Dying iBook?

One of my friends has a iBook G4, and recently it has developed a problem. A sound coming from the hard drive area of the iBook started happening, and recently, the computer has started shutting down after shortly being on. At first, we thought that a fan in that area was malfunctioning or built up too much dirt and was making that noise.
I'm familiar with building PCs, so I took some of the iBook apart (the the bottom shell and metal plate under the shell, and looking at the hard drive, I can't really see any fans in that area? Is there a fan near the hard drive opposite the side where the motherboard is? Or could it be that the sound is coming from the hard drive itself? Thanks!
iBook G4 Mac OS X (10.4)

Hi Rc251,
Welcome to Apple Discussions
First off, building PCs is very different that Macs in my opinion. The hard drive area is probably just the hard drive writing and reading which will make some noise that sounds like a fan. The fan is actually right in the back (opposite the trackpad where the display is connected. How much space does your friend have on their hard drive (free)? You may want to look at the following.
Knowledge Base Document #106214 on Troubleshooting Startup Issues
Knowledge Base Document #107393 on How to Startup In Safe Mode (Startup in Safe Mode).
This sounds like your friends hard drive is getting close to being full. Does your friend have the install discs that came with the computer? Does it shut down or does the screen just go black? When the screen goes black, does the light next to the display release come on? Does your friend get a kernel panic (Knowledge Base Document #106227 on What's a "kernel panic"? (Mac OS X))? In the future go to Console (Utilities folder > Console) > Click Logs > system.log. Are there any repeating messages? If so post them in this thread because it might help.
Where does your friend keep their iBook? Does he/she use it on a desk, bed, lap, etc? Does your friend use the AC adapter all the time? What program(s) is your friend using when this happens?
Jon
Mac Mini 1.42Ghz, iPod (All), Airport (Graphite & Express), G4 1.33Ghz iBook, G4 iMac 1Ghz, G3 500Mhz, iBook iMac 233Mhz, eMate, Power Mac 5400 LC, PowerBook 540c, Macintosh 128K, Apple //e, Apple //, and some more... Mac OS X (10.4.5) Moto Razr, iLife '06, SmartDisk 160Gb, Apple BT Mouse, Sight..

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=( My iBook is still dead!!! (with included symptoms of a dying iBook)

I bought my iBook last May2004. I loved my iBook and took really good care of it. After one year of usage, all of a sudden my iBook stopped working -- a month after my warranty had expired... It all started with the "sleeping problem" -- when it didn't want to go to sleep even after my lid was already down... there were even times when it got really hot in my bag because it didn't sleep... then sooner the problem got worst... it wouldn't boot normaly -- it would boot 1 out of 4 times of trying to boot-it-up... I also got the weird screen with different funky colors... then one day, all I hear is my iBooks fan when I press the power button... I brought it to the Mac Shop in the Philippines and they are charging me about P30,000 ($555-US) because they said it "might" be the logic board. I decided not to get it fixed here because I couldn't afford such amount... when I went to pick it up and got their invoice, their invoice mentioned "probable logic board failure"... the word "probable" kinda smells fishy... did they really check what was the problem?... ANYWAYS,... 5 after I took it back from the shop I decided to remove the battery and let it sit there for awhile...3 months after, I used my power cord to power up my laptop and used my boot cd to boot up my iBook...supprisingly, it worked... then I decided to shut my laptop off and get my battery charging... after my battery was fully charged, i turned my laptop on again and it was still working... , i unplugged my power cord and left my laptop running on battery and it still worked...BUT,... when I got tired of enjoying my again working iBook, I put my laptop in a sleep mode by closing its lid... then its LCD lights didn't automaticaly turn-off like usual even if the lid was already down... so I opened it again and pressed my space button to try to get it running but now it just went to a blank screen... again, all I hear is a fan when I turn it on and that was the last of it working... what's up with my beloved iBook?... I personaly know 7 other people (friends)experiencing the problem -- not including those I've meet in the internet -- you don't wanna know how many they are. PLEASE HELP! MY iBOOK is still DEAD!!!!!!
Note: Phrases that are underlined and are in bold letters are the usual symptoms of a dying iBook G4. Believe me. I've search all over this discussion board since 2005 and all I see are people expressing their deep sorrow and grief about their dead iBook G4. I miss me iBook so much and all that is in it. It is still sitting in my bag waiting to be resurrected. A few days ago I planned to get a MacBook because I really missed my iBook, but upon stumbling upon this Discussion Board again, I still feel much dissatisfaction from both old and new users of iBooks and MacBooks -- from the same logic board issues. I dare you find it out yourself by surfing around this Discussion Board.
To those who are in my shoes: "I feel your agony"
To those who's iBook still works: "You're one of the lucky few...but just wait...huh."
To those who are planning to buy one: "True. iBooks and MacBooks are really cool with very cool design and very good OS. But my friend, think it over plenty of times. Im not telling you to not buy one but its really painful to wake-up one day and your beloved iBook/MacBook is DEAD and its now just as useful as a paperweight or probably a doorjam or maybe even a cutting board. Believe me, I know."
Unless APPLE would decide to backup their systems with a 3year warranty(WHY NOT?), I wouldn't....
Mr. Steve Jobs, Sir, with full respect, that's my dare to you.
ilogboy
Feb. 21, 2007
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on some G4 iBooks similar problems could be caused by display cables - they wear out and can cause electric short
or color issues.
in any case it supposed to be diagnosed properly.

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as we speak i am waiting for my new macbook to be delivered. it is to replace an ibook that has served me well but is on its last legs. i have been constantly been backing up in time machine on an external hard drive........now how do i get all of my music, movies docs etc. onto the new macbook?
i also have an ipad and ipods(touch) to be synched with the new laptop. what do i do? thanks

When you get your new macbook, it will ask you if you want to suck your account, data, etc. across from your iBook using something called Migration Assistant. Connect your two computers together by firewire, ethernet or airport, and let it do all the work!

My dying iBook G4

Hi,
My iBook G4 has a failing logic board - took it into a dealer and he ran some tests - he said it will cost me £400 plus to get it fixed.
Is this a realistic price and does anyone know where the best place to get it fixed in the UK is?
My battery as also stopped charging, but I'm guessing this is to do with the logic board.
I have checked the serial number and this iBook is not covered under the logic board replacement scheme and it is also out of warranty.
Any advice would be great as I dearly love my iBook.
Thanks,
Ben

Hi Ben, £400 sounds a bit steep. That's more than ½ the cost of a new one. How long out of warrantee is it? Have you tried talking to Apple's Customer relations about this?
I found this interesting, especially jimjimjim's post.
ibook G4 1GHz, 768mb; iMac 17" G4:768mb (10.3.9) Mac OS X (10.4.5) Belkin Wireless F5D7632

Dying IBook G4-Use External HD Possible

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Ich habe Bücher über textunes im Store gekauft die ich nicht in die "iBooks" Anwendung integrieren kann. Schade!
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melder55 wrote:
moin moin aus Hamburg !
Ich habe Bücher über textunes im Store gekauft die ich nicht in die "iBooks" Anwendung integrieren kann. Schade!
_*iTunes feedback*_
Und ich hab bei den meisten Büchern leider keine Leseprobe.
laut dem textunes internetauftritt (http://www.textunes.de/WebObjects/textunes.woa/cms/1010314/Start.html) gibt es kostenlose leseproben. ausserdem bietet textunes eine kostenlose app im app store an
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I think I may have a dead/dying iBook G4 933MHz and just want to know if there is anything extra I can try before calling Apple or bringing it in.
The original problem that one day I started getting severe graphics corruption on the screen and the system locked up, no keyboard or mouse. Holding the power button in wouldn't shutdown the laptop, so I unplugged the power and pulled the battery. Tried turning the laptop on again and was getting graphic corruption at the gray Apple logo screen that was very apparent in the 'spinning' bars at the bottom of the screen. So I shut the laptop down for the evening and left it alone until the next morning. Now whenever it turns on, I get a black screen and the cooling fan running at max speed. I tried resetting the PMU, PRAM, and booting to firewire disk mode w/ no luck. I removed the Airport card and the RAM module w/ the same results. I opened it up and took the hard drive out because there was files on it I needed right away and tried formatting the drive and reloading OSX to see if it was something on the disk, and that didn't do anything. I also removed the CD-RW drive as well and still get nothing.
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Hi Kevead,
Welcome to the Discussions.
If you have Apple Care extended warranty by all means call them. If not there are cheaper alternatives. The symptoms are pointing to a failed logic board. Apple charges over $800. The following link about $300.
http://www.dttservice.com/index.html
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Help! Message "pdf could not be saved because an unknown error occurred. Try saving to a different l

I had the contents of my (dying) ibook transferred onto my emac. The tech created a new user/desktop on the emac. Now, when I try to open PDF files from a website, I get a drop down window saying this:
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3) the settings are set in Firefox to download pdf's to my desktop;
4) I have the latest version of Adobe Reader, which I already tried opening before downloading;
5) the settings are also set to open pdfs using adobe.

I had the same problem when I installed Firefox 3, but I think the problem is due to my recent hard drive upgrade. Try changing the download location from "Desktop" in Microsoft Internet Explorer and all other browsers (Safari, Firefox, etc.) to whatever default location you prefer. I never use Internet Explorer, but I think somehow my settings were corrupted when I upgraded my hard drive. I found this solution on another site also.

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I recently got a free MacBook from Apple to replace my dying iBook G4 of almost 3 years. It's been working great. Got everything running great, Boot Camp'd it, and have enjoyed using it with both OSes.
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My workaround appears to have been successful.
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2. Make an image of the OS X partition on the host computer using Disk Utility.
3. Erase and zero the OS X partition using Disk utility
4. Restore the OS X Partition using Disk utility.
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The key piece of information to determine whether this fix is for you is the kernel panic while attempting to mount you disk in single-suer mode. If the MacBook gives a kernel panic identical to the one listed by the OP. The steps above appear to be a valid fix for such a problem.
MacBook Core2Duo 2 GHz Mac OS X (10.4.8)

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Points to note: 1) The "xxxxx.pdf" part of the above message changes each time I try to open a pdf document, even the same one, and it does not show the real name of the document (e.g. CollegeApplication.pdf)
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Will the new account save to a different location?
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A less expensive battery source:
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Old ibook has died; Can I get my thesis off hard-drive and on to macbook?

Howdy,
My trusty old ibook has finally died (which is understandable; it is some six years old and has been around the world with me, and has served me well)... however, i didn't have the foresight to get some very important files (my thesis among them) backed up elsewhere...
When I attempt to turn on the ibook, the screen stays black, i hear one or two chirps, and then nothing... if i put my ear close, i can hear the extremely soft sound of something spinning (the harddrive, i assume).
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Is there anything else I can try to access the important data on my ibook, and transfer files onto my macbook? Thank you so much for any help and advice... it will be much appreciated!
love,
dewfall

Dewfall:
Ronda's suggestion to try Disk Warrior is a good idea. Actually there are three excellent directory maintenance and repair utilities (including Disk Warrior): Tech Tool Pro, Disk Warrior and DriveGenius
These all do a great job of repairing directories and have revived many a seemingly dead HDD. TechTool Pro and DriveGenius do a number of other things, and even they you purchase one of these and it does not work, it is a good tool to have in your toolkit. I own both TechTool Pro and Disk Warrior and use one or the other at least monthly.
However, your main concern at the moment is to rescue your data, and if the drive is viable at all, placing it in an enclosure and connecting to another mac will help. The directions linked in my earlier post are very explicit and helpful. The enclosure linked there is the best price I have seen anywhere, and it does have the more reliable Oxford 911+ chipset. If you decide to remove the HDD here are few tips you may find helpful:
• Print out the ifixit directions as well as the screw guide ahead of time.
• Be sure you have the right tools. You don't want to damage the screw heads or you may never get them out. And the Torx 8 screw driver is critical.
• I use small medicine cups one for the screws in each step. I nest them so that the last ones out and the first to go back in are on top. You can use an ice cube tray, egg carton, dixie cups etc. (Some users report cutting up the screw guide and placing the applicable section in each container.)
• Be very careful pulling out leads. Hold the lead as close to the plug as possible and wiggle (the plug ) to loosen its grip. Don’t hold the wires and pull as that can damage the cable, or worse, in some instances pull the wires out of the plug. Use needle nose pliers if you can access the plug, or nudge the plug with a small instrument to help loosen its grip.
• Use force gently in removing parts. Separating upper and lower case takes some doing. Use a plastic tool (spudge) so as not to leave marks.
• Refer to the screw guide when reassembling computer. Putting longer screws in the wrong place can perforate the circuit board.
Please do post back should you have further questions or comments.
Cheers
cornelius

My iBook is dying?

Hi, I have an iBook G4. In the last month, it has been having some issues. First of all it started to shutdown randomly, and when it is off, it doesn't start unless I take out the battery.
Also the display when off the other day, but the computer was still on.
Is muy iBook dying?
How can I fix it? If I erase all the data and start all over, would that help?

Tom:
Since you do not specify which iBook you have click here and navigate to your iBook, the click on HD replacement for step by step directions.
In terms of tools, you can get the tools from ifixit. Look in the right sidebar under required tools.
Here are few tips you may find helpful:
• Print out the ifixit directions as well as the screw guide ahead of time.
• Be sure you have the right tools. You don't want to damage the screw heads or you may never get them out. And the Torx screw driver is critical. For a spudge I use the handle of an old toothbrush (choose one made of hard plastic), cut off the brush and bevelled the handle end like a flat blade screw driver).
• Picking up on one user’s suggestion, I clicked on the pages of each step which involved removing screws to enlarge, then printed out the pages. I poked holes in the paper where the screws were removed, poked the screws in the holes and stacked the pages in order in which there were removed. Reassembling was a lot easier. No cups to tip over and spill. No guessing. Each screw was exactly in the right place. You can use an ice cube tray, egg carton, dixie cups etc. I previously used small medicine cups one for the screws in each step. I nested them so that the last ones out and the first to go back in are on top. (Some users report cutting up the screw guide and placing the applicable section in each container.)
• Be very careful pulling out leads. Hold the lead as close to the plug as possible and wiggle (the plug ) to loosen its grip. Don’t hold the wires and pull as that can damage the cable, or worse, in some instances pull the wires out of the plug. Indeed, some users have pulled the socket off the logic board! Use needle nose pliers or tweezers if you can access the plug, or nudge the plug with a small instrument to help loosen its grip.
• Use force gently in removing parts. Separating upper and lower case takes some doing. Use a plastic tool (spudge) so as not to leave marks.
• Refer to the screw guide when reassembling computer. Putting longer screws in the wrong place can perforate the circuit board.
cornelius

Dying iBook?

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