iBook is hanging

[groggy23]

I've had my iBook G4 for quite some time now and very reliable machine. Tonight it stopped working on me. When I set it down on the desk I might have put it down a little too hard and it hiccuped. Now it will either get stuck on the boot screen or on the blue screen. I have tried the hardware test CD quite a few time, everything has passed. Although there were a couple of instances where it stopped working during the memory test and the screen became garbled. I've also noticed when it does hang during startups it will sometimes have a garbled screen or some weird blinking lines on the top left of the screen or even the rotating circular progress circle will come out all garbled. Not sure what its a sign of. The following are things that I have tried:

command+option+p+r (zap PRAM)
command+option+n+v (clear NVRAM)
command+option+shift+delete (boot other than internal disk)
c (boot up into hardware test CD)

Zapping the PRAM worked(heard the chime), but it didn't do anything.
Clearing the NVRAM seemed to work. It will boot up into the OS but stops working after loading some things into the desktop.
I used the command+option+shift+delete in an attempt to re-install the OS from scratch but it will get stuck during the install process.
c was to simply startup into the hardware test.

I am open to suggestions.

 

[groggy23]

Ok made some progress today. I'm able to boot up to the blue screen then it hangs. Anytime I try to boot from the Install disk it would throw me a CPU "unable to find driver for this platform" error.

 

[groggy23]

Anyone?

 

[Finx_1]

I've had my iBook G4 for quite some time now and very reliable machine. Tonight it stopped working on me. When I set it down on the desk I might have put it down a little too hard and it hiccuped. Now it will either get stuck on the boot screen or on the blue screen. I have tried the hardware test CD quite a few time, everything has passed. Although there were a couple of instances where it stopped working during the memory test and the screen became garbled. I've also noticed when it does hang during startups it will sometimes have a garbled screen or some weird blinking lines on the top left of the screen or even the rotating circular progress circle will come out all garbled. Not sure what its a sign of. The following are things that I have tried:

command+option+p+r (zap PRAM)
command+option+n+v (clear NVRAM)
command+option+shift+delete (boot other than internal disk)
c (boot up into hardware test CD)

Zapping the PRAM worked(heard the chime), but it didn't do anything.
Clearing the NVRAM seemed to work. It will boot up into the OS but stops working after loading some things into the desktop.
I used the command+option+shift+delete in an attempt to re-install the OS from scratch but it will get stuck during the install process.
c was to simply startup into the hardware test.

I am open to suggestions.

Hi Buddy..
This sounds almost to familiar..
This is definatly a hardware problem..
I think you are a victim to the most notorious iBook fault...
The Logic/Mother board.

If you've given it a bit of a knock that could of triggered it off..
Surtain chips on these logic boards have be known for dodgy soldering so the impact could of broke the connection...

It sounds a bit extreme but people have been well known for getting workbench clamps and attaching it an inch to the left of the top left corner of trackpad to squeeze the logicboard so the broken connection is reconnected..

but if you are brave enough you can take appart the ibook and put in shims to add pressure to the chips.. this is also another tryed and tested method.. which has worked a few times...

http://www.forbrug.dk/fileadmin/File...GF959-orig.pdf
This will show you the chips that are known to be faulty (and a pic of the clamp attached to an iBook)

I myself am suffering from a faulty logic board...
And I consider myself as 1 of the most fortunate of the sufferers for if i leave the ibook alone for a long time, when i turn it back on it'll give me 6-7mins before it freezes up...

Try leaving it alone for over 24hrs then coming back to it and see if it will boot properly... if it does, use this time to try to backup everything you need off it..

 

[groggy23]

Hi mate, seems like you are right. I applied a little pressure to where you said and low and behold it boots up. So it definitely seems like a faulty logic board although the test say it is fine. Oh well. Nothing much I can do since the warranty is up and repairs will probably cost as much as new one.

 

[groggy23]

Well its finally over. Tried to boot it up this morning and I get the 2 faces folder icon alternating with a ? trying to search for a boot drive. I no longer hear the hard drive. I am very sorry to say that it is dead. I appreciate the overwhelming responses in helping me asses the situation.

On a much lighter note I am considering a refurb MacBook purchase.

 

[fearlessfreap24]

Well its finally over. Tried to boot it up this morning and I get the 2 faces folder icon alternating with a ? trying to search for a boot drive. I no longer hear the hard drive. I am very sorry to say that it is dead. I appreciate the overwhelming responses in helping me asses the situation.

On a much lighter note I am considering a refurb MacBook purchase.

it will be a great upgrade!

 

[groggy23]

Oh yeah, I'm sure I'm gonna enjoy it for sure. I'm considering that MacBook 13" refurb(849) or the baseline MacBook(999) w/ education discount.