Disassembled my Ti 1ghz/867mhz (w/DVI) and there's no inverter board? What?

Question

Hello fellow travelers. My ten-year old son and I just finished disassembling my Powerbook G4. It's an odd model. It's got DVI. It's got GB ethernet. It's 1Ghz. It's got the vents of one model and the DVI of another. It's neither Mercury, nor Onyx, nor DVI. What the bleep is it?
It had all the symptoms of a bad inverter board. I'm a pretty good trouble-shooter. So, I ordered a board for the DVI model. Heck. It's got DVI. Just finished taken the entire thing apart as per ifix it (http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Mac/). Guess what?
I see no inverter board.
Is there a model G4 Powerbook that doesn't have an inverter board? If so, then what the heck explains the "bad inverter board-like" symptoms such is "monitor image viewable with a flashlight from behind the apple," and "intermittent monitor working (mostly not working)" and "runs an external monitor?" not to mention the fact that I believe AppleCare replaced an inverter board (or so I thought) a few years ago.
Are there G4 Ti 15" models that don't have inverter boards?
Has an alien descended and removed mine? Am I losing my mind?
Glenn

Answer 1

If poltergeists were the problem, you'd find rocks and smashed ashtrays and potted plants strewn around inside your Powerbook, along with tiny video cameras planted there by parapsychologists. That's not the issue.
These are two-dimensional aliens. They turn sideways when they see the camera; that's why you can't capture them on video. It also makes it very easy for them to slide in and out of the Powerbook through the vast empty spaces inside the Titanium atoms - not to mention the added efficiency of space travel without burdensome extra dimensions to scrape against all the ones they have to pass through to get here. Instead of thinking of them as a problem, consider what a lot of trouble they've taken to cross the universe just to inhabit your Powerbook, and try to make their visit more comfortable. You are an ambassador, or at least a deputy assistant chargé d'affaires, for all of humanity. Step up to your responsibilities!
Because the hard drive in a Tibook is so easy to get at, I suggest removing yours (with its flex cable)from the machine and then seeing whether booting from your external drive and/or optical drive goes any more smoothly. If there's no change, put the HD back in and remove the optical drive, then test again. I don't recall whether we've heard that a problematical CD/DVD drive can interfere with startup from another source, but it's definitely possible for a wonky hard drive to interfere with booting from other sources. Lastly, remove both drives and see whether you can then boot consistently from the external drive. If not, and if you're confident of the FireWire cable you're using and the external drive itself, then I'm afraid you've come down to the logic board and the aliens. They may just find that board really homey, so if you replace it, please keep it in a warm, dry place and address a cheery greeting to its occupants each time you pass by.