Start Up & Sleep Problem - iBook 500 Dual USB - OS 10.2.3

[Gary]

Hello everyone

I'm sure that this topic has been raised many times in the past... I've 
seen this issue on the web and in Apple Support Discussion Groups... 
but I want to get an opinion from similar users on the list. I didn't 
get any solution for my problem from these groups.

I have an iBook 500 Dual USB running on Jaguar (10.2.3), all Apple 
software updated, 128 MB RAM, 15 GB HD, Airport card installed... It 
was working fine until in November last year when I start getting a 
System Folder / Question Mark kinda folder icon when I turn it on. I 
simply press the power button, and perhaps do it 2 or 3 times and 
eventually Jaguar will load.

A few months after, around January this year, the problem got worse... 
this time I sometimes have to turn off / back on the iBook more than 5 
times, and everytime, it would reboot like forever, say around 15 or 
half an hour!... On top of that, I started to get a new problem - 
sleep. Everytime my iBook goes to sleep, it would wake up but then it 
would freeze. I notice that this only happens if the ibook has been 
sleeping for more than half an hour. So I have to restart the ibook and 
I will face the same startup problem all over again.

I erased the contents of the HD using Jaguar Install CD's disk utility 
program, reinstall OS 9.1, and then Jaguar, all in the same HD (no 
partitioning), updated all the required Apple software through software 
update... The problem did not go away.

A few days after, I noticed that if I shake the iBook or tap the HD a 
bit maybe a few times, the ibook would start! So I thought it's an 
HD-related problem so I went to the Apple dealer where I bought this 
iBook. They then told me that it's most likely software problem. The 
tapping wouldn't do any good or should not solve the problem because 
the HD is soldered so firmly to the skeleton(?) of the iBook so it 
should not be loose. Then he told me to do a complete as in Zero erase 
of the disk using Jaguar's Install CD Disk Utility which I've never 
done yet. He told me it would take 4-5 hours when I do this.

My question is, has anyone had this problem before? Did the "Zero" 
erase work?

I hope it's not an HD problem because I really really need this IBook.. 
it's the only computer i have .... it's essay and finals time in 
university and so I can't be without it even for one day for repair... 
This problem has been causing me so much stress lately...

Please help.

Thank you in advance.

Gary