iBook problems (Kernal panic and disappearing Airport)

My girlfriend purchased a 12" iBook 1.33 GHz, with no upgrades to it from the online apple store, in August. It ran perfectly until last week or so, where she got the dreaded kernal panic over and over again. It seems to worsen with more usage from the iBook, until the point where the iBook would freeze and ask to restart in four different languages right after loading up OSX. On top of that, the built in Airport stopped responding shortly after her iBook started getting these kernal panics. Currently, the iBook doesn't detect Airport, and when she tried to open a Word document, the iBook froze. I'm guessing the non-functioning Airport is the reason for the kernal panics, but I'm not too sure about that so any help would be great. I've tried fixing all the permissions, and I also thought the Airport card was loose so I tried disassembling the iBook according to the Apple site only to find that Airport isn't actually exposed like my older 12" Powerbook.

I'll be contacting a service provider soon, but I was wondering if I could get some tips or help online first.

Sorry for the lengthy post btw.