IBook screen flickered then went black

Question

Hi.
I have a 12" white opaque iBook (running OS 10.2...it was a hand me down, 700 mhz as I recall. Model is A1005) whose screen began to flicker, then went black. It wouldn't restart. After the usual panicking, I tried to restart with Disk Warrior (which was never installed onto that computer)
Next attempt to fix was to start in safe mode. Nothing changed.
I zapped the PRAM and then the screen came back. I backed up whatever I thought I didn't already have backed up. Feeling quite happy, I treated myself to some baked goods, then I shut it down.
Next day, I got only a black screen and then had to force quit by holding the power button down.
I tried 3 times to zap the PRAM, and still have only a black sceen.
Any ideas on what to do besides using the previously happy iBook as a coaster?
Thanks for any help!

Answer 1

Hi, and welcome to Apple Discussions.
Here is the link to an Apple Knowledge Base article on troubleshooting portables that won't turn on or start up:
http://support.apple.com/kb/TA25686?viewlocale=en_US
And one for all Macs in general:
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1367?viewlocale=en_US
And another on troubleshooting when the computer displays no video:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1573?viewlocale=en_US
It also sounds like it is possible that it may be having logic board problems. Enough Dual USB G3 iBooks suffered from the logic board problem that Apple began the iBook Logic Board Repair Extension Program in January of 2004. Do the symptoms look familiar? After leaving it sit overnight, does squeezing the case to the left of the trackpad allow you to start up and work for a bit as long as you keep the pressure on it there? If so, you may want to consider trying the shim fix suggested by John Sawyer here in the Apple Discussions iBook G3 (Dual USB) Forum:
[Y]ou can often fix this yourself by removing the iBook's bottom housing, and placing a shim of any sort, about 1mm to 1.5mm thick, onto the raised square on the bottom shield. I use a Scotch mounting square--you can get them in hardware stores and many grocery stores. When you reinstall the bottom case, it will press against this shim, which will press against the graphics chip, and may allow the chip to come into better contact with the logic board.
John Sawyer
CJS Macintosh Repair
Instructions for removing the lower case:
iFixit.com
If this doesn't help, let us know and we will try to figure out something else.
Good luck.