Clicking noise, power LED flickers

I'm troubleshooting a friend's 17" PowerBook G4. The orange LED on the power adapter plug flickers when plugged into the PowerBook. It also makes a clicking noise, dead center inbetween the 2 fans, on the bottom side of the motherboard, closest to the screen. The battery charges but quickly discharges, the fans keep running, and the clicking noise persists at a lower level than when on A/C power.
I've disassembled the PowerBook but have not removed the motherboard (thought I'd post here first before wasting my time). What are the possible problems, and do they involve replacing the motherboard? What would be the cheapest source? Thanks in advance.

Dear John,
Just letting you know that I am experiencing the same problem. The symptoms are slightly more complex though. It seems that it is related to the battery, or switching between battery power and adapter. The battery is fully charged, yet I can not run the laptop from the battery. With one of my power adapters the led will start flashing and the comp won't boot. It will start correctly from the power adapter only if I first remove the battery. With another adapter it doesn't flicker and only starts with the battery installed. I doubt that replacing the battery will solve the problem. Until very recently it worked perfectly, the led indicators show a full battery and the computer diagnoses its state correctly.
I'm afraid the problem is in the motherboard. Replacing it is expensive and probably not worth the money for a two year old machine. Given the large number of related and other reported problems (check e.g. for narcoleptic syndrome) it is likely to generate new problems quite soon anyhow. I'll have the machine checked one of these days and let you know what the diagnosis is.
Keep us informed,
Thanks

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