[iBook] Troubled iBook

[Fred Stevens K2FRD]

Similar problems with my G3 900 iBook: wouldn't wake up, would turn itself off, would take several tries to boot it up so that it would go past the spinning gear stage, would freeze so I'd have to do a hard quit with the power button. The hardware test CD that came with my computer found no problems. Finally one day, it would boot up only to the start of the blue screen, then shut itself off. DiskWarrior wouldn't work; the only thing that worked was the hardware test CD which found no problems. I paid the 50 bucks for a call to Apple Tech Support where they walked me through the troubleshooting procedures (most from the install CDs) and determined my system had a corrupted file. I had to completely reinstall Tiger from the DVD thus losing everything on my HD. Fortunately, I had most, but not all my data backed up. I lost about three month's worth.

So, my first recommendation is to run a complete backup (if you haven't already done this) of all your data including applications (I didn't realize I had so many third party apps until they turned up missing after the reinstall; fortunately, I had saved the install CDs, registration numbers/codes [for new app downloads], or installation disk images to be able to recover the most important ones).
 
If you haven't run the hardware test CD that came with your computer, I recommend you do so. Also, run Disk First Aid (Applications -> Utilities -> Disk Utilities). If no negative reports, it's probably a system problem.

Then, you can go in two directions: 1) phone Apple Tech Support, pay $50 and let them walk you through the troubleshooting procedures; or 2) save yourself 50 bucks and do a complete reinstall (you'll have to do a hard drive erase first; this is also done from Disk Utilities). Before you punch that erase button, make sure all your important data and software is backed up and that you have the OS X install disks right at hand.

Others may have different approaches to this solution.

Good luck!

Fred

At 1:47 PM -0400 5/30/06, Kenny Feder wrote:
>My son's G4 iBook is behaving very strangely and I'm trying to figure out if
>it's more likely a hardware or a software problem. When he shuts the lid of
>his laptop it goes to sleep but when he opens the lid up, it only sometimes
>wakes up. Sometimes it refuses to wake up, other times it has turned itself
>off (and it's certainly not configured to do that). In any event, when he
>attempts to reboot, he will commonly get the dreaded folder with a question
>mark and the machine simply can't find the OS (10.4) and won't start up. He
>attempts to reboot, the same result. By the fourth or fifth reboot, it
>actually works and he's good to go; nothing odd once he's up and running.
>But if he closes the lid, it's a crap shoot; it may wake up from sleep, it
>may refuse to wake up, or it may simply have turned itself off and the drama
>of attempting to reboot commences.
>
>Any suggestions anyone on the list can provide will be much appreciated.
>
>Thanks in advance.
>
>Ken