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hello,
i have a seemingly complicated issue here that may take a minute to explain. thanks to anyone that reads this and extra thanks to anyone that replies.
a friend of mine recently gave me a 12" 1 ghz ibook g4 with 256 MB of RAM. the catch was that this ibook had a "broken display". he said that it stopped working about a year ago and after that, he more or less never turned it back on.
i hooked it up to an external monitor and everything else seemed to be functioning well with the computer. i connected it to the internet via a wireless connection and downloaded and installed os x 10.4.11. i also downloaded and successfully installed updates for itunes, java, and quicktime.
everything seemed to be working very well. i updated firefox and was using the internet for a couple of days and using itunes to play music. like i said, everything was working well.
Then one night last week, i subscribed to a few podcasts and downloaded a few videos. i also downloaded an installation file for drupal. when i tried to open the installation file, the computer froze. i had to power it down. when i booted it back up, it froze at the login screen. i powered it down again and waited a minute. when i started it again, i was able to get to the desktop successfully. when i got to the desktop, i deleted the temp file on the desktop that had been created by trying to unzip/install drupal. this is when it gets weird.
when i deleted that file, the fan kicked on and the display on the ibook itself turned on (presumably for the first time in over a year). the computer froze and i had to power it down. i left it alone for a half hour or so and booted it back up. the display was still working and everything else seemed to be working fine. i checked my email, was surfing the web, etc. and everything seemed fine. then, i watched a few quicktime videos (maybe about 25 minutes worth) and the computer froze again.
again, i had to power it down. after letting it sit for about twenty minutes, i powered it up again, watched about a half hour of video, and it froze again. When it freezes, the hard drive makes an ugly sound.
After a little bit of research and experimentation, I figured out that when the computer was “frozen” as I had previously thought, I could more or less pick up the front of the laptop and pivot it on the hinge. This would almost instantaneously fix the issue. the computer would continue processing and continue on.
The display is still working. I've closed the screen and opened it many times and the display is still working with no visible issues.
thinking about the issue, i imagine that it's possible that the computer is overheating. the fan only comes on for a second when the machine boots up. other than that, the only time i have heard it is the one time when the machine froze and the display came back on.
is this normal fan behavior? the computer doesn't seem too hot. it's definitely not as hot as macbooks get. but still, watching videos, etc. i would imagine that the fan would at least come on once in a while.
are the fan and display connected in any way? anyone have any troubleshooting advice? Am I totally off base? Does the “tilt” fix indicate anything to anyone out there?
I just installed 1 GB of RAM to bring the total up to 1.24 GB. I don’t think that’s going to affect the situation but we’ll see. Thanks a lot! Any help would be seriously appreciated! As a note, I am new to macs. Also, i'm up for taking anything apart. i got this free to see if i could get it to work so i can't really lose.
thanks again!
i have a seemingly complicated issue here that may take a minute to explain. thanks to anyone that reads this and extra thanks to anyone that replies.
a friend of mine recently gave me a 12" 1 ghz ibook g4 with 256 MB of RAM. the catch was that this ibook had a "broken display". he said that it stopped working about a year ago and after that, he more or less never turned it back on.
i hooked it up to an external monitor and everything else seemed to be functioning well with the computer. i connected it to the internet via a wireless connection and downloaded and installed os x 10.4.11. i also downloaded and successfully installed updates for itunes, java, and quicktime.
everything seemed to be working very well. i updated firefox and was using the internet for a couple of days and using itunes to play music. like i said, everything was working well.
Then one night last week, i subscribed to a few podcasts and downloaded a few videos. i also downloaded an installation file for drupal. when i tried to open the installation file, the computer froze. i had to power it down. when i booted it back up, it froze at the login screen. i powered it down again and waited a minute. when i started it again, i was able to get to the desktop successfully. when i got to the desktop, i deleted the temp file on the desktop that had been created by trying to unzip/install drupal. this is when it gets weird.
when i deleted that file, the fan kicked on and the display on the ibook itself turned on (presumably for the first time in over a year). the computer froze and i had to power it down. i left it alone for a half hour or so and booted it back up. the display was still working and everything else seemed to be working fine. i checked my email, was surfing the web, etc. and everything seemed fine. then, i watched a few quicktime videos (maybe about 25 minutes worth) and the computer froze again.
again, i had to power it down. after letting it sit for about twenty minutes, i powered it up again, watched about a half hour of video, and it froze again. When it freezes, the hard drive makes an ugly sound.
After a little bit of research and experimentation, I figured out that when the computer was “frozen” as I had previously thought, I could more or less pick up the front of the laptop and pivot it on the hinge. This would almost instantaneously fix the issue. the computer would continue processing and continue on.
The display is still working. I've closed the screen and opened it many times and the display is still working with no visible issues.
thinking about the issue, i imagine that it's possible that the computer is overheating. the fan only comes on for a second when the machine boots up. other than that, the only time i have heard it is the one time when the machine froze and the display came back on.
is this normal fan behavior? the computer doesn't seem too hot. it's definitely not as hot as macbooks get. but still, watching videos, etc. i would imagine that the fan would at least come on once in a while.
are the fan and display connected in any way? anyone have any troubleshooting advice? Am I totally off base? Does the “tilt” fix indicate anything to anyone out there?
I just installed 1 GB of RAM to bring the total up to 1.24 GB. I don’t think that’s going to affect the situation but we’ll see. Thanks a lot! Any help would be seriously appreciated! As a note, I am new to macs. Also, i'm up for taking anything apart. i got this free to see if i could get it to work so i can't really lose.
thanks again!