iBook G4 blank screen on startup

Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
I do computer repair and have run into an issue that I cannot figure out. My customer has an iBook G4 and the screen will stay blank as if it's off even when the power button is pressed. I've tried turning it on only on AC power; I've tried Cmd-Option-P-R; I have tried applying pressure in various places. When I asked my customer about what was happening when the issue started, he said his kids were on it, the battery died and the next time he tried to boot it up, it wouldn't work. It gave him neither errors nor lines on the screen; it just wouldn't turn on. Now the strange thing is everything else works. The fans spin, the hard drive spins, and it gives the startup sound. I tried to see if maybe the brightness was to low but that didn't work either. Any ideas???

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 5
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by madprofessor View Post


    I do computer repair and have run into an issue that I cannot figure out. My customer has an iBook G4 and the screen will stay blank as if it's off even when the power button is pressed. I've tried turning it on only on AC power; I've tried Cmd-Option-P-R; I have tried applying pressure in various places. When I asked my customer about what was happening when the issue started, he said his kids were on it, the battery died and the next time he tried to boot it up, it wouldn't work. It gave him neither errors nor lines on the screen; it just wouldn't turn on. Now the strange thing is everything else works. The fans spin, the hard drive spins, and it gives the startup sound. I tried to see if maybe the brightness was to low but that didn't work either. Any ideas???



    Verify display inverter inside, power in DC adaptor, connectors and wires all around.
  • Reply 2 of 5
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ivan.rnn01 View Post


    Verify display inverter inside, power in DC adaptor, connectors and wires all around.



    There's just one problem. I can't seem to get it open to check the connections.
  • Reply 3 of 5
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by madprofessor View Post


    There's just one problem. I can't seem to get it open to check the connections.



    Ummm.... That does make things worse. Battery and possible power problems, which the machine had had in the past, suggest components, which I named above, might indeed have been damaged.



    You might possibly need to give it a try... Provided it's iBook, the warranty should have been void since years now.



    First, you need the guide, the document describing steps of the tear down procedure to follow. There're lots of them on the web. Follow those steps thorough. Arrange screws, being yielded by each step, so you would be able to tell their placements from one another. I advice you to make pictures of the machine at each step of the procedure, to print them immediately and to put screws on those pictures to remember where they are from.



    Second, Apple implement a lot of tricks to prevent you from intruding into their machines. If connector refuses to obey you, stop the whole process, re-assemble the machine and take it to the nearest Apple Authorized Service Provider.
  • Reply 4 of 5
    Why does that not surprise me? I'm not Apple bashing but they really have lost their way. I don't understand why manufacturers, Microsoft and Apple make things so difficult to fix things that are broken.
  • Reply 5 of 5
    Maybe the backlighting is burned out. Shine a bright flashlight on the screen when it's supposed to be booted up. I'd also use Firewire Target Disk Mode with the iBook connected to another Mac just to satisfy myself that it is booting up. A good opportunity to back it up, too.
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