[iBook] video crapped out

[Kevin Avery]

On 4/17/06, Bill Raffensperger <raffy at macsrule.com> wrote:
>
> My iBook 600 (Dec 2001) has been a great little machine. But about 10
> days ago I had a crash where the cursor and the clock froze. None of
> the key combos worked, I had to hold down the power key to shut it off,
> and upon reboot, there was no video. I have been using it in target
> disk mode plugged into a 400MHz iMac since then. You know, hold down
> the option key, and boot the iMac from the iBook. It's kind of surreal,
> it's my computer, I can do everything I used to do, but I am tethered
> to this iMac and my iBook just sits there, out of the way, forlorn on
> it's CoolPad, lid open, dead screen. I really miss being portable. I
> have debated getting it fixed, but it's almost four and a half years
> old. Been thinking about a 12 inch PowerBook G4.
>
> I reset the power manager. I even took out the ram, the airport card,
> and the battery, then pressed the reset button for 5 seconds. Put just
> the battery back for reboot. Nothing. Zapped the p-ram. Nothing. I
> guess the video card is fried. Anyone familiar with this issue? Any
> other good ideas? It's sad. These things should last longer than this.


This sounds a LOT like a bad logic board. These are the same symptoms my
wife's dual USB 500mhz iBook had starting about 3 or 4 weeks ago. I have
researched this issue at length. According to my research you should try to
use the external video connector and connect it to an external monitor, if
that doesn't work then it is a bad logic board.

Apple had a problem with these logic boards and had a replacement program
for them even if they weren't under AppleCare. But that has since expired.
There are a number of folks with this same issue who have posted on the
apple web site under the discussions area. Seems like these iBooks have been
"dropping like flies" lately. I considered replacing the logic board but
couldn't find one that had more than a 90 day warranty and there certainly
weren't any new ones available, considering that I decided to cut my losses
and sell it for parts.

Somewhere in my research I ran across more than one person who were told by
Apple Techs on the phone that Apple considers the lifespan of *Books to be 3
years. I personally would expect they would last longer than that too, and I
know that many Apple products do last longer than that. I guess the 3 years
is a corporate policy though.

We are currently scraping some extra cash together to buy my wife a new
iBook, hopefully we can get one of the G4 iBooks before they are
discontinued.

Good luck!
Kevin Avery
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