iBook rises from the Dead!

[Dave Wyman]

I'm not especially religious, but my old G3 iBook (600, 12") has 
apparently risen, if only temporarily, from at least a near-death 
experience.

I purchased that iBook around October, 2002. The iBook suddenly refused 
to boot sometime in January, 2004. The Apple Store couldn't fix it or 
save my data but they kept it for a week ("We're STILL analyzing it") 
and charged me $50.

When I got home, I fired up the iBook one last time. This time, instead 
of the flashing question mark, there was a start-up message asking for 
a reboot! So the Apple guys had done >something< to my iBook. It 
couldn't be dead. In a coma, maybe. In hibernation. But if the Apple 
Store could wring that small amount of change out of the iBook, maybe I 
could take it further.

Reboot attempts failed about 30 times, although I saw at least two 
different and unhappy start-up screens. Then I hooked up the external 
drive again. On attempt #60: BINGO. (How come the Apple Store couldn't 
do over the course of a week?) I copied most of the data from the iBook 
to my external drive before the computer died again. I tried rebooting 
several more times. Nothing. I switched to a System 9 reboot. Bingo, 
again! I copied most of what was left to copy. Then the iBook died 
again, this time seemingly for good.

Short as it's life I was, I retired the iBook and purchased a new 
computer. The old iBook sat around my home office and once in a while I 
tried to start it. I still believed there was a spark of life deep 
inside that drive. Then the computer gathered some serious dust sitting 
on top of a cardboard box on the floor in the garage. On occasion I 
dragged the computer back into the house, dusted it off and tried to 
boot it up, sometimes with the external drive. No luck.

A few days ago I brought the computer out again. Like General Franco, I 
quickly ascertained that it was still dead. But I left it sitting on my 
desk, so after another round of failed attempts attempts to start it 
again today, I pulled out the Hardware Test CD tonight. 
Hmmm...everything passed the test: memory, storage, etc. Odd. So, just 
to "think different" I pulled out the old Software Reinstall CDs. I 
thought a software reinstall might somehow breathe life into the 
computer. And damn if that little 'Book wasn't up and running under 
System 9 within minutes! No way!

I restarted the computer a few times just to make sure, figuring the 
hard drive was still dead, that somehow the computer was running off of 
internal memory. The computer rebooted everytime. I  ran some programs, 
thinking they'd kill off the computer for sure. Nope. Then I plugged in 
an ethernet cable and made what I knew would be a futile attempt to 
browse the Web. But it connected immediately. No way!!!

Yes, System 9 was blazing, but I'm now a confirmed OS Xoholic. So I 
pulled out my G4 OS X installation CDs. The G3 computer had no problem 
running the disks. Back on the Web, I downloaded the 10.3.4 upgrade. No 
problem.

So, 18 months later, reports of my iBook's demise turned out to be 
premature. But what happened to put it into its coma in the first 
place, and how did the software reinstall CD it wake-up? And is another 
coma in the works?

Dave

-- 
http://www.davewyman.com
http://www.idrivebackroads.com (Guidebook to Northern California)

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