Is my ibook dead?

recently i started to get the message appear that says my start up disk was full.
i purchased a external hard drive so i could remove files from my ibook but when i finally got round to it something bad happened.
my ibook stalled and wouldn't responed and all i could do is turn it off.
now when i start it up the grey screen with the apple logo appears then changes to the blue background.
the display just stays blue and nothing else happens.
any ideas?

Welcome to Apple Discussions!
Possibly by the time you got around to being ready to remove your files, the hard drive just got so full it couldn't work any more. Do you have access to another Mac--maybe a friend with a Mac? If so, you could use their Mac to access your hard drive and see if your files can be rescued. Rescuing your data needs to be your first priority. You need to do this before you do anything else.
Do you have your original gray discs that came with the computer? If so, one thing to do is to boot off of install disc #1 and navigate to Disk Utility. Choose the brand name of your hard drive and go to First Aid. Verify and repair if necessary both permissions and the disk.
At some point you will probably have to reinstall your OS, possibly with an erase and install. This is why you need to rescue your data first, as this will destroy all the data on your hard drive. It may be possible to do an archive and install using your external hard drive. But it's always best to not rely on the archive feature alone if your computer is acting up.
It may be that one of the more experienced members of the forum will know a way to get your desktop back and start shifting files, but I don't know how to do this or even if it is possible. I also don't know if your data has been corrupted due to the full hard drive, but it could well be. There are ways to recover it, but I am not personally familiar with how to do it.
But try to get your data saved first. Please post back if you need more help with this.
Good luck!

Similar Messages

IBook dead pixels?

How many people have a dead pixel on a new iBook? I love my new iBook 12", except for a dead pixel near the center. An apple support tech sent me some documents that explain how this is acceptable and normal, and the Genius at the Apple store agrees. While one pixel may be acceptable, in years of owning cheap-brand PC laptops I have never seen one dead pixel, and nobody I know with a iBook or PowerBook has one either...nor do the demos at the Apple store? Anyone care to comment? I'm just suprised to see such a defect on an Apple, even if they consider it acceptable. I love the computer itself, just a bit disappointed.

I completely disagree. Us users pay a lot of money for our computers. Apple has no right to take our money and give us products with logic board,dead pixel,scratch issues. They have no right to sell us such bad quality products.
I know a lot of people on these Discussions will try to kill me now. But come on, let's face it. Apple has f*cked up on its quality control.
They have offered to have logic boards replaced on certain iBooks. They have not however said anything about dead pixels or scratches. I know they have some rule where you must have 5 dead pixels in order to get it repaired. That's a load of rubbish. Us users don't have to put up with a bad quality screen. We pay a lot for our items and we don't expect any shortfall in the value we get for it.
I just hope Apple don't go down the Microsoft route...

Help - Is my G4 ibook dead?

I have a G4 12" ibook that stopped starting up. When I press the power switch, there is no "chime" sound and display remains blank (slight grey). Power to set is ok and when Caps Lock is applied, the LED will light up.
I have tried to reset the PMU and PARM but both did not help at all. Set is already out of warrenty, could it be a logic board failure?
If it is a hard disk failure, will it behave the same as what I am seeing?
ibook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.6)

The startup "chime" indicates that some low-level hardware tests have passed successfully. While the startup hardware test does check for an ATA bus (so there could be a hard drive), it doesn't actually check for a hard drive itself. So, no chime would not necessarily mean a bad hard drive. Certainly, if the logic board has failed, you won't get a chime. Have you put your Mac OS X install disk in the drive and tried to startup while holding down on the "c" key? If the problem was only your hard drive, you would still be able to do this. If your logic board has failed, this may not work. You might then want to run the Apple Hardware Test to see if you can even run that. You might then be able to give AppleCare Support some more detailed information about what has gone wrong. The prices for repair in Singapore are probably different from those in the US.
-Doug

IBook Dead?

My very old (6 or 7 years) iBook G4 appears to have died. My question is: is the hard drive toast? Can I get anything off it?
Here's what happened: Doing a bit of research, iBook open next to me with web page up, while I'm working with pen and paper. I look over and the screen has gone dark. I assume it's asleep and press return to wake it up. Nothing. So I shut it down by pressing the power button, wait a bit and try to start it up again. Fan comes on, but nothing on screen, no other encouraging sounds.

Yay!!! I was hoping the resets would work!
However, you still have a very nearly 6 year old hard drive, so it would be a good idea to back it up onto an external firewire drive just as a hedge against the possibility of a catastrophic failure. It is very good insurance to keep an up to date backup of your data on an external drive, especially if the drive is getting old. If you invest in an external drive, you can also use it to back up the MacBook. If you use the same drive for both, each computer should have its own partition.
One easy way to do backups is to create a bootable clone on an external drive using a cloning utility such as Super Duper or Carbon Copy Cloner:
http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html
http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html
You can download either of these for free and use them as often as you like. If you want to unlock some of Super Duper's more useful features, you can register it for around $28. CCC is donation ware.
Having a bootable clone on an external drive is a very easy way to do backup. The external will be identical to the internal, and if something happened to the internal, you could immediately boot from the external and keep working.
Another utility you might find useful for evaluating your iBook's hard drive is S.M.A.R.T. Utility:
http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/32454
You can download the demo and run it several times for free. I suspect you might find that the iBook's drive has started to head south. You are wise not to trust it too much.
Anyway, glad everything worked out, and thanks for the star!
Happy Computing!

Help - ibook dead (-ish)!

Hi everyone.
Last night I was on the web and my ibook suddenly froze and started making this kind of clockwork-like clicking sound, which was coming from the area to the left of the track-pad.
I left it for a short while before pressing power to turn it off. Now on restart it still clicks, but I get a finder folder with a flashing question mark instead of the apple logo. Then the clicking stops, but it won't do anymore.
What action should I take?
Is there something I can do myself? Or can I take it for a repair?
I have a care package with my point of sale. They are rubbish when it comes to Macs though. (Yeah - I know, I should have got Apple Care. Youthfull folly!) However, they do say they will replace if they cannot fix the machine. Is this a sensible option, or should I try to fix the machine?
Thanks in advance for any advice - I appreciate it!
John.

If it's possible you could run the Apple hardware
test; take a look at the support page below for info
on using it:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=50138
Thanks.
I've run the disk utility on the installer disk - it only found three cd images, no hard drive, so I couldn't select it to try a disk repair.
Next I ran the hardware test disk. It found an error with the mass storage device, and gave me the error code...
2STF/2/3:ATA-100ata-6-Master
I suspect this means the hard drive is poorly. I have a repair or replace deal with my point of purchase so I suppose they'll replace the hard drive. (I doubt I'll get a new macbook out of them). They are PC based though, not mac experts, which is a slight worry.
I suppose what I would like to know before I approach them is whether or not my hard drive is retreivable (I've got my files backed up, but not my software), and why the disk went down.
Any ideas?
Thanks in advance.
John.

IBook dead (no chime, no keyboard light, nothing)

Hi there,
I have been reading for a while the posts regarding the Logic Board problem on iBooks.
I wonder if someone might give me a hand on this.
My iBook @ 700 MHz died last year, I did not fixed b/c it is really expensive.
Now, the thing that makes me wonder if the problem is the Logic Board is that mine does absolutely nothing when turned on, no matter if leave the battery or not, and nothing happens after PMU reset, etc.
Does anyone know if for instance, the HDD dies, when the iBooks boot, do you get to see the Apple grey background, or hear the chime?
Thank you very much.

It's not a power issue, then, if the iBook and
adapter are charging the batteries.
It's possible that it may be the power switch
itself.
Try the tips in Apple's Knowledge base article on
troubleshooting portables that won't turn on or start
up:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=50959
Thanks for the reply, but nothing. I still can't get nothing out of the iBook. Tried all the steps listed on the page, and the iBook does nothing at all, except charging the batteries when plugged in
Any ideas what should I try next? There is sort of an Apple store here in Buenos Aires, but, if the Apple Care people in the USA told me that the fix would be something like 500 $, here they will charge 3 times that.

Bad Apple experience/turn off grifical extra;s leopard

So I give up! It started with my iBook a few weeks ago. A burned adapter. My Girl burn her fingers and a big flame came out of it (were lucky becouse we were home).. iBook dead, no service!
Now my iMac has trouble. Greenblocks (ghost pixels) broken Ati X1600 video card. To bad no support. Also a G3 iBook broke down, and my old G5 iMac. Also a year ago the monitor of my Power Mac!
I give up Apple! I like the looks and the OS, but the hardware s*cks hard! Worse service, worse support and worse helpdesk! No more apple for me!
Message was edited by: droopy2009
Message was edited by: droopy2009

Sorry, how can I turn of shadowing/3D, and most grafical options in leopard. So i don't have to start in save-mode all the time. All my mac's broke down, and I still have no new PC.
Message was edited by: droopy2009

Please Help!! Computer Failing!!Can you slect updates individually?

I think the last update is messing up my mac. I would like to re-instal and be able to update to 10.4.10. I bought the computer with 10.4.2. When I re-installed after it was crashing for no reason it automatically updated to 10.4.11. I started to have the same problem again although less frequently.
The problem is the computer will just turn off. I power back up with no problem. Sometimes it will shut down as soon as I power back and sometime it will run for 10 minutes to several hours before shutting down. When I power up sometimes the fans goes ful power for a second and stops and sometimes no fan so I do not think it isa logic board problem. I have run multiple hardware tests from safe mode, command line and apple recovery disc and everything passes.
I really think it is the last update. If there was a way I could re-install and selectively install the updates then I could see if the update is the issue. Right after install at 10.4.2 it was working great.
I would also like to know if there is a way to overwright and delete the HD before re-installing. On my Toshiba laptop there is an option to completely overight and delete the HD. It takes several hours but I did this and re-installed Vista and it really made a big difference i how the OS performs.
Any help would really be great. I want to fix this issue myself. I gave my wife my precious iBook G4 and bought a cheap Toshiba until we have the money to buy a MacBook but to have the iBook dead in less than a year and a half is really making me upset. I can expect this with cheap windows hardware but not premium mac. Also with my toshiba I can replace any parts pretty easy myself.
I just can't afford to replace or even repair (new logic board or HD) this iBook since I can't just buy the parts and do it myself without risking completely destroying the mac. My wifes old mac still works but Apple has not updated it in a while and a lot of stuff is not compatible.
Please HelP!!
R

robzilla:
is there any way to install the OSX PPC updates individually instead of all together.
The Combo update does not cause crashes unless you have issues with your computer. I have installed Combo updates all along the line on several computers and have never had an issue. Issues may be occasioned by other problems with the computer, and if they recur and/or persist we should look at them in turn.
Combo updates have the advantage of having updates integrated into one update, so that you are less likely to have conflicts and are often used to solve issues that arise from installing individual updates.
Here is a link for Mac OS X 10.4.10 Combo update (PPC).
Again, if issues arise and recur, please post back and we will try to address them individually.
Cheers
cornelius

Odd Noise on Power On

Whenever I power on my iBook (or wake it from sleep), I hear a loud grinding-like noise for about one second. The noise sounds like a fan, although I've run the Apple Hardware Test and the fan sounds fine while running. Is this just a normal noise it makes when powering on? I've had two other iBooks (dead pixels, exchanged), but I don't remember if they made this noise or not.
iBook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.3)

I believe that it is normal...its the sound of the hard drive, fans, and other components turning on at the same time. If it only makes the noise at start up...don't worry. It you start to hear the LOUD clicks during normal use...you may have an issue. (Some clicking sounds are normal as the hard drive parks and unparks)

=( 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
iBook G4:1064MHZ/256MB/40GB/COMBO Mac OS X (10.3)

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.

Dead hard drive or ibook?

I have a 2 year old 12" iBook G4. For a while it has had problems that I have just dealt with. For example, if you rest your wrists next to the mousepad in the wrong way it can cause the pointer to jump across the screen, and sometimes makes it crash.
But now it seems completely dead. I recently travelled with the machine, and I am afraid it got banged too hard. When I hit the power button the screen stays black, but the hard drive spins VERY loudly. The only way I can get it to go off again is by flipping it over and removing the battery. When I flip it over the hard drive sound gets worse. I can't even put one of the apple disks in and try booting from that, because there is already a DVD in the drive that I can't get out.
What can I do??? If my hard drive is dead, is there a way to salvage my data? Will using it as a firewire drive with another mac work? Help??!!

Hi Ronda,
Thanks very much for your reply. I explained my problem and everything I did to try to fix it to Applecare US on Sunday, and they authorized an extention to my warranty to make the repair. I am counting my lucky stars about now. Yeah Apple! Hopefully this fix will last awhile, but in the meantime I will back up regularly and starting saving my pennies for a new iBook!
Cheers,
Brenda
Hi, and welcome to Apple Discussions.
This is not the fault in the logic board that was
covered by the iBook
Logic Board Repair Extension Program. However, it
does sound like the memory that is soldered to the
logic board has failed. This means you will need a
new logic board.
Here in the United States, I know of places that will
repair it for $195 plus shipping, but I don't know of
any inexpensive repair places in the UK.
Your "serial number of death" isn't, really. The
program was gradually expanded to include all the
Dual USB G3 iBooks, so every serial number is
included in the program.
If it turns out to be an expensive repair, maybe the
money would be better spent on a new iBook?

IBook with dead display (i think)?

Hi, I have an ibook that needs desperate help.
I was having problems with it in October last year with the carbonlib which i posted about here:
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=738743#738743
Before i managed to try to update the carbonlib it crashed and since october i have been unable to boot the machine at all. I just bought the Dual G4 Powermac before christmas which was just £250 on eBay (bargain of the year) and added ram and got the PCI USB 2.0 card* from a Windoze box runnning in it. OK so now i can fix the iBook (i hope).
All i get is the startup tone and all the regular noises (hard disk, etc) until it attempts to load the grey apple and the spinning icon when all i get on the screen is a brief flash of some dark grey horizontal bars then back to a black screen.
The iBook seems to keep loading for a few seconds after this but then just goes dead with a black screen. I've also tried booting from my original OS install CDs and from my new Tiger DVD but with the exact same results only with CD drive activity for a short while instead of hard disk.
I've tried loading it using the hardware test CD which gets the Screen to flash a second time onto a more solid looking grey screen but again only for a fraction of a second.
I think it looks like the graphics chip is somehome not responding but the resto the machine is fine. ANY suggestions will help as i'm stumped and don't have applecare anymore so its going to be very expensive i suspect.
Thanks
SEB
*(incidentally it is an ALI chipset with three rear ports (on the card) and three front ones which fit nicely in instead of the zip drive. I had massive problems with the card and atatched devices with the supplied drivers, so i did an archive and install and simply let Tiger deal with the card and now the only problem is my Video iPod wont connect to the USB 2 ports (a common one i've seen), however i am running a d-link DWL-122 wireless adapter, a standard usb bluetooth adapter, a canon i350 printer, a HP635 digital camera, and an external 2.5in USB 2.0 hard disk (the original 30GB disk from my ibook that lost its S.M.A.R.T status but still works) in various combinations and at full speed for each device. Hope thats usefull to someone too)
iBook G4 12in (800mhz, 640MB, 40GB) Mac OS X (10.4.3) Powermac G4 (Dual G4 450mhz, 768 MB, 20GB, PCI USB 2.0)
iBook G4 12in (800mhz, 640MB, 40GB) Mac OS X (10.4.3) Powermac G4 (Dual G4 450mhz, 768 MB, 20GB, PCI USB 2.0)

Wow how stupid do i feel, almost 8 weeks and all i had to do was reset the PRAM properly!!!! I though i was competent with a mac but it just goes to show! - measure twice cut once!! I'm just watching it through an archive and install and we should be operational.
SEB
Still... i've got a powermac now that i probably wouldn't have got if my ibook hadn't been out of service.
iBook G4 12in (800mhz, 640MB, 40GB) Mac OS X (10.4.3) Powermac G4 (Dual G4 450mhz, 768 MB, 20GB, PCI USB 2.0)

Ibook 12' inch dead

In the end of August my ibook went dead. When i turned it off, the screen is black and i can hear only my hard drive and the dvd drive which has a cd-rom inside which i can not eject. I have tried to eject the cd whith every option Apple's website suggests and also i have tried whith and without the battery on to start the ibook. What can i do now? The ibook hasn't closed a year from the date i bought it. Should i take it back to fix it or buy a new one?

. Should i take it back to fix it or buy a new one?
Have it fixed if it is still under warranty, but then I would seriously consider selling it afterwards. If you scan this help forum you will find a very high number of people who have to return their ibook to Apple many times for reapir after the first time. It seems very strange that once you have had a logic board replaced that you would ever need to have it replaced again, but this is quite common. The same applies to hard drives, keyboards etc.

Ibook is very dead

My ibook G4 doesn't do anything anymore. I've always been very kind to it, but it's suddenly dead. The battery still seems to be loaded (4 lights) and there is no visible problem with the power supply (green light), but when I press the on button nothing happens. Is there a way of formatting everything?

I have a brand new iBook (15 / 1.42 GHz version). The unit will only boot with the AC adapter plugged in. The battery appears to be charged with 4 green battery lights. I followed the PMU suggestions with no success. The screen is black, unit silent and totally unresponsive. With the power supply plugged in it works great but unplug it and the computer goes dead. I would like to be able to use the new unit without being tethered to AC power. I dont think its too much to ask for a new unit to actually work but maybe Im dreaming. Any suggestions?

IBook G4 - DEAD?

I know this sort of problem is all over the discussions pages, but I have yet to find an exact answer for this problem.
My wife's iBook G4 (10.3.9), which we use all the time, has suddenly stopped completely. It was running normally right up to the time I shut down last night. When I tried to start it this morning, the only thing that happens is that the fan runs at its highest speed and the screen stays black, in fact other than the fan running, nothing else is happening. Now of course, I can't put my install disc in because the computer hasn't booted and the disc can't be inserted. (it's like trying to insert the CD when the computer is switched off).
Is this the end of an (until now) otherwise perfect iBook?
If this needs a logic board replacement, is that an expensive thing to have done, or am I better off just buying a newer iBook?
This iBook was purchased (brand-new) in late November 2004, so it's only 14 months old, and of course, out of warranty.
Any ideas gratefully accepted!
Thanks to all.
Michael R.
G5 2.0 Ghz DP PowerMac Mac OS X (10.4.1)
G5 2.0 Ghz DP PowerMac Mac OS X (10.4.1)
G5 2.0 Ghz DP PowerMac Mac OS X (10.4.1)

It would appear that the Logic Board repair program
is for G3 iBooks only.
Indeed.
And yet my 12" iBook G4, also purchased in Nov 2004, has just died as well. Coincidence, or programmed obsolescence?
A new logic board plus DC-in board will set me back AUD1350, more than the computer cost me 14 months ago. Clearly, we didn't get the extended AppleCare warranty. I expect a machine that is rarely moved between the home office and work, and never abused, to last longer than this.
We were too stupid to add it to home and contents insurance as a portable possession. And my employer's insurance won't cover 'personal laptops' even though I require it for my work.
So it looks like I'll be trawling the web looking for logic boards in machines with dead hard-drives or LCD displays, because I'll be damned if I'm spending another $1200+ for faulty equipment that Apple doesn't recognise as faulty.

Is my ibook dead?

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for