Ladies and Gents My iBook has died!!!!!

fellowshipfellowship
Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
I have not had my iBook even a year I believe. It has died! my iBook was my first ever Apple Purchase and I have spent a bit of money around the system. Air Port etc. It has Died. Last night I was using it as usual and the screen started to jumble and the OS locked up completely. Everything froze. Then the screen would go black and back on scrambled and would continue to scramble as I watched it. I wonder if the Motherboard has a fracture in it? or if the Video card is dead? It is still dead. Today I tried to use it and the screen jumbled up again and the system froze. I guess it is time to go to apple. What are your suggestions?



I just can not believe the thing is broke after such a short period of time. It really has me wondering about the "quality" of apple.



I also forget the warranty period on the iBook with apple do any of you know? I know I did not buy applecare and now I am concerned about my situation.



Any suggestions? I am on my PC asking you...



Fellowship



[ 03-15-2003: Message edited by: FellowshipChurch iBook ]</p>
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 123
    mount_my_floppymount_my_floppy Posts: 913member
    Apple`s quality is fine. I would just take the lap top to your local apple store if you have one. I had a power tower 180 and a 7100/66 one time. My house was struck by lightning and the only electronic that survived was the 7100/66 and the big screen tv
  • Reply 2 of 123
    midwintermidwinter Posts: 10,060member
    What have you tried? Does it boot from a CD? Does an external monitor work? Have you tried reinstalling the OS?



    A little more information would help.



    FWIW, the battery for my iBook (500mhz) died about a week after my warranty ran out. Go figure.



    Cheers

    Scott



    [ 03-15-2003: Message edited by: midwinter ]</p>
  • Reply 3 of 123
    fellowshipfellowship Posts: 5,038member
    [quote]Originally posted by midwinter:

    <strong>What have you tried? Does it boot from a CD? Does an external monitor work?



    FWIW, the battery for my iBook (500mhz) died about a week after my warranty ran out. Go figure.



    Cheers

    Scott</strong><hr></blockquote>



    It will boot up. Upon boot up it the screen jumbles up in a really bad way and nothing can be done on the system. I have to hard power it down.
  • Reply 4 of 123
    tommy_thompsontommy_thompson Posts: 224member
    Well..what ibook do you have? (model, like one of the older clamshells, icebook??) Are you still under warranty? Has the book undergone any dropping at all? Just curiosity questions....
  • Reply 5 of 123
    fellowshipfellowship Posts: 5,038member
    [quote]Originally posted by tommy_thompson:

    <strong>Well..what ibook do you have? (model, like one of the older clamshells, icebook??) Are you still under warranty? Has the book undergone any dropping at all? Just curiosity questions....</strong><hr></blockquote>



    It is about a year old. It is the newer style 14 in 700 mhz. Never been droped.



    Fellowship
  • Reply 6 of 123
    mcqmcq Posts: 1,543member
    Not sure on any troubleshooting tips, but the 14" 700 MHz version was released in May 2002, so it's still under the one year warranty. You can call Apple, and as long as you can prove that it's a hardware defect (shouldn't be all that hard), they should do something about it.



    You may want to try reinstalling Jaguar (I believe you're using it Fellowship, correct?), and do the archive-install option. See if that helps out any.
  • Reply 7 of 123
    aslan^aslan^ Posts: 599member
    You should try booting from the diagnostic cd, put CD in the drive (use a paper clip to open the drive if the eject key wont work) power up the ibook and hold down c to boot from cd rom. Then run the diagnostics. If perhaps a critical portion of your hard disk has been corrupted (display driver corrupt or something of that nature) for some reason, it could very well cause the condition you are describing. You may also want to reset the firmware (I cant remember how to do this, its another key combination). Apples quality is not in question, even BMWs break sometimes (otherwise there would be no BMW mechanics). If the diagnostic CD doesnt work then its definately a job for Apple technicians.



    [ 03-15-2003: Message edited by: AsLan^ ]</p>
  • Reply 8 of 123
    fellowshipfellowship Posts: 5,038member
    [quote]Originally posted by Xidius:

    <strong>POOR FELLOWSHIP!!!



    - Xidius</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Thank you all for your feedback I am sad about this. Xidius I would chat with you but I am on my PC and I can't.



    I will just take it to the apple store in my area tomorrow. I am not sure if anyone there will be able to help me with this on a Sunday but I will see.



    I will let you all know how apple takes care of this situation.



    Again thank you all



    Fellowship
  • Reply 9 of 123
    bill mbill m Posts: 324member
    Disconnect power, remove battery and any aftermarket RAM you might have installed (under the keyboard). Apply power and try booting again. You might have a RAM stick gone bad.



    :cool:
  • Reply 10 of 123
    torifiletorifile Posts: 4,024member
    The freezing sounds like it's a bad motherboard. If there's a short in the MB, it can work for a bit and then it'll freeze. Take it to the store or call Apple. It'll be back before you know it.



    Or you could just pray about it.
  • Reply 11 of 123
    bartobarto Posts: 2,246member
    It's the MLB (motherboard).



    If you've had it less than a year, take it to an Authorized Service Centre. It will be fixed under warranty. All you'll pay is for labour.



    Barto
  • Reply 12 of 123
    lucaluca Posts: 3,833member
    [quote]Originally posted by Barto:

    <strong>It's the MLB (motherboard).



    If you've had it less than a year, take it to an Authorized Service Centre. It will be fixed under warranty. All you'll pay is for labour.



    Barto</strong><hr></blockquote>



    I don't think you have to pay even labor costs if it breaks under warranty. That's why it's a warranty.
  • Reply 13 of 123
    bartobarto Posts: 2,246member
    In Australia, you do pay labour costs. That way, Apple Australia and Authorised Service Centres can see the money generated by their technicians. And screw the customers.



    Barto
  • Reply 14 of 123
    lucaluca Posts: 3,833member
    Yeesh... as if they weren't screwing international customers enough.
  • Reply 15 of 123
    eugeneeugene Posts: 8,254member
    [quote]Originally posted by Barto:

    <strong>It's the MLB (motherboard).



    If you've had it less than a year, take it to an Authorized Service Centre. It will be fixed under warranty. All you'll pay is for labour.



    Barto</strong><hr></blockquote>



    How, exactly, have you narrowed down his problem to the mobo?
  • Reply 16 of 123
    bartobarto Posts: 2,246member
    [quote]Originally posted by Eugene:

    <strong>



    How, exactly, have you narrowed down his problem to the mobo?</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Well, what could go bad?



    1) Memory. If the memory was totally stuffed, the computer would beep at you. If it was mildly stuffed, you would expect it to partly start up. Or start up then crash at some point.



    2) Hard Disk Drive. A corrupted portion of the HDD does not induce that kind of scrambling. The computer would simply not work at such an early stage at boot. I also imagine that FCiB has tried a CD.



    3) CPU. If this was stuffed, it wouldn't turn on.



    4) OS. Similar to HDD.



    5) Power issue. When the graphics chip doesn't get enough power, you would expect mild corruption.



    6) LCD. It's possible I guess, but I've never heard of major scrambling cause by the LCD.



    --------------



    We are left with the MLB (in this case the graphics chip). It's something I personally see as well as hear about often. Sometimes graphics chips die. In fact too much of the time. It's a tad disturbing how CPUs can be so reliable, but GPUs are not. The chip is fried some how, and screwing up the data as it reaches the VRAM.



    Barto
  • Reply 17 of 123
    rodukroduk Posts: 706member
    Can I suggest we all join hands and observe a minutes silence? We can only pray its gone to silicon heaven, to join deceased Mac 128Ks, IIs and Quadras etc, rather than the living hell that is 286s, 486s and Pentiums.

    Alternatively, get it repaired under the manufacturers one year warranty. I believe the 14" 700MHz model was introduced in May 2002, so it should still be covered.



    [ 03-16-2003: Message edited by: RodUK ]</p>
  • Reply 18 of 123
    brunobruinbrunobruin Posts: 552member
    The symptoms sound very similar to what happened with my Cube when the video card died. The screen would scramble and get vertical lines, then go black. Apple will probably just replace the motherboard.



    Fellowship, FWIW, I have had excellent experiences with Apple repairs. They will try to diagnose the problem over the phone with you, and then will send you a pre-paid box so you can send the iBook in for repair. I believe iBooks go to Houston.



    Since it's past the three-month (software) phone support period, they will ask for a credit card number to charge you for the call (I think it's $45), but when they figure out it's a hardware problem they will wipe out the charge.
  • Reply 19 of 123
    dhagan4755dhagan4755 Posts: 2,152member
    <a href="http://www.macfixit.com"; target="_blank">Mac FixIt</a> has this blurb on their page right now (sun 3/16/03):



    [quote]Late-Breakers

    Troubleshooting the iBook: Logic board, video failures



    In recent weeks, an issue with iBook logic board failure has gained critical mass, with Apple's discussion boards and our inboxes full of reports from readers who have had to send their portables in for repair.





    Based on a number of reports, the issue works something like this: Users suddenly begin to see "rows" of pixel artifacts across the LCD. In the next stage, the screen goes haywire. Strange patterns appear all of the screen along with image ghosting, as if you had set an invalid mode line in X Windows.





    In the third stage the computer loses responsiveness, programs crash, and network sessions time out. Upon reboot, some systems will work normally for a few minutes then quickly die. In the end, many users are left in a situation in which there is a boot chime, and nothing else.





    Some users have been able to get an extra few minutes to back up their system by resetting the Power Management Unit (Shift-Control-Option-Power). One user reported fixing the whole issue by booting into OpenFirmware (hold Command-Option-O-F during startup) and typing "reset-vram" and then "reset-all."





    Users whose systems are under warranty are receiving new logic boards from authorized Apple repair centers, resolving the issue. The key to quick replacemnt however, as usual, is to have an AppleCare plan.





    One user went as far to disassemble his out-of-warranty iBook and found that moving a certain connecter wire produced a difference in the system's ability to boot, letting it get a little further into the startup process. However, the wire had no visible damage nor did the jack. He concluded that it was an issue with the jack on the logic board.





    A MacFixIt reader writes:





    "I had a friend of mine ask his buddy who is a Test Engineer over at Apple if he was familiar with the issue and he said based on the symptoms it was the logic board and he has been getting very familiar with the issue. The overall suggestion is that anyone with an iBook should consider picking up AppleCare or a 3rd party warranty of some sort. Because logic board replacements can cost a lot of money."





    If you are experiencing any of these issues, please drop us a line at [email protected].<hr></blockquote>
  • Reply 20 of 123
    macsrgood4umacsrgood4u Posts: 3,007member
    Apple's one year warranty includes replacement, labor, etc. They'll even send a prepaid carton overnight for you to send the computer back if you don't want to bring it to the Apple Store (or one isn't near you). If you go to the Apple Store they may also send it back if they can't fix it. You'll get it back within a week.
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