I think my iBook G4 is dying...

I've had my iBook G4 for about a year and lately it's been getting real slow and every few weeks I get the blue screen of death for a few hours, but even before that my display has been going out randomly. Sometimes when I try to wake it from sleep it doesn't come back on, but the computer itself is on (I can hear the volume change, press the caps lock key and see it light up) and other times it just goes out while I'm using it. I'm no expert, but it seems like it could be a loose wire? Thoughts? Any way to fix it? Thanks!

B,
yes, sometimes when I've moved it it's flickered and I think once or twice it's gone out
Most likely that's an inverter problem. If it is you should get it fixed. The problem usually occurs at the hinge point and if it shorts out (vs just opening up) it could blow a tiny SMT fuse on the logic board. Been there and fixed that but a pro is probably going to want to replace the cable and the logic board. $$.
are they something I could fix on my own
Yes if you're experienced.
or would I have to have a pro do it and if so, expensive?
Not too at this point. Probably around $75 + parts (see iFixit for that cost) but maybe more in LA. Oh check w/ DT&T services:
http://www.dttservice.com/
They're in Fremont, CA.
Richard

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I think it's going to die... :(

Hi people!
I think my iBook is going to die. It's a G4, with 6xx ram and a 60g h/d.
I left the computer on today recording a tape from my tape deck using Final Vinyl. It done that fine. I came back and it had gone to screen saver. Woke it from screen saver, and it's been playing hard to get ever since.
I couldn't get it to boot up after it had frozen, i followed the Troubleshooting guides in the handbook and everything. I even had to 'firewire' it to my Bro's eMac-even then it had trouble reading the computer. I had to quit out of it.
When i started it up again though, it all came back on as if nothing had happened. So i went into Disk Utility, asked it to check permissions and it froze again. Shut it down, booted up (eventually) and it was all fine again. So instead of checking permissions, i went straight to repair permissions. It worked, the computer now boots up fine, first go (touchwood). When i was trying to start the Mac up from the install disc earlier, i went into Disk Utility and it didn't even find the HD.... :/
However, my main concern is this. Even a slight lift of the laptop and you can hear the HD spinning/reading/whatever it does. It's a noticeable but quiet noise, even now i'm sitting here typing away. It never done this before-it only started to do this after i woke it from the screensaver earlier. It's not a good noise, it sounds like its knackered-i've never heard a knackered hard drive before, but i'd presume it to sound something like it's doing now-just a constant 'whirring' noise.
I can't afford a new Mac-i want to keep this one. Does it sound like a knackered drive or would a simple HD erase and re-install cure it? Possibly mis-aligned needle or something maybe? Can it do that? If it does need replacing, is it an expensive job, or could i buy the HD and do it myself? I don't want to pull anything apart. It did have to go back to Apple with an HD issue about 5 months after i got it, but that was a good 4 years ago now...
If somebody out there does know the answer or has experienced similar, please give me a shout-i need a solution!
I have an external HD which i've backed up all my stuff onto, so erasing isn't a problem!
Please please please please somebody help...:(

Hi Dan
If your hard drive is indeed dying (and 4 years is not a bad lifespan), then there's nothing you can do to repair it. Replacement is the only option.
Replacing a hard drive on an iBook is not a simple task, and will require quite a bit of disassembly, so I would advise you to get some quotes from local technicians. You can certainly buy the drive yourself, if you want to shop around - you'll find plenty of recommendations on these forums for replacement drives that work well. Expect to pay for 1-3 hours of technician time. If you're happy to reinstall the system yourself, that will save you some money.
Matt

I have two hard drives on my mac 10.5.8 power pc and hear the clickking sounds of the first hard drive and think that it may be dying, can I install everything on the other hard drive also and wait for the first drvie to die before i use the other drives

I have two hard drives on my mac 10.5.8 power pc and hear the clickking sounds of the first hard drive and think that it may be dying, can I install everything on the other hard drive also and wait for the first drive to die before i use the other drives? Or, what is the best way to handle this?

I do not know what you are waiting for.
I'd make a backup of your important stuff before cloning the entire disk.
Carbon Copy Cloner will copy your startup drive to an external firewire drive. You can boot from the external drive to verify that you have a good clone. When you upgrade your existing startup drive, you can at any time boot from your external drive and go back to your existing system.
http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html
SuperDuper is the wildly acclaimed program that makes recovery painless, because it makes creating a fully bootable backup painless. Its incredibly clear, friendly interface is understandable, easy to use, and SuperDuper's built-in scheduler makes it trivial to back up automatically. And it runs beautifully on both Intel and Power PC Macs!

HT4993 My Phone is Black I think my Apple iphone 4 died it been and hour already been charged it all night i can't get calls or call out

My Phone is Black I think my Apple iphone 4 died it been and hour already been charged it all night i can't get calls or call out need help it is christmas I would like to hear for my kids.
8GB

The colour of your iPhone is insignificant. Can you explain what you mean by "my Apple iphone 4 died it been and hour already been charged it all night", which makes no sense at all? If English is not your native language, you are free to post in your own language.

I think my iBook is dying

Background: the CD drive died years ago, but it runs Tiger just fine. Replaced the battery a few weeks ago and it holds a charge well. A few months ago, the trackpad sensor (?) started getting iffy, but I learned how to tighten it up by popping out the keyboard and Airport card and pushing in the ribbon thingy. It's a backup Mac -- my sister uses it to play games while on bed rest, and my mom uses it for e-mail and FaceBook when I'm working on the desktop iMac.
Yesterday, Mom said the "pointer" froze while she was logging off FaceBook, so I shut it down and tightened it. I booted up, turned on Airport, and got online. No problem.
This morning, Mom was on FaceBook when it froze -- not the "pointer," but the internet connection. I tried to re-boot, but got the dreaded "?" symbol. I was able to shut it down, and upon starting it again, managed to get about 95% success. Everything showed up on the desktop, but portions of the menu bar were missing -- Airport icon, clock, etc.
I shut down and tried to boot into Safe Mode. It never got past the grey screen with the Apple logo and rotating "gear." After a half hour or so, I forced shutdown and let it rest an hour.
I then started it up again and reset the PRAM -- again, it won't get past the grey screen/logo/rotating gear. There's a faint clicking-growl-buzzing sound.
I'll most likely buy a cheap replacement on eBay, until I can afford a new one, but I'd like to be able to get this one up and running long enough to do a proper clean-off. Any suggestions are appreciated!

My wife had the same freeze and then no startup. Plus deafening jet-engine-like fan noise. Black screen.
This seems to be a failure of the logic board, as I learned in these archived threads:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/209089?tstart=0
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/210455?start=15&tstart=0
The discussions about the loud fan and startup failure seems to indicate the only solution is a new logic board. But still, I'm wondering, is there any other possible solution?
Or maybe it's finally time to move up from Tiger to Lion ;-)

Ibook G4 is dying!

I have encountered many problems with my year old ibook G4. The first problem was the unexpected shutting off that has been posted many times in this forum. The second problem was the battery will only charge up to 72%. Eventually the battery died. The third problem is that my ibook does turn on but it does not start anymore. The usual start-up sound does not occur, instead the internal fan just goes on to make an unusual annoying noise. I'm really disappointed with this ibook, specially when I called support two weeks before my warranty ran out, and they don't provide any helpful input. Does anybody know what happened to my ibook?

B,
yes, sometimes when I've moved it it's flickered and I think once or twice it's gone out
Most likely that's an inverter problem. If it is you should get it fixed. The problem usually occurs at the hinge point and if it shorts out (vs just opening up) it could blow a tiny SMT fuse on the logic board. Been there and fixed that but a pro is probably going to want to replace the cable and the logic board. $$.
are they something I could fix on my own
Yes if you're experienced.
or would I have to have a pro do it and if so, expensive?
Not too at this point. Probably around $75 + parts (see iFixit for that cost) but maybe more in LA. Oh check w/ DT&T services:
http://www.dttservice.com/
They're in Fremont, CA.
Richard

I think my hard drive is dying?

My daughter's ibook G-4 seems to be dying. Although she's had it for almost 5 years (yes, really), it's recently started to lock up or go blank even when she's using it or even if she moves it a little. She has to restart constantly - every few minutes. Can anyone help?

Welcome to Apple Discussions!
After 5 years, the hard drive could well be dying, as they have an average useful life span of 3-5 years.
Unfortunately, it could also be having logic board problems.
Do you have the original discs? If so, a good place to start troubleshooting is with the Apple Hardware Test, which will be on one of the original discs. Run the extended version, and repeat back how it goes. In particular, notice if it seems to run normally when booted from the disc, or if it has the same problems as when booted from the hard drive. If you get any error codes, post back with them.
Good luck!

Ibook g4 has died with a dvd inside. How can I get the dvd out?

Have an ibook G4 at work. The computer will no longer turn on. Seems like the hard drive has died because the battery is still lighting up. I have a dvd in the computer, though. How can I get it out when the computer won't boot up?

HI,
Even though the iBook won't boot, try the suggestions here just in case.
How to eject your disc
If you have another Mac and a Firewire cable, you may be able to use Target Disk Mode to eject the disc in the iBook. How to use and troubleshoot FireWire target disk mode
Carolyn

Ibook G3 just died after installing 10.4.1 update

I have been using my ibook g3 with 10.2 for a couple of months now. I suffered from the logic board/ graphics chip problem but managed to fix this myself.
Today i got 10.4 and it installed fine, I had a strange problem where my speedtouch modem wouldnt install but I managed to connect a network up to my pc.
I then tried software update but would not connect over the network so I had to download update 10.4.1 from the apple site.
It installed fine, but when it went to reboot itself it went straight to sleep instead of turning off. It did not respond then and It would not turn off or wake up, not even by holding the power button down.
After a while i took the battery out, left it a bit and then placed it back in. When I went to boot up nothing happend.
I have tried everything i can possibly think of like resetting the power, taking out the battery but it still wont work.
There is a strange thing where if the battery and adapter are pluuged in and you reset the power the adapter led cuts out. I have not noticed this before so am not sure wether this is normal or not.
appologies for the long rambling but if anyone has any ideas or thought's then please let me know.
Cheers John

Hmm, interesting problem. Now, when you say you reset the power did you do what's known as a PMU reset?
From knowledge base article: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=14449#faq6
For iBook (16 VRAM) and later models of iBook, there is no physical reset button.
If the computer is on, turn it off.
Reset the power manager by simultaneously pressing and then releasing Shift-Control-Option-Power on the keyboard. Do not press the fn (Function) key while using this combination of keystrokes.
Wait 5 seconds.
Press the Power button to restart the iBook computer.

I think my ibook is totally screwed.....

ok, so first off, I'm going to sound like an idiot. I manage bands, not computers..... I envy whoever can answer this. So I was in the "get info" section of my hard drive and dropped down the ownership and permissions window and I think I accidentally left it on "no access" then when I closed that window, everything went away except for the dock, nothing would open so I restarted the computer. I get to the log in screen no problem, type in my password..... and then it just sits with a blank bluue screen. Also, I don't have any of my original cd'ss that came with the computer, but i do have my imac g5 cd's if that would do anything?...... so I guess I'm screwed????
Anyway, If anybody can figure this out, I will send you cd's t-shirts. you can check out the band @ www.myspace..com/scientistvswerewolf

Did you have a backup of everything on your iBook before this happened, perhaps on your iMac G5? Or are there files on the iBook that are not currently on the iMac? Depending on the answer, that presents two possible solutions.
First, you can't use your CDs from the iMac on the iBook; they're not compatible, so if you don't can't find the CDs for your iBook. you will need to buy a retail version of OS X 10.3 or 10.4, whichever you need or prefer.
If you can find the CDs for your iBook, you can use it to run Disk Utility and Repair Permissions; this may fix the problem. If not, assuming you have a backup of what's on the iBook or at least nothing you can't easily replace, you can do an Archive & Install, preserving Uses and Network settings. This will move everything currently on the iBook to a Previous System folder, which won't be usable anymore. If the files you need are in one of its sub folders, you can copy them over to your new install and then delete the Previous System folder.
Can't find the iBook CDs? Then you should try connecting your iBook and iMac in Target Disk Mode, and see if you can use Disk Utility to repair permissions on the iBook. In this case, the iBook is the Target.
In the future, don't change anything unless you understand the consequences of doing it, and have a backup plan just in case.
Hope this helps,
Mulder
iMac G4 700Mhz Mac OS X (10.3.9)

I think my iBook G4 got "fried" this a.m.

I was writing emails this morning when there was a "pop" and the house electric went out. When it came back on I could not start my iBook G4 again. I think it may be fried but I made an appt with the Genius Bar just for confirmation. I did not have a surge protector attached!! My fault!! Is there a re-set button somewhere I don't know about?

The following kb article will tell you how to reset the PMU:
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1431

I think my iBook is dead...

This really burns me up. I've owned two Apple laptops now, and both died within a few weeks of having them. I thought that Apples were the most reliable computers out there?
Anyway, up until about ten minutes ago, this iBook hasn't given me any trouble at all, aside from a battery issue. Anyway I was just casually perusing the internet for maybe 10 minutes. I then had put the iBook down for 2 minutes to help my girlfriend do something. When I went back, the computer was kind of frozen; I could move the mouse around but couldn't do anything else. I then closed the lid to try to put it to sleep--no luck. When I opened it, the screen kind of flickered and some lines flickered across the screen. It did that for maybe 5 seconds and then the screen went blank. I tried to put the comptuer to sleep by closing the lid, but no luck. I then shut it down by holding the power button. Now I can't get it to turn on again.
So is this a dead logic board? This stinks. It was already replaced once; why would it die again? I was just starting to like Apples again after the last failure...

You may want to calling (800) 767-2775 and ask for Customer Relations (NOT Customer Service--they can't help you) and ask them to please make an exception to the three-year limit in your case.
It has been suggested by a couple of engineers who posted in the Displays Forum that picking it up by the left front corner alone can cause enough flexing of the case to make the solder of the graphics chip come loose from the logic board, causing this failure. The recommendation is to never pick it up by the left front corner alone. If you're picking it up with your left hand, pick it up in the center of the trackpad.
Other Apple laptops have logic board failures, but not in as great numbers as the iBook G3 (Dual USB).
If you are unwilling to pay to have it fixed, and Apple won't fix it, you may want to try John Sawyer's do-it-yourself fix:
http://discussions.apple.com/messageview.jspa?messageID=1033473
Instructions for removing the lower case can be found here:
http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/50.5.0.html
PowerBook Tech buys non-working iBooks and parts them out, but I have no idea what they pay for them.
Whatever you decide, good luck.

My iBook G4 has died . . .

Hi, I think I know the answer to this, or fear I do, but here is my query. I've had my iBook about four and a half years and it's always worked great. Just recently the optical drive packed in. Then when I tried to boot up it would freeze. Now I just get the blue screen of death. I had a local computer guy look at it and he was quoting me £700 to fix it (new superdrive, new logic board) and told me to throw it away and get a new one. I'd rather not do that because it's got loads of stuff on the hard drive and I really like using it. Has he quoted me the right amount? Or is there anything else I can do?
Thanks in advance.

If your screen is flickering, it could be the inverter board or cable instead of the logic board. Try an external display and see if the problem persists. If it does, run the Apple Hardware Test and see if you get an error code which would indicate a failing video chip on the logic board. If this is the case, it would require a replacement chip as well as a reball to fix.
However, if the external display is fine, then the video chip is likely OK. But there could still be a problem with the internal display in the form of a problem with the inverter cable or board.
Chips are held to the logic board by a ball grid array, which can fail over time. Reballing means sending the board to a specialist to have the ball grid array replaced. I sent my logic board to Superior Reball last fall for a reball, and got it back and it has worked perfectly ever since.
http://www.superiorreball.com/
The best thing to do is to research "logic board shim" on this forum, as there is a great deal written about making a home made shim which will exert pressure on the chip in question and cause it to make better contact and work again. If the shim makes the problem go away, then the logic board will be a good candidate for a reball. Making and installing the shim is a good way to test that the chip itself is working, but that it is not well connected to the logic board.
However, if your display problems are actually caused by the inverter cable or board, fixing the logic board with a reball won't necessarily fix the display problems.
It's also possible that when you replaced the hard drive, you didn't seat one of the connectors fully. That would be something to check before doing anything else.
Good luck!

I think my hard drive is dying, do you agree?

Hello folks! I have a late 2011 15" MbP, and recently it has become extremely slow and glitchy. I have checked the activity monitor to see if anything is using up my memory (I have 8 gb) or my processor (I picked the best one offered at the time), and even when my computer is completely frozen, the activity monitor does not show any excessive processor or ram usage. My computer being glitchy and slow randomly started about 5 days ago, I have not installed/done anything different in the last few days, so I don't think that is the problem. Also, I have windows 7 installed via bootcamp, and it is experiencing the exact same problems. I have had to force restart (hold the power button down) both operating systems at least 2 times each today, so I think it is getting worse. Does this sound like a failing hdd to anyone?
Thanks!

Actually I took some time to "revisit" the free space recommendations. For power users (e.g. media production) users free space is recommended not to drop below 50% of the boot volume space.
The fusion drive puts the OS on one drive and your applications & data on another - its seamless you don't have to do anything the OS is monitoring how much free space the boot volume can access.
Partitioning a single drive (in the case of Mavericks that wants 8GB minimum - such a partition should be that 8, plus room for VMEM and scratch files)... so make a 12-25GB partition (how many apps will you install) and put the OS on that would act in a like manner - but it would not be a Fusion drive and it would not be seamless,
You would use the rest of the drive for storage and apps that do not have to reside (installer allows you to change the default install site) on the boot volume.

I think my ibook g4 install disk might be curupted

when i insert disk 1 of the ibook g4 install disk it takes forever for the drive to read the disk than when the window opens and i try to run the installer it does not work. i am trying to reinstall quicken that came with my ibook(late 2004 model)if i just try to run the bundeled installer it doesn't even open the installer at all the conputer just frezzes.

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I think my iBook G4 is dying...

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