Dead iBook G3

A friend gave me her 500mhz iBook G3 to play with. Upon startup I get the missing system folder icon. I tried putting in an old G4 Restore CD and it begins to load into OS 9 but encounters a bus error and can not continue. I also tried my Tiger install CD but it spits it back out after a minute or so. Lastly I tried an old Drive X boot CD and it begins to work but eventually shows a no symbol (circle with a slash through it). What OS should I try to restore it with? Where can I get an OS 9 install CD?
Thanks,
Rich S.

Hi RichS.!
No guarantees but, if you call Apple Customer Service 1-800-767-2775, and provide the serial number of the Mac, you may be able to purchase replacement original system discs.
However, those will be for the version of OS, that was pre-installed when manufactured.
But, they will contain the bundled software, that is not included in a Full Retail Version, of a newer OS X. The Apple Hardware Test, specific to the Mac model, will also be included.
If the original OS, is lower than the current installed version of OS X, you will also need to purchase a corresponding Full Retail Version, of the desired system.
ali b

Similar Messages

Transfer from a dead iBook

I just got a new Macbook, the higher end aluminum one. I also have an old iBook (from early 2005) that is dead because the logic board went out. Is there a way for me to transfer my files (itunes, pics, contacts) from the dead iBook onto my new Macbook? I was going to try target disk mode, but without firewire I know that isn't an option.

allbusiness wrote:
Thanks again, I appreciate it.
Have fun tearing it apart.
I wanted to replace the hard drive in my old iBook G3 600 for a long time. I took a look at the guides for doing it and I lost my desire to try. It was just all the pieces that needed spudgers to separate the parts, all the adhesive layers that needed to be removed and replaced (and might not stick back correctly) that scared me off. Not to mention all the delicate parts that could be busted.
If I just wanted to take that thing out to save the hard drive, I think I would have an easy time not worrying about what I break getting to the hard drive. In the past I've had a good time taking apart electronics that were dead, just to see what was in there.

Dead iBook G3 - tips?

I bought a dead iBook G3 computer for a fairly cheap price. It came with battery and Macally charger. I have removed the keyboard and upper cover and it seems that there is no visible damage, however the computer does not react at all when I push the power button. The Macally charger does not have any kind of leds, but when I plugged my PowerBook G4 charger to computer the light was on.
Are there any known basic tips that I could try now? I will try to remove the back cover later.

wk,
which had the connector broken, however it still started when I used flathead screwdriver to short those pins. Tried that also with this G3 but no reaction.
Well that wouldn't work if the socket has pulled away from the logic board.
When that connector is broken that's what usually has happened. You must take the top case and top shield off and verify that therer is continuity from those pins to the contactor lands on the logic board.
These models have suffered from bad joints on the GPU, I did put a shim to make pressure to the chip but that also did not help.
True but if that was the case you almost always get a start up then freeze when the GPU kicks in.
Could it be PRAM-battery? There was some kind of battery soldered on the motherboard, can drained battery cause these kind of symptoms?
No and it's not a battery but a super capacitor of 2.2 Farads like here:
http://s291.photobucket.com/albums/ll306/spudnuty/?action=view&current=SuperCapi Book13312.jpg&newest=1
and here's on that's blowed up on an iBook G3:
http://s291.photobucket.com/albums/ll306/spudnuty/?action=view&current=supercapB lowedup.jpg&newest=1
And does the fact that the computer does recharge battery mean anything or is the recharging process comptedly independent from motherboard?
That could be a battery problem, DC in board or PMU problem.
I noticed that when I press PMu reset combination (Shiftctrl+altPWR) the led goes green for a while and then back to orange.
So PMU is probably resetting.
Richard

Retrieving disc from dead ibook which won't turn on?

Hi. How would I go about ejecting a disc from my dead ibook? I've tried resetting the PRAM / PMU, neither will work. It won't turn on at all. I really just need to get a disc out of the disc drive. Is it possible? How would I go about doing it?
Also, is it possible to retrieve a file from the HD? (this is far less important).
Thank you!

The usual way is to hold down the mouse button as you start it up, but that probably won't work for you if it won't start up at all. But you could try anyway.
An alternative is to prop the iBook up with the slot pointed down and if you're lucky the disc will eventually drop out thanks to gravity.
Another thing that you can try--get something very thin like a business card or very thin plastic ruler and some two sided sticky tape and see if you can stick the disc and pull it out. Be sure the tape is well stuck to whatever you are using--you don't want to lose it inside the drive.
If the iBook is truly dead never to be revived, you could just take it apart until you get to the optical drive and then take that apart.
As for the hard drive, you could take it out and put it in an enclosure. It would then be an external hard drive and you could access the data on it. As long as it will spin up, you should be able to do this.
Disassembly instructions can be found at:
http://www.ifixit.com/
How come the iBook is dead? Will it just not start up, or is there some other known issue like a dead logic board? If it just won't start up, it might be worth a little troubleshooting to see if it can be revived. If you have access to an Apple Store, you could try an appointment with the genius bar and see if they can get it going, maybe with a known good power adaptor. If not, post back for help with this.
Good luck!

Dead ibook.... new battery...battery on moherboard???

I have an iBook 500 Mhz... it recently started having issues with the date and time wich i attributed to the dying battery that didn't hold the charge for long... one sad day it didn't turn on anymore.... which i attributed once again to the dead and discharged battery... so i bought a brand new battery from the apple store wich came in with half charge... so i plugged it a few hours ago to completely charge the battery before turning on the computer (as it said on the manual when the compter was brand new). So now i looked at the battery charge status and the same two leds are illuminated... seems like it is not charging.... and i tried to turn the computer on to no avail...
any comments or suggestions...?
does the ibook motherboard has a battery like the desktop computers? when that battery (which among other things holds the date and time) dies the computers don't turn on... could that be the case here?
Thanks for your help...

Hi, and welcome to Apple Discussions.
Does the adapter charge the battery? Does the adapter power the iBook?
Have you tried resetting the PMU?
In our experience here, if there is a problem with the dc-in board, the iBook will not run on the AC adapter, nor will the adapter charge the battery. The iBook will only run from a charged battery. If the battery charges and/or the iBook runs on the adapter, then it is likely not the dc-in board.
The same symptoms can happen with a bad adapter (no charging, not running on the adapter).
This doesn't sound like what is happening with yours, however.
There is a capacitor on the logic board which maintains the date and time settings. That capacitor could be malfunctioning, or it could be a malfunctioning PMU (also a part of the logic board).

Dead iBook?

Hey guys
I plugged in my ibook a few days ago and it turned on fine in target mode (just to move some files around) then after about 30 seconds just went dead. So I assumed battery power issue or adapter issue.
But the battery doesn't seem to charge any more when you press the check light underneith. And the adapter is always green. Any guesses? It wont turn on even from mains power now.
Ideas?

Same problem.
iBook worked fine a week ago. Turned it on for about 30 minutes and suddenly turned off, made a shorting out type of sound. Then would not turn back on. No chime, no fans, no lit power button light.
It turned on the next day, but did not get fully up before turning off again after about 1 minute. Then would not turn on after.
Took iBook to Apple Store. Tech suspected hard disk needed replacement. Tech could not scan the disk to see what was wrong. The iBook kept freezing.
However, Tech first tried to do complete reinstall of Tiger and just see if it worked. iBook worked fine after, and would start up faster than before. The OS 9 was not re-installed at the time.
Yesterday, a week after the re-install, and a week after use, the iBook shut off again within 30 minutes of startup.
It won't turn on anymore after letting it sit a day.
iBook G3 Mac OS X (10.4.6)

NEED HELP GETTING SOMETHING OUT OF MY DEAD IBOOK

ok so ive had my beautiful ibook g4 for about 5 years, and about a week ago i sent it to get fixed cause it was acting weird and it was because my hard drive is absolutely dead. but that isnt my question... I didnt get a chance to back up my stuff and i dont really care about anything in there except some pictures... and I was wondering if you guys could give me options on what to do
but i also have to tell you this:
my ibook wont turn on.
the little gray apple with the white background pops up and then 4 minutes later or so it just turns off immedietly.
so I really dont know what to do...
i did the hard drive test to see if it could react and nothing- and when i tried to reinstall mac os x, and put the option of keeping all the info i got the kernel attack.
please help me!
Cristo

Go to a certified Apple Tech or Apple Store and have them extract the information from the HD to another source. They'll pull the drive, put it in an external housing and extract from there.

Can I use my iMac as Monitor for "dead" iBook Screen

Help
My severely aged iBook G3 seems to have lost its visuals. The screen is dead. I hear the hd spool up and everything seems to be working I just can't see... I have a G5 iMac. Can i use the iMac as a monitor so that I can see to back up my iBook HD or can i share so that my iMac can see the iBook??? My banking/scheduling are on the iBook so I'm a bit stressed. HELP!

That's a terrible way to do an emergency shutdown, and it could cause hard drive damage. The proper way to do a forced shutdown is to hold down the power button for 5 to 10 seconds. Even that can cause problems for the hard drive.
If the Host computer has the same or newer operating system as the iBook, use Disk Utility (Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility) to select the hard drive of the iBook and repair it. Then open Disk Utility from the hard drive of the iBook and repair permissions on the iBook's hard drive.
If the Host computer has an older operating system than the iBook, use the Host's computer optical drive and Disk Utility from the Install disc for the OS of the iBook in order to repair the hard drive. Then open Disk Utility from the hard drive of the iBook and repair permissions on the iBook's hard drive.

Helpo with semi-dead ibook

Ibook model A1005
this ibook when you plug it to the outlet turn the light of the plug on and a green light in the back start flashing. Later when you try to turn it on you hear a sound. Sometimes you hear like the sound of a fan or something like that but there is no visual. The screen won't give any signal of anything. I thought the screen would be dead but i tried to connected to an external monitor and it wouldn't work.
In addition, when you try to turn it on the green light that was flashing in the back turn off and the light of the turn on button does never turn on.
i really have no idea of what else to do. I live in te miami area so i would like to have an idea of what to do or where to take it to have a check up.
thanks in advance
LCM

Hi, and welcome to Apple Discussions.
I don't know what you mean about a "green light in the back." As far as I know, there are no lights of any sort on the back of the iBook. Do you mean the bottom of the iBook, maybe?
It sounds like you may be having logic board problems. Enough Dual USB G3 iBooks suffered from the logic board problem that Apple began the iBook Logic Board Repair Extension Program in January of 2004. Do the symptoms look familiar? After leaving it sit overnight, does squeezing the case to the left of the trackpad allow you to start up and work for a bit as long as you keep the pressure on it there? If so, you may want to consider trying the shim fix suggested by John Sawyer in the Apple Discussions iBook G3 (Dual USB) Displays Forum:
[Y]ou can often fix this yourself by removing the iBook's bottom housing, and placing a shim of any sort, about 1mm to 1.5mm thick, onto the raised square on the bottom shield. I use a Scotch mounting square--you can get them in hardware stores and many grocery stores. When you reinstall the bottom case, it will press against this shim, which will press against the graphics chip, and may allow the chip to come into better contact with the logic board.
John Sawyer
CJS Macintosh Repair
Instructions for removing the lower case:
iFixit.com
If the shim fix doesn't work (or you're leery of trying it), DT&T Services in Fremont, California offers the cheapest repair I've found. They have a six-month warranty on the repair.
Once you get it fixed, try never to pick it up by the left front corner alone. The theory is that picking it up by the left front corner alone can contribute to logic board failure when the case flexes, causing the graphics chip to come loose from the logic board. If you're picking it up in your left hand (as I often do mine), pick it up in the center under the trackpad.
Good luck.
Please note: As a G3 iBook is quite old at this point, if you are faced with paying a repair bill on it, it may be wiser to put that money toward a new (or used) MacBook. They are quite a spectacular upgrade from the iBook G3. Again, good luck with whatever you decide to do.

Getting data off dead iBook G4

I have an old iBook laying around that I would like to get some data from. It is dead about 2 years due to the power socket stopped working (possible the DC in board is damaged.) The Battery is completely drained.
What are my options to get my stuff from this iBook using my 2010 macbook pro?

If the computer can't be booted into FireWire Target Disk mode, remove the hard drive and put it in an enclosure. It's an Ultra ATA drive.
(53027)

Getting at a dead iBook's data

Looks like my iBook's bit the dust. The genius at the local Apple store told my girlfriend (who took it in for me) that it was either the logic baord or the DC adapter, but that from the sound he could hear from the power connector it was probably the logic board.
Looks like it may be time to buy a new MacBook. Luckily I back up my data to an external hard disk but I haven't done that since just after christmas and I was working on a really good new song at the time of its death last night!
Is it possible to (quite cheaply) remove the hard disk and get it in an external enclosure? How would I do that?

…and for instructions on how to, non-destructively, remove your HD go to http://www.ifixit.com/
I say "non-destructively" because even gutted of its HD it will be worth something as a 'spares or repair' on eBay
Have fun,
Adrian

Dead iBook...Way to deauthorize it from another computer?

Yesterday the hard drive died in my iBook G4, and I have had a backup of all of the music on an external drive. I've put all of this music onto my old Windows desktop (sigh...). However, I am unable to authorize my desktop computer because the iBook was the fifth computer (out of the available five) to be authorized with my account, and now I'm left with a partially accessible iTunes music library. I never got a chance to deauthorize the iBook before it completely failed. It would be a nuisance to have to deauthorize the only other authorized computer in the house, my brother's iMac, in order to free up the last computer. Is there any possible way that I can deauthorize a computer who's hard drive has failed and is not accessible?

You won't be able to deauthorize only that computer.
You can deauthorize all 5 and then reauthorize what you want.
See this -> About iTunes Store authorization and deauthorization

How do I extract AppleWorks from my 'dead' iBook G4 to my Intel MacBook?...

I quite liked AppleWorks, it was good enough for me, little did I realise Macbooks don't come with a proper non-trial word processing facility - so I suppose Apple expect me to buy it, or the predecessor again.
iBook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.4)

Well yes, I have the Panther Install and Restore discs that came with my defunct iBook G4, and also Tiger discs I bought to upgrade the OS after fitting a new hard drive, the Intel Macbook will not accept the Panther discs, and I couldn't find Appleworks on them anyway - maybe the machine came with it and Sound Studio (the two things I use most!) 'bundled', it's an expensive luxury keeping a mac I tell you.

Dead ibook?! SOS!!!!!

I have a key lime G3 Firewire ibook that I bought exactly 4 years ago (it got held up due to 9/11 so I'll never forget it!). Yesterday it flashed a message about the hard drive having an error; like a fool I didn't copy down the message but instead went to restart. I did the hardware diagnostic with the CD that came with it and all that was fine. I tried to reboot using the system software restore CD, and then out of desperation the system software install CD, but each time, it would get only to a certain point- it would go through start up, then a window would pop up, but with no text in it, and the little clock in the pointer would just freeze. The same thing happened with both CDs, numerous times. If I turn it on by itself, I just get an icon that alternates between a smiling folder and one with a question mark. In short, HELP! I work at home a lot and I need to get it fixed or replaced ASAP. Thanks a million.

Insert the OS 9 CD disc and hold down the "C" key during start-up. This is to bring it up on the CD.
In a utilities folder is First Aid. Run First Aid. Try a Re-start. Note: If First Aid did not Find something wrong and does not make a repair of come kind. (Note: in the window at the top of First Aid your Hard Drive has to be selected. If it does not show your HD this is the problem) Other wise it sound line you OS 9.2.x has a problem because of the "Question Mark '?' ". This normally it needs a boot program (e.g., Finder and System) as one or the other is missing or not working. Sure you need controls, extensions and Preferences but they won't keep you from start-up. In many cases you remove a preference to correct a problem and it will give you a new clean one.
You have another utility called Drive Set-Up. This will erase everything so save what you can via a net connection via apple talk to another machine via firewire/USB etc. If not available, and you can loose it I will explain using Drive Setup.
If you have data you must have find a friend with USB or Firewire Hard Drive External and save you data you need. While Operating on the CD. I have done it.
Using Drive Set-up find under options (one of the menu Items) is "Zero" out the drive. This may take a half hour. Re-name you Hard Drive and install the OS 9.x.x you have and let Software update do the rest. All other software will have to be installed. Start looking for all you discs (CD).
When was the Last time you backed up everything including Software. (Then it is just a Drag-and-Drop to the Hard Drive.
If you have Norton Utilities 6 you can recover most files to an external HD via USB/Firewire.
E-mail or post to discussions additional questions or the how to do this or that. I tried to cover most thing quickly. Also how much RAM do you have?
Use the Apple Menu and About this Mac/Computer First Item and it will give it.
My Suggestion is Try Disc First-Aid first and Find the amount RAM and repost to this Discussion. (I am not familiar with "Hardware Diagnostic".)

Half dead iBook

My duaghter has a 12" ibook (Oct 2004) which has almost died! She's a student so in a panic gives it to me with a HELP ME DAD plea the next time I'm visiting to buy her a decent meal. As I'm not keen to buy her another one or pay Apple to look at it I need some help here to pin down the fault. It seems to start up OK, chimes, screen goes from black to grey (gray in the US) then that is as far as it goes. Reset PMU, reset PRAM, tried starting up in single user and safe modes but nothing changes. Will start up fine in target disk mode so all the data needed as been transfered to a spare eMac I had lying around. Screen is OK - the firewire logo apears and jumps around as it should. Will not start up from a CD and I have run disk first aid from my own PB to check it while in target disk mode - no disk errors reported.
Best guess so far is that the memory has either failed or become unseated, however I can't get the keyboard off (locking screw doesn't seem to unlock) and it looks a bit fiddly inside just to look to see if it is loose. It's had a hard life and it shows but it would be nice to bring it back to life. If it was the motherboard then I doubt it would do what it does do at all.
Any ideas or advice on this one ?

John
Thanks for this - no luck though, typed the prompts but reboot starts and screen goes grey as before.
Since posting earlier I replaced the memory module (£25) to test the memory theory - would have cost the same to get the local Apple Dealer to have a look at it so nothing lost here. Conclusion now is that the logic board has failed. Unfortunately the serial number is outside the range published by Apple as being eligible for the extended replacement programme.
For reference for others the serial starts UV441xxxxxxx
I don't doubt that this is the problem now but elsewhere others report being asked for £500+ for repairs - on educational discount it's not much more to get a new macbook.
Might talk to apple and to our Trade & Industry people as the UK Sale of Goods Act says goods must be durable and fit for purpose. For a computer 18 months is hardly durable

Dead iBook G3

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for