Does this sound like a logic board problem? Blue screen

I have a G4 1.33GHz iBook 14". Recently it has started having problems with freezing and booting. It will boot normally, but a few seconds or minutes into use, if freezes, and only a force shutdown with the power button will work. Then, when it restarts, it may run fine, or may freeze up. Sometimes when it boots, the apple logo shows up, then the spinning wheel, then a light blue screen. And then, nothing.
I have tried all the usual stuff, including starting with the 10.4 DVD and running disk utility. Also Onyx and version 3.03 of Disk Warrior. It wouldn't boot from the Disk Warrior CD usually, and the one time it did, if froze up.
SO, I ended up booting it in Firewire Target Disk mode, and reformatting (zero'd out) using my MacBook. Then, reinstalled the 10.4 and upgraded to 10.4.7 using Software Update. It worked fine for about two hours, and then started freezing and blue screening again.
Does this sound like a logic board thing? It just occurred to me that I haven't tried all this stuff with my additional 1 Gb stick of RAM out. It hasn't caused any problems before, but I suppose it might affect this, no?
Sorry for the long post, but I want to try to diagnose and fix BEFORE it goes off to Apple to be returned with a "we can't demonstrate the problem" message and a bill.
Thanks
Roger

I took out the 1 Gb stick and it did the same thing. About half the time it boots, works for a little while then freezes up. The rest of the time it won't boot past the spinning wheel then the blue screen. Same deal with the OSX DVD and the DiskWarrior CD.
Frustrating. I may have to send it in.
RDS

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Does this sound like a bad logic board?

Howdy everyone,
Tried searching and troubleshooting but I'm at a lost for answers so maybe someone who has experienced the same thing could chime in.
Our 2009 MBP started experiencing random beach balls a couple months back that gradually developed into full-blown lockups. Eventually the system refused to boot up so I figured it might be a hard drive problem.
I tested and verified the hard drive by:
1) using disk Disk Utility to verify and repair the drive (completed without any issues and S.M.A.R.T. is 'verified')
2) by installing the hard drive internally on a 2008 MB to see if it worked (booted up and worked just fine)
3) hooking up the drive to the MBP via USB enclosure and booting up as an external disk (again also worked fine)
Next I figured it would be the hard drive ribbon cable so I ordered and tried two different ribbon cables, one from an Amazon reseller and one from iFixit. I get the same result with both cables. The drive is recognized in Disk Utility but the system refuses to boot and gets stuck at the logo page with the spinning progress indicator. Booting in verbose mode revealed nonstop disk0s2 i/o errors.
I've ruled out the hard drive and the ribbon cable at this point so is there anything else that could be the culprit or does it sound like the logic board?
Thanks in advance for any input you could provide.

Hi Neurotic
You maybe in luck, that 24" with the NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT is rare and unlike most other iMac's can be refitted and with a new graphic's chip. Unfortunately the iMac is very difficult to open and work on, plus you may need an Authorized Apple Service Provider to locate and order the proper graphic's chip.
For a service provider in the US see > http://www.apple.com/buy/locator/service/
For service provider elsewhere see > http://www.apple.com/uk/buy/locator/
Dennis

Does this sound like a dead Time Capsule?

Came home this aft to no WIFI. Checked and the light was off on my Time Capsule (first generation) but otherwise intenret connectios seemed OK.
Powered the TC off/on; green light came on momentarily, changed to orange for about 30 seconds, then went off again. Repeated the cycle several times with no difference.
I have noticed recently that the hard-drive in my TC was getting noisy but everything appeared to be working until a few hours ago.
I recall there were issues with the early Time Capsules and sudden death. Does this sound like that situation?
Welcome advice on whether current generation Time Capsules are more reliable or would a better course be to replace it with a generic router and seprate backup disk?
Thanks ..donald

Apple treated me well on this. My TC was 15 months out of warranty when I took it to the Genius Bar. About the only question asked was "do you have Apple Care on another product?", following which a replacement TC was produced, some paperwork signed and I was on my way.
Only a couple of reservations:
The replacement TC, according to the Genius, is new "service stock" (not a refurnished unit) but the same model as my original TC; i.e. First Generation. This leaves me guessing it will have about a 2-yaer lifespan as well, so I I should plan on upgrading well in advance. I'll be listening carefully for strange noises and watching how hot it gets.
The second reservation is about security of the information on the TC; al the Time Machine backups plus a little bot of other stuff. The old TC was boxed for return to Apple and I have to trust Apple that it will be securly destroyed. Trust is a big thing.

Does this sound like I need a new hard drive for iPod?

I have an 15GB 3rd generation iPod (4 buttons across top) and now i'm having some major issues. I have to restore constantly and even after a successful restore (which takes about 6-8 tries to keep the restore from freezing) it'll update songs on iTunes if I relaunch the Finder and only if I do that. The hard drive has a clicking noise whenever it's trying to connect to my computer. I'm assuming the clicking is a bad hard drive. Does that sound like it could be the case?

Thanks. I've tried partitioning and erasing the hard drive a couple times. Once in a while it succeeds in erasing the data and then I can attempt a restore but usually the iPod causes Disk Utility to freeze and I have to force quit or manually disconnect my iPod. After I successfully erased the data my restore attempts are usually unsuccessful anyway. The clicking still occurs and I usually have to try restoring about 3-6 times with various iPod Updaters before I get one that will restore completely. Even after that I can't re-connect my iPod to the computer without having to relaunch the finder.
I might have to look into an iPod Video or Nano

IPod problem - does this sound like a hardware or software issue?

My iPod (80/video) sometimes plays but without sound. In other words, the time counter progresses, but there is no volume. It is very intermittent, but annoying nonetheless, because I need to restart the ipod to get sound again.
I've had it back to Apple twice, and they were not able to reproduce the problem.
Now, after spending a lot more time playing with it, I know how to reproduce the problem.
This is when it happens:
1. Pause iPod
2. Remove headphones
3. Let ipod turn off by itself
4. Reinsert headphones / play ipod
When I turn it back on again, there is no sound from the headphones and I need to restart it.
So, the normal scenario is that I get to work, pause my ipod, remove the headphones and plug them into my laptop, letting the ipod turn off by itself after a few mintues. When I go to leave again and plug my headphones back in.... no sound.
It happens with any music file or video file.
Now, if this is a software/firmware problem, then I will patiently work around it. But if it might be a hardware issue, then I will send it back again, especially now that I know how to reproduce the problem reliably.
Of course, I've restored the iPod many times and have tried it on different computers with many audio and video files. The problem persists.
Any thoughts?
Thanks.
sam
5G 80gb Mac OS X (10.4.9)

I have the same problem (sort of). I used to think I was losing the sound output, until I notice that the iPod errouneously and randomly turned the volume down to zero. Since this occurs while I'm driving with the cassette adapter and plug-in power adapter in use, nothing is touching the face of the iPod.
Now for the bad part. It is now starting to go the other way. I'll be happily listening to the iPod when it suddenly pegs to 100% volume. Sometimes it jumps around - up, down and then to zero.
I sent my 5th gen 60 gig iPod in for servicing. I got it back yesterday with no repairs and it has already started pegging at 100%. If this isn't a problem with the iPod (according to Apple) then there is a MAJOR software bug that needs to be addressed. I don't like getting "shined on" by Apple just because they didn't reproduce the problem during their half hour of troubleshooting.
MacPro, MacBook Pro, Mac Mini (Intel), iMac (Intel) Mac OS X (10.4.9)

My Macbook Pro, circa 2007, does not start up correctly. It gets stuck opening Finder. Does this sound like a Hard Drive or other hardware?

Hello. Need a little help. My Mac Book Pro is having start-up issues. I am running Snow Leopard on this computer. It is bootcamped up to run a PC portion as well. I started having this problem a few weeks ago. I tried to back up the drive, but it would not even let me do that. I wiped it clean (I had a relatively new back-up and it is secondary computer) and reinstalled the OS. It worked well for a couple of days, but started getting held up with opening the Finder on start-up and it woudl just get stuck. I am more than willing to pull the drive and install a new hard drive, but that might not be the main issue so I am looking for some assistance before the next wipe out.
When it was working for a couple of days, I tried to install OS X Lion, but it would not allow me to do so (some installation failure).
Anyway, should I retire this computer or install a new harddrive....
Any advice is welcome.
Dan

a brody, I will take a look. The internal drive works (i.e., the battery, it spins, etc.) it just has a bit of trouble recognizing all CD's so I tend to use the external one since it works consistently. Do you still think this might be the issue? The apple store told me a week after my extended warranty ran out that the drive should be replaced but that an external drive is not an isse, but that was a while back and this problem just started.

Does this sound like a good design for simple db lookup?

I want to separate the gui form the behind the scenes stuff so 2 classes. One for the gui (gui.java) and one for the database stuff (dbQuery.java). I know the syntex is not accurate but it's sort of pseudo-code - Here's how it looks:
public class gui extends JFrame {
   string name, address, city, state, id
   public static void main {
      create gui         //all the swing stuff goes here
      actionlistener{          //waiting for button to be clicked
         when button is clicked,
         dbQuery dbq = new dbQuery(id)
         name.setText(dbq.getName())
         address.setText(dbq.getAddress())
         .....        //get the rest of the information needed
class dbQuery{
   dbQuery(string id){
      //do all the stuff to get connection. create statment, get sesult set...
      rs.next();
      string name = rs.egtString("Name");
      //.... assuming all db fields are appropriately named
}This is my first attempt at designing more than "Hello World" and your input truly is appreciated!
Merry Christmas!

I am partial to the database layer and the gui layer using a primitive and collections of primitives to share data.
A primitive is implemented as a class in java but it is not an object. Rather it just serves as a convient way to group the certain attributes together. Like this
     class CustomerPrimitive
          public String name;
          public String account;
          public Boolean preferedCustomer;
          public Double accountBalance;
.When I use primitives I tend to use objects rather than java primitivers (Integer rather than int.) This allows me to use the primitives for queries also - a null means don't query on that. In addition it allows me to return null values as nulls.
It is important that a primitive not have any substantial behaviour. For example there could be a validation method that verifies that the account number is not null. But there must not be a validation method to verify that the account number is unique. The first is implemented using simple java (perhaps with java.lang), while the second requires the interaction of numerous classes.

Itunes is saying the next update requires 4.37 Gb of free space... does this sound like a lot?

Why does it need so much space this time? I regularly update it...

And what version of the update?

Is this the dreaded logic board problem?

Hello all
My iBook G4 has recently started having trouble. It will often go into a dark screen, where the caps lock light will go on and off but I can get no other response (though I can hold the power switch to force it to turn off). Often when turning it on, the fan comes on and the caps lock light responds, but I get no further - once in every few tries the laptop turns on.
When using the laptop, every once in a while it will suddenly flash vertical lines on the screen and go into that "half-off" mode; last night when left on for a time there was a loud crackling noise coming from the computer - I turned it off by removing the battery.
Am I looking at spending a day doing the famous shim job, or does this sound like a different problem?

Max,
Well, I was wrong on that one. Even I'm amazed how many people, using computers with different logic boards, are still having this problem. Though I have little sympathy for corporations parsing liability and responsibility, Apple's a small company to have such a potential recall. Want to do them a favor and fix it youself ?
Check my last post on Ollie.g's thread, below yours, titled 'total lockup... tried/answered previous suggestions'. If you can solder microjoints, examine all & do so; if not, use my post. You might be the first to try compressive heat sinks. I like the first, the second is for perfectionists aiming at specific pins, and the third is...well, experimental (and will likely need some expanding grease on the chip side, and expanding pads toward the cover).
My G3 iBook, which suffered this, booted only in single user mode. My damage was innocent, I believe--a system file written that was corrupted by a spark, or whose block was corrupted by a spark. If you can fix it using 'Disk Utility' from a DVD, it's the first. If not, it's the second and needs to be reinitialized (blocks marked bad again). The smiling face is new ( ! ) and must mean it found Mac OS 9: the question mark likely means it didn't find Mac OS X bootable.
Only Mac OS X is damaged, not your home folder. Copy or backup everything of value immediately using Mac OS 9. The iPod is the perfect backup medium, but your most precious items will likely fit onto CDs. Then there's the internet: Apple will sell you 2 Gb for over $100, or freeware will turn Goggle's free mail service into a 2 Gb disk.
Oh, read you backedup up last week. That is amazing. You must have a consultant, or be one. Nice work.
Bruce

3.6MB for one song?? Does this sound correct?

I have just downloaded iTunes and I have downloaded one song. At the bottom of iTunes it is telling me that the song is 1 song, 3.6minutes, 3.6 MB. Does this sound like the correct MB size for one song?? I dont want to start downloading more songs if my settings are incorrect. If this is incorrect setting, how do I change it to get smaller MB per song??
Thanks!

*If this is incorrect setting, how do I change it to get smaller MB per song??*
Sorry, purchased content is only available at 128 kbbs (for regular content) or 256 kbbs per second (for iTunes plus content).

I'm having an unusual problem with my iphone 4S. When I'm making a call, it suddenly sounds like my call has been invaded by aliens! Why is it doing this? I'm also having problems sending texts. Sometimes it sends sometimes it doesn't.

I'm having an unusual problem with my iphone 4S. When I'm making a call, it suddenly sounds like my call has been invaded by aliens! Why is it doing this? I'm also having problems sending texts. Sometimes it sends sometimes it doesn't. What is going on? Can it be fixed? I'm really not liking this new phone!!!!

Could be an issue with your Carrier and/or location...
The Basic Troubleshooting Steps are:
Restart.. Reset.. Restore from Backup... Restore as New...
Try a Reset...
Press the sleep/wake button & home button at the same time, keep pressing until you see the Apple logo, then release the buttons...
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1430

DC In Board or Logic Board problem?

I have a 12" iBook G4 that's about 2 years old. It's been having intermittent problems reading the charger for awhile now and would flash charging and then not charging over and over again before it would begin to charge up again. This weekend it decided to stop reading the charger completely. The battery works fine in another computer and another battery works fine in it -- it just won't charge again once it loses it's juice.
It also will not work with just the power adapter plugged in with no battery. The little light comes on, but doesn't seem to pump power into the computer. And it's not an issue with the charger as it charges our other iBook just fine.
I've read conflicting info elsewhere about what it actually could be so I'm hoping someone could shed some light. Does it sound like just a DC In Board problem? Or a bigger Logic Board problem? Any help would be great... thanks!

From what I have read on this forum, people have managed to get the DC In Board replaced for a little over US $100. This would be at an Apple authorized repair shop rather than by Apple itself. This is much less than the cost of a new MacBook. I don't know what might be available in your area, but it would be worth asking at a repair shop.
Good luck!

Logic Board Problem?

Hey Everyone:
I'm still a fairly new Apple user, coming from a world of DIY computer problems. Problem is, this nice compact ibook of mine prevents me from being able to do much on my own. I'm trying to solicit some advice as to what I can do about my current hardware issues.
About 5 months after having my ibook I noticed white spots on my screen. I knew it would be repaired by Apple, but being the cheap SOB that I am I decided to put it off until the end of my 1 year warranty. I figured I could get everything fixed then, and avoid paying for the extended warranty. Well, I followed through with my plan, but I've noticed some new problems. I'm not too happy about this, but at least I realized these problems in time to extend the warranty.
The Problems:
-The first night I got it back, the computer completely froze! Everything working fine, and BAM! The screen looked fine but the entire system was locked up. Fortunately, this only happened twice that night, and I haven't seen it again.
-Also that first night, the computer would not come out of sleep. It sounded like the hard drive would start spinning, and the flashing light would turn off, but the screen was completely blank. I would be forced to hard reboot, and then things worked better. This led me to a reinstall, but the problem still comes back every so often.
-One day, I logged in to find that my clock had been reset to 12:00 and somewhere around 1960(?). I set the clock to the appropriate time, and have since realized this could be a PMU issue. I just reset the PMU a few minutes ago, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed this could solve the problems.
-A couple of weeks ago, the computer would give the dreaded 3 beeps at startup. This seems to imply that OS X can't find the memory bus, but again this seemed to disappear as well.
I'm looking for some help here. I'm afraid that the Genius bar will just ignore me, because I still can't find a way to reproduce my problems on a regular basis. Yet, the instability is driving me nutty, and I rely on my laptop to get almost all of my work done. Overall, I'm not very pleased with Apple's hardware work. Instead of replacing the entire screen casing, they only replaced the screen itself. That seems like a lot of work with a lot of potential to mess things up on my computer. What's with that farce of a bill that Apple used to convince me to renew my warranty saying that the screen cost $400? No way a screen costs that much, maybe the entire unit. Also, I lift up my keyboard and notice the Technician lost one of the screws. What kind of professional work is that, I ask you?
Does anybody have any advice on how I can get help with these problems? I just want to get through these rough times while minimizing my inconveniences, and avoiding the potential loss of any data. I am making regular backups, I just don't like the idea that my laptop can die on me at any given time without any warning.
Thanks!!!

maciscool,
That's a good guess, but maybe I wasn't clear enough. The only hardware changes are what Apple did when they replaced the screen. If the RAM is faulty, then it is something they damaged, because everything worked fine before I handed my ibook over to the Genius Bar. I ran memtest, and the Apple Diagnostics CD a few times, and I don't get any errors.
I'm more curious as to how people knew they had Logic Board Problems, and how did they prove this to Apple. As I see it, a problem such as this would either be disastrous or unpredictabe, that latter being much harder to prove to the retailer.

New iMac G5 PSU/Logic Board Problems

Hi, I just got a new (old) iMac G5 for $30 and thought, "Well, even if it is broken, at least it comes with the new expensive keyboard/mouse" and so brought it home.
When I plugged it in and first powered it on, it went like normal; the fans started, the sleep light went on, then off, made the power sound, but it didn't power the screen and made a sound before everything but the fans went off. So I unplugged it and plugged it back in to see if it would do it again, but all it does now is make a quick high pitched sound then nothing.
I checked the capacitors and the LEDs on the logic board and they tell me it's the logic board (only LED 1 ever goes on), but the faint smell from the PSU and high pitched sound make me think it's the power supply.
What I want to know is which one is most likely broken, because my plan for the computer is to get it running as cheaply as possible and make it into a nice multipurpose family computer (and it still needs a HD and HD tray). If someone who had a broken logic board before tell me what it did when they tried to start up the computer, it would be helpful.
Anyways, thanks to all in advance, and I know I hight find a better iMac on eBay for the same price as the repairs, but it already saved me $70 for the keyboard and mouse, so I thought I might as well fix it up.

Hi, zzloewrider
_"quick high pitched sound"_ -- i think this sounds like the PSU. The LED diagnostics is a bit misunderstandable in that that it says, when the 2nd LED goes shortly on, then it's the PSU, if it doesn't go on, then it's the LB. In fact, the time during which it goes on, can be VERY short, and badly visible in daylight. Thus, you might have luck that its the PSU, not the more expensive LB. The sounds is that what i remember from my PSU failure as well.
Do you have access to an oscilloscope, or at least to a digital voltmeter? You could try to check the voltages the PSU delivers (the oscilloscope gives you in addition information about stability and spikes). if the PSU delivers unstable voltages, then you know whose fault it is. You might even try then to correct it, possibly by replacing some of the capacitors.
Have a look here: http://www.jimwarholic.com/2008/11/apple-imac-g5-power-supply-issues-and.php
Success!
Thomas

Continual logic board problems?

I just had my third logic board replaced (on my ibook G3 dual usb) this week. It goes out every 13-14 months, like clock work. 2 (including the most recent) out of the 3 times apple has replaced it without fuss or charge. When I received the computer this last time, it booted up fine all of my data and programs were there, except the clock was set to 1969. I had backed everything up on an external hard drive, so I decided to do a clean install of tiger. Tiger installed and booted then I shut it down for the night. This a.m. the computer would not turn on. I tried removing the battery, leaving the battery in, unplugging from the power supply, standing on my head etc. nothing, no apple tone, no light, although the keyboard light is on. Question, what happened? I have not tried resetting the PMU but I am not sure that it will work b/c I cannot even get my computer to turn on....Any thoughts before I send it back to the depot.
also, about the logic board replacement program....is the 3 year time frame a moving window? for example, i bought my ibook in 9-02 but my last logic board was replaced 2-06 is the 3 year time point at 9-05 or 2-09?
any thoughts are greatly appreciated.
Beckley
ibook G3, dual 1.8 G5 Mac OS X (10.4.4)

Your logic borard problem isn't the screen one then? I ask as I have exactly this machine (same RAM too!) and it has developed what sounds like an identical problem. It had its video fault logic board replaced 2 years ago but has been perfect since. Been used daily without a hitch. Then it just shut down without warning.
Now, if you leave it a while (hrs) it boots. You can then run it for a while, typically 10-20 mins (long enough to drop a back up of all the data over a wireless network which all worked fine). The it just suddently and without warning goes to instant death. And will not power up again. Pressing pwoer key or trying the PMU reset produces no response at all. Battery is ahcrged and charging system works when it is running fine.
This suggests a logic board problem but not the video one the free warranty covers. But you are saying yours has had this shut down problem repeatedly?
It has the feeling of being a risk to invest in logic board replacement.

Does this sound like a logic board problem? Blue screen

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