iBook dead or just faking?

mseydel

mseydel

truculent
I've had my iBook 800Mhz with a combo drive for about 7 months. Initially, I had a bit of trouble starting up my iBook consistently(forced to power up by Power+Command and typing 'mac-boot'), but for about 5 months it ran like a workhorse for peripheral office and home use, as well as a great travel mac. I've upgraded the sysytem software fairly faithfully, and I think it's up to 10.2.6(can't check now), and I use 384mb of Ram. The other day, the screen started acting strange- horizontal lines of red, black, yellow and white flashed across the screen, then the whole machine locked up. I was able to restart a few times, but before I could run utils, it would crash again. After that, nothing. I tried rebooting into the root so I could reset the pram and nvram, but it won't let me get that far. I like to think that I can fix alot of problems on a Mac, but this is my first intimate experience with a laptop, and I couldn't even find the reset button(!) when I cracked it open. I was also afraid that I might invalidate my warranty by mucking around under the hood. Should I drag it into my local Apple store and hope that the warranty will cover the problem? And is there any way to get my data off the drive if it won't power up? Is my iBook dead or just a hypochondriac?
 
I'd call apple, or if you're in the right area visit them at their store. You're still under warrentee so they'll set you up.

As for backing up, try holding "t" (at least I think it's T) while booting. If it lets you get that far, it turns your iBook into basically a glorified firewire HD.
 
Call Apple Care (in US: 1-800-APL CARE; I don't remember the numbers of the other coutnries care). Or take your iBook to the closest Apple Store (if you live in US).

It could be a problem with the logic board, or other problems that the technicians can analyze better. You are still in warranty, and having your iBook fixed should take optimally no longer than a week or about 10 days.

Welcome on board! And update us what happens and they say ;)
 
Hold down Cmd-Option-O-F as soon as you start up the computer and you'll boot into Open Firmware. Then type the following:

reset-nvram push Return
reset-all push Return

If that doesn't work, hold Cmd-S to boot into single user mode, and type fsck -y. It should run a number of tests and come back with either "Ok" or a message about fixing errors. If it doesn't say it's okay, repeat until it does.
 
can i jump into the firmware after the machine has booted and it's running?
After repeated attempts, I got my Mac running, was able to link to another Mac via ethernet to backup data/apps, and am cleaning it up. I'm a bit worried that if I shut 'er down again, she won't come back up again...and the last several times I tried to startup with Power+Cmd I got nowhere...
 
Get it to Apple, it needs to have a close look to had on it, and fixed while still in warranty. Did you boot in target mode (apple-t after startup) and saved the data to another hard drive?
 
AFAIK, you can only boot into OF when you start the computer up. I don't know how you'd go about doing it when you're already in OS X.
 
You can write to the nvram with the nvram command in the Terminal, but not access OF directly.
 
I was able to get into open firmware and reset-nvram and reset-all, which allowed a clean reboot. I found the Hardware test disk, which detected no problems. It ran fine for most of yesterday, but then evinced what seems to be the symptoms of kernel panic...sudden horizontal lines on the screen, then the mouse locks. Then the whole screen goes nuts for a few seconds like a Atari 2600 cartridge plugged in with peanut butter on the business-end. Then the screen goes white, then dark. I can heard the hard drive trying to access data, so I peeled the battery out to stop the insanity. Looks like a job for AppleCare...
 
To quote Hulkaros, Boom!

Wow... sounds like a bad kernel panic. What OS are you using? In 10.2 or higher, you would get a message telling you to restart your computer. Do this, and hold Cmd-S. At the prompt, enter "fsck -y" repeatedly until it tells you that your computer is okay, then type either restart or reboot (don't remember which it is).
 
Yeah, I've actually seen this warning screen on my iBook, but it doesn't go there right now. I'm running OS 10.2.6. Nothing happens with Cmd+S; in fact, I can't get it to boot at all for the past 3 days. I was on the phone with Apple, and they were not exactly helpful. Cheerful, though. In my experience, dragging your Mac in to an Apple store creates a more distasteful experience for them, as potential buyers may see a poor service plan- as a result, they tend to make things happen.
 
I had a problem with my 12" 700combo iBook as well. On a Dutch forum for macosx more people had the same problem. (vertical lines on display when pressing the area left of the touchpad).


We all called applecare who were aware of the problem (production error I suppose) and applecare fixed the problem within 4 days. My iBook was picked up on monday by a courier service and returned on wednesday, repaired.

I call that excellent service!

PS. It probably is a faulty logic board or the casing...
 
To any of you who posted suggestions and yearn for a sense of closure, I apologize for my tardy response as I was away on business sans my trusted iBook:

I finally took my unwell iBook into my local Apple Store, where the fellows at the Genius Bar tried to get a good description of the problems that I was having with my iBook. As they ran through possible solutions and troubleshooting, I realized how wise the counsel on this forum had been. I was better informed to accurately describe the problems I was having with my iBook, and it made me shed a silent tear for the folks who have to waddle in and say, "Uhhh, it, like, doesn't work, dude.". I was strangely heartened by the fact that while I was there, these well-meaning but hamstrung helpers had such problems with the link to their printer that I almost had to forego a receipt! This was on a Thursday afternoon,
and my iBook was returned and repaired by the following Thursday, arriving ahead of its owner. And the last guy to post wins the prize; they replaced the logic board...which makes me feel better, as I couldn't have fixed that myself.

Thanks to all who posted!
 
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