Mysterious Macbook 1,1 -- working, then dead...then working again...???

Question

I've got an extremely weird case on my hands. This is version 1,1 of the white Macbook (2006, I believe).
Backstory/experiences so far:
I've been using Macs since 1990, and this is the first one I bought used. Might have been a mistake.
Everything was fine for a few months, until one day the computer was nonresponsive. No chime, no lights, nothing. The charge light on the magnetic power cable would light up and change from orange/green on a full charge, but that was it. Other than that, the computer behaved as if the battery had simply been removed.
Every time I walked by the laptop after that, I'd try the power button, just to see if it would turn on. A day or two later, it did. The little Macbook ran like nothing had ever been wrong.
A week later, something similar happened. This time, I heard the disk spin up, saw the power light come on, but never got to a chime. Later, an Apple Genius-bar-person would tell me that this means the initial system check failed. After turning it on, it acted like I had put it into hibernate. The only way to turn it off was to force-shutdown or let the battery die.
I sent it in to AppleCare, and they responded by telling me there was significant liquid damage which voided my warranty, and that I needed a new motherboard. Dead computer.
That was a year ago. I simply switched to using my desktop Mac, until...
A few weeks ago, I saw an ad for someone who fixes liquid spill apple laptops. He told me that often, the small power nodes (/chips?) on the motherboard short out, even though the board itself is fine. He replaced these, I paid him happily, and two days ago I had my little Macbook back.
I was able to use it like nothing had ever happened. About a week later, after a few hours of use in the morning, I powered the Macbook down and left the house. Three hours later, I tried to power it up again. Nothing. Totally unresponsive; back to paperweight mode. The battery lights on the battery case were active when it was plugged into AC, I should note.
I went back to my tried-and-true method of pressing the power button every time I walked by the Macbook. Six hours later, it worked again, suddenly powering up as if nothing had happened.
That was two weeks ago. Since then, it's often gone into paperweight mode, but it always comes back between 15 and 45 minutes later. Most recently, it's been turning on about 10 minutes after I hit the power key. It's hilarious...I try to turn it on, fail, yell and swear, and leave the room. 15 minutes later I hear a chime, and see that the little Macbook is booting up without help from any physical beings. I'm starting to believe in ghosts, guys...
I'm writing this on the Macbook in question, totally confused and completely afraid that it might never boot up again after I shut it down this time. Then again, it failed to start half an hour ago...but now, obviously, it's working fine.
Does anyone have an idea of just what the heck might be causing this? A loose wire inside? Evil spirits? Apple help in the store has been rather unhelpful (they didn't do much beyond chastising me for using an outside computer guy to replace the power chips...which worked great, by the way -- it eliminated the permanent-hibernation problem that killed the computer in 2007), and Apple on the phone have told me they deal mostly with software problems.
A few more facts/Summary:
-I'm no computer expert, but the official Apple party line I've heard so far is that "it's corrosion/tertiary effects from a liquid spill." That doesn't sound likely to me. If it's a corroded wire or component, why has the Powerbook NEVER died while it was being used? It won't start when it doesn't feel like it, sure, but it's never died while I was using it.
-There seem to have been 2 problems, the first of which is fixed now...
1. no startup chime followed by permanent hibernation. Replacing the power(chips? Nodes?) on the motherboard seemed to fix this "fail to finish booting" problem. This is NOT a problem anymore.
2. The "play dead" problem, where hitting the i/o key won't do anything for a while, and then suddenly works. Sometimes the Macbook boots when I'm pushing the button, sometimes it ghost-boots while I'm in the other room. I have no idea what fixes the "play dead" problem, it just seems to go away after a few hours.
-The computer has never died while it was running. It's always after a perfectly normal (seeming) shutdown that it simply refuses to start back up again.
-I Don't fully trust the battery. The battery pretends to be full, but according to the little orange light on the AC power cable, is ALWAYS charging (even when the green LEDs on the bottom of the battery indicate "full"). The computer has not been able to boot on battery power alone (i.e. with the AC cable unplugged) in at least a week. I have it plugged in any time I boot successfully.
-The Apple-store guy (who seemed to know what he was talking about, but also seemed to hate me) checked the serial number on the Macbook, and confirmed that it's pretty much been a defective unit from the start. Since 2006, EVERY YEAR has seen a new logic board. That's 4 logic boards this computer has gone through, not to mention a new optical drive the first year, and several other major repairs. I had no idea that was the state of affairs when I bought it...frankly I'm amazed that Apple kept fixing this unit instead of confiscating it to figure out what is really causing all of these component failures.
I know this is a lot of information, but I'm trying to present the facts as I know them...I just have no idea which facts will be important, so you get all of them. Any help would be appreciated. I've tried googling around, but I'm not even sure what to search for. On an even sadder note, I spent 2 hours looking at non-Apple PCs last week (all I can afford if this one dies), and I really don't want to have to go down that road. Not after 20 years of faithful Apple/Macintosh usage.
Thanks in advance, and my apologies for the long post.
-Dave

Answer 1

Khufucius wrote:
I've been using Macs since 1990, and this is the first one I bought used. Might have been a mistake.
Important plot point here. I missed it on my first read through...
Does anyone have an idea of just what the heck might be causing this? A loose wire inside? Evil spirits?
That computer is dead. You were ripped off. No other explanation for it.
-I'm no computer expert, but the official Apple party line I've heard so far is that "it's corrosion/tertiary effects from a liquid spill." That doesn't sound likely to me.
It is a moot point. Once it gets wet, all bets are off and no reputable repair person will touch it.
-The Apple-store guy (who seemed to know what he was talking about, but also seemed to hate me)
I'm sure he doesn't hate you. He just hates seeing unhappy customers that he can't help.
Since 2006, EVERY YEAR has seen a new logic board. That's 4 logic boards this computer has gone through, not to mention a new optical drive the first year, and several other major repairs. I had no idea that was the state of affairs when I bought it...frankly I'm amazed that Apple kept fixing this unit instead of confiscating it to figure out what is really causing all of these component failures.
Well, you also know that the previous owner poured liquid in it. What else did they do to it before that wasn't so noticeable?
Just buy a new Mac. Get an official refurbished one even. That will still be better than the piece of junk you were sold before.