r keys into your Recovery Volume.
The screen should give you these choices...
Restore from TM backup
Reinstall Mac OS X
Get help online
Disk Utility
First run Disk Utility > Repair Disk and see what it reports... if there are problems run until repaired or states it cannot be repaired. Then,
choose Reinstall OS X. This will be an install in place and won't affect any of your own data.

Mac Pro 3.1 black screen, loud fans

Hello community,
I have a Mac Pro 3.1, 2008 dual 2.8ghz computer. I bought it cheaply as the original owner claimed it had a problem where it would randomly sleep, and a hard reset was neccesary in order to restart the computer. On turning on the computer myself I soon saw what he meant, all of a sudden, quite randomly the screen would drop out entirely and about 8 seconds later the fans go on full whack. This could happen before the computer boots, or could happen 15 minutes later. Sometimes it would happen more often when say I watched a youtube clip on full size in 720/1080p. This shut down can only be stopped by hard resetting the unit.
Originally i thought it might of been the graphics card (Nvidia 8800 GT) which upon researching had found out there have been issues with this graphics card for other people in the past, however they speak of glitchy graphics, over-heating and 'baking' the card. I tested the temps on the gfx card and they were not abnormally high at all. Infact on monitoring all the temperatures when the computer was on i noticed no abnormality with any temps apart from maybe the north bridge which was max 62 C when idling. But my macbook pro hits 75 C on the CPU when using intensive software (logic pro etc). I also tested the gfx card in both available pcie slots aswell as cleaning out excess dust from the gfx card using compressed air.
The computer has a WD velociraptor 128gb 10k rpm HDD installed. I tested the computer with a 128gb SSD which i know worked. I managed to install snow leopard from a DVD onto it before a crash and the computer worked for maybe 20-25 mins then it blacked out again. Not the hard drive then. Tested all the ram (6gb), moved them around etc, no red dimm lights on either board. Not the ram.
The only main components left really are the power supply and the logic board. I have no red leds on the logic board lighting up, so no obvious failures. And when the computer is on it works a treat.
Does this sound like the PSU is dying/dead? I thought this could be an easy software fix, but am now chasing the hardware train....
Any help would be greatly appreciated and thanks in advance!
Cheers!
Catro

I had a similar problem. Old mac pro and randomly the monitors would go black.
Replying to this incase anyone else has this problem…
Tried all the restarts under the sun, reset the board only to get temporary fix. It got to the point where the monitors would black out repeatedly after a few minutes of resetting.
My final solution (May not work for everyone): Remove the graphics card and check to see if the copper fins in the heat sink are "caked in dust". On my ATI card i can see this from the bottom end. I took the hoover and placed it at the opening and the bit of the hoover nozzle that stuck out I covered that with my finger for maximum suction, I repeated this process from the opposite side where the air exits, after a few seconds the suction was enough to clean out the heat sink and the fan started to spin with the power of the suction.
I have replaced the card and now my mac is running very quiet for the first time in years. On removing the graphics card I noticed the bay was very hot including the card. I'm guessing the card cuts out to protect itself from overheating.
Don't forget to wear an anti-static wristband or discharge yourself first. Using a hoover was a drastic last step. Don't think an air duster would solve the problem as well as suction.

Presario v6000 note book turns on but black screen and fan only

presario v6000 note book turns on, fan works but screen is black. No beeping sounds or blinking lights. Lights by numbers are on . Had new motherboard installed by repair store twice. Worked for a few days and now doing the same thing. Any suggestions please??

Hello kkelly342,
I see that you are having a start up problem with your computer. I have a couple of suggestions that may help with this issue.
Here is a link to some troubleshooting steps for blank screen issues on start up. Follow the steps in the link and let me know what happens.
Have you tried on an external monitor?
↙-----------How do I give Kudos?| How do I mark a post as Solved? ----------------↓

ISSUES W/BLACK SCREEN CPU/FANS STILL RUNNING!

My i7 is from batch week 46 and so far ive had problems with BLACK OUT screen but CPU/fans are still running. All i can do at that point is just press and hold down power button to shut down CPU. When i start it back up, its as if nothing happened. This has happened to me twice now and only had it for couple weeks. Received my i7 on the 26th of NOV/09! Can anyone help me come up with a solution?

Isaiah:
Your profile reports you are running OS X 10.6.1. Would you check to see if you are running 10.6.2?

Black screen, loud beeping noises

Posted: Jan 21, 2008 11:57 AM
Reply
I have a month old iMac 20". In the midst of working today the screen went black, loud beeping noises every 10 seconds. Will not turn on. i am panicked, please help.I have never had this problem with any other Apple computer. Help!!!

Hello and Welcome to Apple Discussions.
And in the words of the late famous Mac user Douglas Adams: "Don't Panic".
It's clear this is not normal and I've not come across it before. You should book the fault to AppleCare right away:
http://www.apple.com/support/contact/phone_contacts.html
Do let us know how you get on.
mrtotes

G4 ibook Black Screen and "Fan of Death"

(Posted last night. Removed for unspecified reasons. edited so is within terms of use and reposted).
My 2nd ibook just died. Treated it like a baby never dropped on it's head or anything, and yesterday it suddenly decided to play up.
So what happened?
Well I'm sitting there with the 12" G4 ibook on my lap and blink the screen goes black, power still on, backlighting still on, but no display. Hmmm.
Ok let's not panic, turned off, waited, then turned on again.
Nothing! No image no start-up, except the rear fans going at MAX SPEED.
Turned it off **** quick. Turned on...same thing Whirrrrrr!
This continues until finally machine stays on. For 2-3 minutes that is, then blink the screen blacks out again, no beachball nothing just off!
Ever since then nothing but the fan! No start-up screen nothing.
So I start reasearching, and turns out a LOT of people have been experiencing the exact same problem. Okay now I'm freakin'
I read more and there it is a website explaining the situation: (link removed in case this is frowned upon).
Suggests there may be a batch manufactured around the same time in late '04 - '05, that have faulty soldering on a chip just to the laft of the trackpad. I don't know but I'm not impressed as I went through this with the G3 ibook this replaced which was part of the batch with the faulty logicboards.
Thankfully Apple eventually acknowledged the problem there and my and other peoples G3 ibooks were fixed, but this time the're saying there's no problem! I am unimpressed.
It's not right that I buy TWO ibooks only to have them BOTH die after a couple of years of careful use. Not right at all!! The ingenious remedy put forward by others with the same problem is applying a lot of pressure to the casing in that spot to force the chip to make a connection to the solder(?!), perhaps even using a clamp to keep it held down.
Guess what I tried it, palm down max pressure, and IT WORKS! Take my hand away and Zzzt screen off and back to square one. The alternative and only official avenue to resolve the problem? BUY A NEW LOGICBOARD?!?!
I have a Mac Mini, iMac and 3 iPods so you know I love you're work Apple, but there are limits to what a person can reasonably put up with! At this stage after being twice burnt with your notebooks I'm VERY hesitant about repeating the mistake.
Finding an email link on your site so I can lodge my issue has proved impossible. Hopefully I'll get a response other than a deletion.
Reading others posts, at present more than 2000 people have enquired about the same problem, and an independant body has verified the problem (complete with macro photos of the cracked soldering), so this is hardly an anomoly! All I want is a sign you are taking this seriously.
Sincerely,
W.Whatford
Australia.

I helped my friend fix his 2 year old iBook that had the same problem.
We found information on the probable cause after doing some Google searching on phrases such as "G4 iBook logic board". It was one or 2 solder joints that had gone bad, connecting a chip to the logic board. It's a 28 pin chip, the Intersil ISL6225 power controller, the suspect pin is most likely #28 and maybe adjacent pins, and maybe #1. If you search around you can find more information.
We decided to try to fix it ourselves. We partly disassembled the iBook to the point where we could remove the bottom half of the white plastic shell case. You can find WWW guides on doing this. We used an old 35mm camera lens reversed to act as a high-powered magnifying glass to study the chip pin solder joints. Using a small soldering iron we attempted to re-solder one of the pins, which appeared to have come loose possibly due to repeated on/off heating cycles or a cold solder joint. We just reheated the suspect solder joints and did not add new solder, as this was the advice on another forum. However the iBook still had the same problem afterward and pin 28 seemed to be loose, although it is difficult to see, you really need a mucroscope.
Then we decided to take the iBook to a friend who had lots of experience repairing small circuit boards. He used a soldering iron and some solder to re-solder several of the chip pins and then used a special "de-soldering" braid wire to remove the excess solder that was now connecting together some of the chip pins. He heated the chip pins for about 5 seconds and was fairly rough with the board in applying pressure. He told us that these small chips can take more heat than you might expect, and the logic boards are strong and it's pretty hard to damage them by bending them a little or by touching a connection.
We fired up the iBook again and it now works! It has been OK for about a week. We're hoping it will last a few more years, or until the next MacBook becomes too hard to resist.
BTW taking apart and later re-assembling the case is tricky and we ended up scratching it up a little at the joint line (there are downloadable manuals that can help with this). But the iBook was dead before and now it works so it was worth it.
iBook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.1)

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