Dead hard drive or ibook?

I have a 2 year old 12" iBook G4. For a while it has had problems that I have just dealt with. For example, if you rest your wrists next to the mousepad in the wrong way it can cause the pointer to jump across the screen, and sometimes makes it crash.
But now it seems completely dead. I recently travelled with the machine, and I am afraid it got banged too hard. When I hit the power button the screen stays black, but the hard drive spins VERY loudly. The only way I can get it to go off again is by flipping it over and removing the battery. When I flip it over the hard drive sound gets worse. I can't even put one of the apple disks in and try booting from that, because there is already a DVD in the drive that I can't get out.
What can I do??? If my hard drive is dead, is there a way to salvage my data? Will using it as a firewire drive with another mac work? Help??!!

Hi Ronda,
Thanks very much for your reply. I explained my problem and everything I did to try to fix it to Applecare US on Sunday, and they authorized an extention to my warranty to make the repair. I am counting my lucky stars about now. Yeah Apple! Hopefully this fix will last awhile, but in the meantime I will back up regularly and starting saving my pennies for a new iBook!
Cheers,
Brenda
Hi, and welcome to Apple Discussions.
This is not the fault in the logic board that was
covered by the iBook
Logic Board Repair Extension Program. However, it
does sound like the memory that is soldered to the
logic board has failed. This means you will need a
new logic board.
Here in the United States, I know of places that will
repair it for $195 plus shipping, but I don't know of
any inexpensive repair places in the UK.
Your "serial number of death" isn't, really. The
program was gradually expanded to include all the
Dual USB G3 iBooks, so every serial number is
included in the program.
If it turns out to be an expensive repair, maybe the
money would be better spent on a new iBook?

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