unique problem - no one knows!

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I have a fairly unique problem with my iBook that no one has been able to help me. Help me Obi-wan, you are my only hope!

ok, here it is:

One day i started my iBook and everything booted up perfectly. The desk top looked fine and everything was running. Then after about 2-3 minutes the iBook would freeze. the mouse didn't move, i couldn't do anything with the keyboard, it just froze completely. I restarted, and everything looked ok, for a bit. Suddenly the iBook would freeze again, but this time, in less than 2-3 minutes. I restarted and this time the iBook wouldn't start the OS at all, instead what i got was the screen changing colors, blue, yellow, green, etc, intermittently.

i took it to the apple store and they said that it was something to do with the logic board. I'm fairly new to mac, so I assume the logic board is the PC equivalent of the motherboard. Now my thought was, if there is a problem with the logic board, why does the iBook start up fine (for 2-3 minutes) when i turn it on after a while (a day or two).

A friend recommended i try and reinstall OS from the CD. so, i restarted, pressed C when the CD was in. the CD started spinning then nothing... the monitor would freeze before anything happened (basically, just a blue screen).

i tried turning it on whilst removing the battery, so running on power only. no difference. i tried starting it with the OS cd in, or nothing in at all. nothing.

as the iBook is out of warranty, it would cost me approximately £650 to fix, which is rather expensive!

now my question is this: has anyone experienced this kind of problem before? why is it that when i start (after leaving it off for a few days), i can get everything to work within the 2-3 minutes before it freezes? i can open Skype, Safari, anything pretty much, but only within that 2-3 minute window before it freezes.

On top of that, once it freezes, the outcome is always different. one time it freezes, the next time i get the changing colors on the screen, other times the screen just goes blue and nothing else...

as the iBook is only three years old, i hate having to throw it away or sell it for parts, cause when it works, it works!

the other thought i had, but this would be quite cheeky, was: what if i buy the apple care for the iBook, then once its up and running, take it to the shop and ask them to fix it? can that be done?

any help or suggestions are much appreciated!

Lorissimo
 
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It could be the logic board, the issues with the screen make me almost certain of that.
But, it could be a faulty RAM stick, the HD could be on its way out, basically it could be any number of things.
I would suggest trying the smaller fixes first and if they don't do it, the best advice would be to sell it for parts if you don't want to drop the money on a logic board repair.
 
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What you are experiencing is a known issue with ibook motherboards. Apple had a recall for about 2 years for this problem. I had an ibook that I had to send to Apple every 6 months, they would replace the motherboard free of charge and it was good to 6 more months. The problem is brought about by heat. That is why you get a few minutes of use before freezes.
 
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ibook g4, imac 2ghz c2d, mbp 2.4ghz c2d - 10.5.1
i would think its a logic board problem.
 
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I tried the last fix, then pressed the button that faced right, it started like normal, then a black screen popped up and there was a bunch of wight lines running across it, it went back to the wight apple screen and froze.
 
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13" MBP 2.53 DC2, 09 Mini 2.0 DC2, 07 Mini 2.16 DC2, MB 2.0 DC2, iBook G3 900MHz, G4 Sawtooth 1.6Ghz
i believe it is also the logic board which is a known issue on these. the replacement program from apple has long passed unfortunately.

here is a post where i describe what i did to fix mine almost 6 months ago and it has worked ever since.

hope that helps
 

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