IBook is dying? Or not. Help me!

Question

For the past month or two my iBook G4 (about a year and a half old) has been randomly freezing on me. I was confused and panicked and called all my friends who knew about macs and did everything possible to fix it. I had been keeping it on most of every day in various stages of sleep for the past school year, and it hadn't gotten much use over the summer. When I got back in the fall it worked normally for a few weeks and then started just freezing. It would freeze whenever I tried to use it in class, or a second after I logged in, or after 30 mins to an hour of use. For a couple weeks I couldn't really use it for more than 15 minutes without it shutting down on me, probably twice in that period of time.
Here's what's confusing me: I ran a maintenance and a virus scan, I made sure that it was getting power because I always keep it plugged in as long as I'm not in class, and I made sure that it was off any time I wasn't using it. The problem seems to be getting better; It will still freeze maybe every other day but I can use it for at least a couple of hours before it does for the most part. Yet it still freezes when I take it to class or move it around.
The only thing I have not done (besides taking it to a tech) is erasing everything and starting from scratch.
My questions are the following:
Should I wipe it and start over, or is it likely to be a completely different problem? If I should, I know I need to back up the files, but my computer doesn't seem to want to install the Backup Program (keeps telling me it won't open in various files or that it can't be read or something), so can someone help me with that?
I know it was suggested that someone else whose computer was freezing check to see if they have Applecare- I have no clue whether not I have it and would love it someone could tell me how to find out.
And finally... should I need to take this to an Apple store or something, should I take it back to the COMPUSA we bought it at? or go to an actual Apple store (if this is the case, does anyone know a location relatively close to Athens, GA?)
Thank you so much for helping me!!!

Answer 1

hey there,
sorry to read that, one simple thing you could try that often bugs people on ibooks is taking any additional ram you have out, and put i back in place, that could explain why it freezes. If you don't feel confident enough to do it, take it to any apple store, they'll do it in a minute and shouldn't charge you. The best way to find out about your applecare is to call apple, they'll be able to tell you.
One last idea i have, your computer hates class, and would rather stay at home and sleep all day, just like any of us!
Hope you'll solve this problem, regards
C