IBook G4 "Fans of Death"

Hey there guys, just swapped an old iBook G4 of mine since the old one was dead, and since the swap I'll press the power button, black screen, then the fans will run at max, this will go until i disconnect the battery. I've tried reseting the PMU already. I've noticed when I press the power button the power adapter will change colors.

There may be a hardware problem behind this symptom, in some instances it could involve some circuits on the logic board; but there could be other causes, too.
A general dogpile of results came in when I used google search of symptoms: ibook g4 fan running black screen https://www.google.com/#q=ibook+g4+fan+running+black+screen to include questions/replies from elsewhere online. To include a few from Apple support discussion communities.
This Apple communities discussion probably covers most angles of the symptoms...
https://discussions.apple.com/message/18547073#18547073
There are a few authorized repair facilities that offer a fix for solder joints that may be a cause of this problem; in that the hot/cold flexing of solder joints on the logic board had been suggested as a cause of failure in certain instances. In the case of this kind of repair, once opened up and corrected, any additional upgrade or replacement of worn parts is nominal over the cost of the parts.
Hopefully this helps somewhat.
Good luck & happy computing!

Similar Messages

Ibook G4 fans?

I assume the ibook G4 has a built in cooling fan, correct? So my question is, how often should the fan be kicking on? I've had my ibook for about 2 months now, and I run off the battery often; as well as , straight AC powerand have never heard them run. I haven't had any over-heating issues (that I'm aware of). Are these fans just ultra quite to where you will not notice them running?

You'll hear the fan if it kicks in. In the iBooks, the fan won't idle--it will only kick in if the CPU/hard drive is warm enough. On my machine (1 GHz G4 from late-2004), the fan doesn't kick in until the hard drive has hit 140 F (at least, I believe it's the hard drive--it's been so long since I heard the fan that I'm not certain anymore!).
If you have the original discs for the computer, you can run the Apple Hardware Test which will spin the fan up to make sure it's working.
~Lyssa

IBook G4 Fan

Do iBook G4s have fan(s)? I don't hear my iBook's fan running? And the info from iStat Pro says:
Fans: Rear enclosure 0rpm. What does that mean?
iBook G4, iMac, MacBook Mac OS X (10.4.9)

I have heard my fans, but not very often--usually just on a hot day when the iBook has been on a long time. They come on, run a while, and then shut down. But I can go months without hearing them. If you are using your iBook in a cool air conditioned environment, it may just not get hot enough for the fans to come on. When mine do, the left palm rest feels hotter than usual. I wouldn't worry unless your computer feels extra hot or something like that.

G4 ibook Black Screen and "Fan of Death"

(Posted last night. Removed for unspecified reasons. edited so is within terms of use and reposted).
My 2nd ibook just died. Treated it like a baby never dropped on it's head or anything, and yesterday it suddenly decided to play up.
So what happened?
Well I'm sitting there with the 12" G4 ibook on my lap and blink the screen goes black, power still on, backlighting still on, but no display. Hmmm.
Ok let's not panic, turned off, waited, then turned on again.
Nothing! No image no start-up, except the rear fans going at MAX SPEED.
Turned it off **** quick. Turned on...same thing Whirrrrrr!
This continues until finally machine stays on. For 2-3 minutes that is, then blink the screen blacks out again, no beachball nothing just off!
Ever since then nothing but the fan! No start-up screen nothing.
So I start reasearching, and turns out a LOT of people have been experiencing the exact same problem. Okay now I'm freakin'
I read more and there it is a website explaining the situation: (link removed in case this is frowned upon).
Suggests there may be a batch manufactured around the same time in late '04 - '05, that have faulty soldering on a chip just to the laft of the trackpad. I don't know but I'm not impressed as I went through this with the G3 ibook this replaced which was part of the batch with the faulty logicboards.
Thankfully Apple eventually acknowledged the problem there and my and other peoples G3 ibooks were fixed, but this time the're saying there's no problem! I am unimpressed.
It's not right that I buy TWO ibooks only to have them BOTH die after a couple of years of careful use. Not right at all!! The ingenious remedy put forward by others with the same problem is applying a lot of pressure to the casing in that spot to force the chip to make a connection to the solder(?!), perhaps even using a clamp to keep it held down.
Guess what I tried it, palm down max pressure, and IT WORKS! Take my hand away and Zzzt screen off and back to square one. The alternative and only official avenue to resolve the problem? BUY A NEW LOGICBOARD?!?!
I have a Mac Mini, iMac and 3 iPods so you know I love you're work Apple, but there are limits to what a person can reasonably put up with! At this stage after being twice burnt with your notebooks I'm VERY hesitant about repeating the mistake.
Finding an email link on your site so I can lodge my issue has proved impossible. Hopefully I'll get a response other than a deletion.
Reading others posts, at present more than 2000 people have enquired about the same problem, and an independant body has verified the problem (complete with macro photos of the cracked soldering), so this is hardly an anomoly! All I want is a sign you are taking this seriously.
Sincerely,
W.Whatford
Australia.

I helped my friend fix his 2 year old iBook that had the same problem.
We found information on the probable cause after doing some Google searching on phrases such as "G4 iBook logic board". It was one or 2 solder joints that had gone bad, connecting a chip to the logic board. It's a 28 pin chip, the Intersil ISL6225 power controller, the suspect pin is most likely #28 and maybe adjacent pins, and maybe #1. If you search around you can find more information.
We decided to try to fix it ourselves. We partly disassembled the iBook to the point where we could remove the bottom half of the white plastic shell case. You can find WWW guides on doing this. We used an old 35mm camera lens reversed to act as a high-powered magnifying glass to study the chip pin solder joints. Using a small soldering iron we attempted to re-solder one of the pins, which appeared to have come loose possibly due to repeated on/off heating cycles or a cold solder joint. We just reheated the suspect solder joints and did not add new solder, as this was the advice on another forum. However the iBook still had the same problem afterward and pin 28 seemed to be loose, although it is difficult to see, you really need a mucroscope.
Then we decided to take the iBook to a friend who had lots of experience repairing small circuit boards. He used a soldering iron and some solder to re-solder several of the chip pins and then used a special "de-soldering" braid wire to remove the excess solder that was now connecting together some of the chip pins. He heated the chip pins for about 5 seconds and was fairly rough with the board in applying pressure. He told us that these small chips can take more heat than you might expect, and the logic boards are strong and it's pretty hard to damage them by bending them a little or by touching a connection.
We fired up the iBook again and it now works! It has been OK for about a week. We're hoping it will last a few more years, or until the next MacBook becomes too hard to resist.
BTW taking apart and later re-assembling the case is tricky and we ended up scratching it up a little at the joint line (there are downloadable manuals that can help with this). But the iBook was dead before and now it works so it was worth it.
iBook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.1)

Ibook G4 fan issue

Hi there
I have an ibook G4 14" 933MHz - when I turn it on the cooling fan comes on full speed and keeps running - everything else works fine - any clues whats causing this?
thanks
Troy

i had this issue with a different laptop (sony). when i took it apart, the case was filled with dust, causing the components to run too hot.
what temp is your computer running? after being used for several hours, my ibook cpu temp is at 119 F. i use istatpro to keep tabs on my temps.
Message was edited by: jkoce

IBook Cooling Fan not working correctly.

My G4 iBook's cooling fan no longer comes on. It gets really warm after being on for a while, but the fan does not come on.

Yes. The new iBook 12" that I have is confirm to have heating problems with the Toshiba Hard Drive 40GB. I have sold like 20 of them that have such issue. And I have one as well!
I am going to call apple care hotline to find out later.
Because the hard drive is so hot and really shoot up to 70C when I switch on the Processor to highest performance in system preferences setting.
and it will shoot up to 6xC when I am just listening to iTunes for more than a few hours.
I think Apple should change a better hard drive for users.
because I do allot of typing and i could felt my left palm is actually very uncomfortable, especially when i am doing multimedia scripting and typing some database information. It just gets near to a burning state if I keep my palm longer there. Currently, I am using a cool gel pad for eyes to keep the heat in control and my palm away from it. I have a powerBook Pismo before that the bottom of the machine is hot. That's OK, because i work allot on table top even going out. This is annoying with the left palm rest heating problem.
I hope Apple should take note on this serious heating hard drive and change it for all the users soon.

IBook g4 (04) sudden death, plugged in

My wife's iBook has begun to power down without notice on battery-only AND on power. When it shuts down, the line-in remains gree-or-orange lit, depending on the battery's charge state.
I do not recall if the battery was subject to the recall and replacement. However until this issue surfaced within the past two weeks, she was getting four to six hours out of the battery.
I don't have her specs handy, but thought I'd post in hopes of a couple opinions.
I note a plethora of power-related issues in here, but mostly appearing to affect only iBooks off power, not both on and off. Additionally, given that the the battery appears good and appears to charge, does this problem point to a failure somewhere downstream of the power system?
My thought for next step is essentially to cart it over to the Apple Store for a diagnostic. Thoughts?

Interestingly, I had some similar issues not quite two years ago:
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=3595408#3595408
but foolishly I neglected to post my resolution. I suspect we just bought a new battery.

Fan of death?

I've got one of the last Core Duo MBPs and about 2 days ago it started making some very grim noises, sounds like a faulty fan gone awol - it's coming from the right side - and is less whine that whirr.. . i'm also getting a temperature reading of 77c, which is insane, as i've just turned it on!
any ideas?

I have this same issue if the laptop is held at an angle ( on my lap while im on the couch ). It only makes the horrid sound at certain speeds, and thankfully only occurs once in a while.
As a side note, this fan noise started immediately after receiving the laptop back from apple repairs ( they replaced the power converter ).

Screaming fan of death

After eight months of nice quiet use, my iMac G5 has started to make a horrible fan noise all the time. I have read about capacitors burning up and other such nice things. Has anyone found out why the fan comes on so loud, and what can be done about it? My super drive gets so hot without using it that the screen is hot to the touch. Anyone have that problem?

Dale, down load X Resource Graph from http://www.gauchosoft.com/xrg/ and come back with fan speeds and temps plus it will give you cpu usage. In the mean time down load MacJanitor http://www.versiontracker.com/php/search.php?mode=basic&action=search&str=macjan itor&plt%5B%5D=macosx&x=20&y=8 and run all the Apple standard apps which will clean up your caches.
Dick

Well, the iBook's fan finally turned on after almost a year.

I had Camino, iTunes, Quicktime, Office 2004, and AppleWorks all running at the same time. That's amazing for an outdated laptop with such a small amount of RAM. My old original Mac Mini with only 256 megs could only dream of such abuse. Just thought I would post some positive Apple news for a change. Oh, and the OS 10.4.9 update was flawless.

If you added Photoshop CS2, Aperture, or Final Cut Pro to the list, then I'd be impressed.
For a change, it's nice to see some positive news in the forum!

Fan shuts off when iBook is moved

Greetings everyone!
I've become bored with helping everyone else out around here I'm hoping someone out there has an answer/some references for me.
Here's what's going on: my iBook's fan works just fine--kicks in when it's supposed to, doesn't run excessively--but if I move my iBook in any direction other than perfectly vertical or perfectly horizontal, the fan makes a loud grinding "whirr" and shuts off. Once the iBook is returned to its normal position, the fan resumes.
I think something's out of place in there and I'm wondering just how difficult it would be to open things up and look for myself. My warranty is long gone and I didn't purchase the extended warranty.
My apologies for the length of this post and thanks in advance for any assistance :-D

Hi Lyssa,
In my own opinion, maybe there's some loose parts or wire that protruding the motion of your fan. Opening up your iBook will be so much fun, and I hope this INSTRUCTION might give you some insight. Goodluck!
iBook 1.42GHz Mac OS X (10.4.5) Alienware Area51mm

IBook 12" 1.33 Question about the Fan?

I am looking to purchase an apple laptop for class and work. I have a HP laptop now that runs great and is fine, except the underlying problem is windows just plain ***** and I'm tired of all the crap that goes wrong with windows. I have a mac desktop, the new iMac 20" core duo, but am looking to replace this laptop since I may need it for school and work.
My question is geared towards those that use their iBook with light/moderate use...does the fan run constantly and is it loud? I think the most annoying thing about this HP laptop is sitting in class or a meeting and the fan is running and its LOUD! So, if I were typically using microsoft office (i.e. word, excel) or photoshop, would the fan be running a lot?? Thanks for any advice!

Have to politely disagree with this comment... an iBook's fan can be quite loud! It's quite obvious when it's on vs. when it's off!!
And it could run while using Office depending upon
a) air circulation issues
b) background indexing
c) hard drive room
etc.
But having said all that, I don't think this should prevent you from buying an iBook as the fan will rarely come on under normal operating circumstances.
Until recently, after upgrading to the laste OS and security update, and seemingly ONLY when indexing an external hard drive, our iBooks' fans have practically never come on at all.

IBook G4 Internal Fans

Hello. I have an iBook G4 (1.07 GHz, 512 MB RAM, 12.1 In.) without the black screen and high speed fan issue.
Sometimes, I feel my iBook get hot and I don't feel the fans turn on very much. I do not know why it is doing it for some reason.
Is there any way or tips for the iBook G4 fan?

For the iBook G4 to run a little cooler, you may choose to increase the
installed chip RAM by adding more capacity to the user-upgrade slot...
This should allow the computer to rely less on Virtual memory, where
the hard disk drive is used for swap, temporary and other read-write
files that otherwise may have been handled in RAM primarily.
Since Virtual Memory is essentially the computer writing and reading
files to the hard disk drive, this also means that hard drive is working
harder more of the time; it also means it needs to have a significant
amount of free or unused capacity.
So to add 1 - PC-2100 DDR266 200-pin SO-DIMM (PC-2700 supported
however it will run at only 266 MHz; not the 333MHz on the chip) This
may or may not be near whatever is already installed. Depending on
the build model iBook G4, it may have as little as 128MB soldered on
the logic board and the upgrade slot under the keyboard holds more.
The largest capacity chip is 1024MB or 1GB, so that's best.
You could take a look into a guide such as this, to see how complex the
insides of these portable models are. Tedious with great attention to all
fine details is a minimum requirement, experience and skill is helpful.
The Fan may be only part of the issue, dusty stuff may block air-flow.
•iBook G4 Repair Guide - iFixit:
https://www.ifixit.com/Device/iBook_G4
If the hard disk drive is getting full of stored content (user created) then
it's time to save the content to an external hard disk drive (FW enclosed)
since USB1.0 is rather slow data speed. Also a FW (firewire) enclosed
hard disk drive, with its own power supply can be handy. The ones with
an Oxford-type chipset allow the ability to boot the PPC G4 from a Clone.
A fully bootable copy of the installed computer's OS X, from the external.
This can be an ultimate backup, since it can run the Mac when the internal
hard disk drive fails. These are such a chore to get into for repairs, many
people either try a DIY or find a shop that still works on them, if there is an
attachment to the iBook series. Otherwise, a newer vintage intel based
MacBook (circa 2006 to 2010) may be a value, if not trashed or worn.
Anyway, the need for Virtual Memory (hard drive usage) can generate heat.
Actual installed chip-RAM can reduce that heat generation. A dusty fan or
other issues (worn hard disk drive) can also cause heat issues. A slower
Mac may be due to these kinds of issues as well.
Some sources of parts or service may include wegenermedia.com or
other places at a distance, experts who specialize in compact portable
Apple computers can do a fair job. Many could have inventory of fixed
models in their stock of limited items. OWC sometimes has newer ones.
The iFixit.com site has some repair guides that may cover Apple portables
this old, I have not checked lately; however these are not easy to get into
and sometimes the wires, screws, solder joints and other bits can fail after
an attempt to clean or upgrade the interior components.
At any rate, keep an eye on early model Intel-based MacBooks with an OS X
of about Snow Leopard 10.6.8, as these are a fairly good series. Yet be care-
ful of worn or beat models that have evidence of abuse. You can get these in
repaired condition usually for under $400. or so, with a guaranty. For that kind
of upgrade, keep in mind they use a different kind of RAM and are not PPC.
Good luck & happy computing!
edited

Ibook fan works while charging + heating + wrong time indicator

Hi ,
i ll try to explain the problem, i dunno what to do with it.
Well, something is wrong with fan or battery , i plug adapter to ibook and fan is starting to work , the temperature is normal, shown 49- 51 C. My ibook is 7 month old , and it just started one month ago. So after charging , when it shown , that the battery is charged 100 % , working time indicator shows only 2hours of work , and it works two hours, which is not right, cuz it always worked not less then 4 h. It s not all the time , if i turn off computer or make restart or take away the battery or smth like that , it starts to work normally , and after while the problem repeats. Pls do not suggest me to calibrate battery or smth, i tried everything, if u ll have additional questins- ask , i really want to solve the problem!!! cuz it s annoying to listen to that sound and to realize that something is wrong with it.
best regards,
Anton Golovan ( Tallinn , Estonia )

Heat is the enemy of computers. What is ambient air temp where you are using the computer? Also, the iBook cools through the bottom of the computer case (it gets warm because it designed that way. Make sure air is circulating around the base (not sitting in your lap or on soft cloth). I owned my iBook for 4 months before I really even realized it had a fan. But, I keep my house cool in the winter. I guess as far as fans go, if the device gets a warm temp condition that needs the fan, let it run. Buy a second battery if you need longer life. You might want to look into one of those aluminum lattop bases that helps to absorb heat from the base of the laptop and dissipate it into the surrounding air.
The battery life indicator will change depending on the power consumption. For example, I am sitting here with a browser open, typeing this. Screen brightness is at 75% and the hard drive is off. It shows 3 hours and 41 minutes. If I were to play a video, this would drop to maybe 2 hours and few minutes. It all depends on what is going on with the machine. Stop the video it wil jump back up. Battery perfomance is also affected by temperature. When the battery is fully charged according to OS X, what does the indicator on the bottom of computer say (hit the button on the battery, how many green leds light). If not all the LEDs light the battery is not full charged and may need replacement.
The fan may becoming on with the power adapter because of your power settings. I have my power settings to maximize CPU and performance when on the power adapter. That is often enough of a difference to cause the fan to come on.
You have reset the PMU and recalibtrated the battery, so I don't think there is much you can do here. Is it just the battery indicator that is indicating only two hours and the battery lasts longer than that or does the battery indeed run out in 2hours. I am not clear.

Ibook g4 repair?

My girlfriend has an iBook 12" G4. It looks like it's from around 2005? Anyway, it stopped working for her. Being the knight in shining armor (and interested in this kind of thing) I thought I would see if I could fix it for her.
SO. It stopped turning on for her. When she called apple support they had her reset the PRAM and PMU and then told her the logic board was fried and that she could send it in, but that it would probably be cheaper to just buy a new one. And the warranty had just run out. For awhile it boots sporadically, but when she moves it it crashes again. She also said that she could press on a spot next to the trackpad and it would work for awhile. She tossed it in a box and left it for awhile. When she came back to it a few months later it booted up for a short periods of time then died again and wouldn't boot anymore. I decide to get online to see if I can make it work somehow. I found the shim repair article and thought I'd give it a try. But when I opened it up the "problem chip" wasn't there. I tried turning the laptop on and pushing on different chips thinking it might just be in a different spot. At one point it booted, but the display was VERY dark. Then it would boot, with the bong and everything but with no display.
SO. Is it graphics card? And is it worth sending it in to be reballed? Or is it the GPU? If it is the GPU does that mean it is a lost cause?
I took it completely apart using ifixit.com. I'm not exactly sure what I was looking for. Maybe just something to jump up at me and say "fix me." For the most part ifixit was right on, but there were a few points that the laptop differed from what ifixit said. I assume this is just from different production years?
Any help would be nice. Thanks.
Barry

Hey bjobie,
Well all these guys are right but about different things. That Corey Arnold site is about U28 which is the spinning fan of death and if Superior does your reball he'll resolder that NC.
SO. Is it graphics card?
Yes most likely but in the iBook there is no graphics card it's integrated into the logic board.
And is it worth sending it in to be reballed?
Yes I've done 6 at this point.
Or is it the GPU? If it is the GPU does that mean it is a lost cause?
Same thing (GPU - Graphics Processor Unit) and it's not a lost cause. I reballed a 900 12" G3, ATI 7500 I think, anyway it died on the operating table (This happens and can happen ) so I found another one on eBay for $26 shipped. Superior swapped the chips and now that 900 is traveling all over the country with my client.
Oh as an addendum, make sure that chip is still working using the pressure test. I redid one that didn't come back with the pressure and I should have known that the chip was dead but went ahead anyway. I'm still looking for a replacement chip for that one.
Does the shim go underneath of the chip or directly on top of it, between it and the heat sink?
Well perhaps on the bottom under that chip which is the last in line from the CPU and has "ATI" on it. No one has worked out a comprehensive way to do this but since it's on top and under that huge heat spreader I figure from underneath. You could try it from on top but we're not sure about things under the heat sink being a good idea. That GPU doesn't need a lot of sinking but the danger would be messing up the sinking for the CPU and whatever that chip in the middle is.
I took it completely apart using ifixit.com. I'm not exactly sure what I was looking for.
I have better instructions. Email me, I'll need the exact size and CPU speed (on a label under the keyboard).
Richard
Message was edited by: spudnuty
Message was edited by: spudnuty

IBook G4 "Fans of Death"

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