[villalobos]

Well I am on my 3rd (!) logic board on my iBook and it seems that the newer one is about to fail as well.... The same issues with the screen are coming back. How many times do I have to get the logic board changes before Apple gives me a remplacement? Anybosy had had any luck?
I was told the new logic board would be immune but it does not seem to be the case.

[IceBreaker]

any updates to this?

[Voch]

Sounds like it's time to complain for a new machine...

Voch

[villalobos]

Originally posted by IceBreaker:
any updates to this?

Yeah, and it is apparently NOT the logic board, but the other infamous iBook issue, namely the wiring through the hinge. And THAT is not covered by Apple. They'll fix it for the modest sum of $300 though, all nice that they are at Apple.
Judging by the numbers of discussions on the Apple support website, this is pretty common. Not sure what to do yet. $300 is a lot of money for a computer that age. I might try to fix it myself.

villa

[smic]

well i just got mine back for the second logic board repair
i mentioned the cable issue too, but they didnt fix it, looks like in the symtoms were all for the logic board, and the cable was forgotten
i still have a year and a half left of apple care, so ill get it fixed one day
maybe the next time the logic board goes

interestingly, my ibook was the 700mhz with 16mb VRAM, and the last logic board came with 32mb VRAM, and same with the new one
i dont know if they are thinking that is the fix or not by increasing the VRAM, or if im just lucking out

[macaddict0001]

check if your processers are faster.

[smic]

same speed 700mhz
but im under the impression that its a downclocked 800mhz
i used icook and clocked it upto 800 and it was fine
but, i cook stopped working for me, and wasnt worth having to enable it all the time

[mi5]

Hi All,
I have an iBook G4 800 which I bought in February 2004. From February until about July all was well with only one reinstall, then July to August it kept locking up and when I went to restart I would get the flashing question mark in the little folder. I would then reboot with the OS disk and sometimes (up to 6 -7 reboots) there was no hard drive recognised in either the Disk Utility nor the install process. Then sometimes I'd leave it off for a while and then it would be fine.

My Apple Reseller replaced the hard drive and all was well for about 3 weeks, then up to the end of September the lock ups/freezing began to get more frequent.

The Apple Reseller has now had my iBook since 1st October and has told me they are replacing the hard drive AND the logic board. I am so hoping this is the end of the problems because I simply can't be without a computer (I am in the middle of studying my Masters).

Everyone else I know who owns an Apple iBook or Powerbook NEVER have any problems. I DO NOT want a lemon!

Will Apple really replace the whole iBook if they have to repair it too much or do you have to fight for a replacement?

Being positive, hopefully I'll get the iBook back this week and the problem will be fixed (PLEASE...PLEASE Apple!!!!!)!

Any thoughts would be helpful and reassuring!

Cheers!

[macaddict0001]

Originally posted by smic:
same speed 700mhz
but im under the impression that its a downclocked 800mhz
i used icook and clocked it upto 800 and it was fine
but, i cook stopped working for me, and wasnt worth having to enable it all the time

you could put it im the login items.

[Xiaopangzi]

My fourth logic board just failed last night, so I am taking my 800 MHz iBook in again after sending this message. I think it's time for them to give me a new iBook, because it would actually cost them less than replacing this motherboard repeatedly. The could have given me two new iBooks already for the replacement parts and labor costs that have been incurred by replacements already. I know that some boisterous Americans were able to get new iBooks by complaining loud enough, but something about my passive Canadian nature makes the same positive results unlikely in my case. I'm sure they'll just replace the logic board again, and I'm very certain that I'll have to go back within the next three months after that one fails as well. Any assertiveness training techniques anyone here can teach me?!

[jamil5454]

I've got a few pointers for ya:

-Don't sh!t your pants when they say "No."
-Northern Americans are boisterous, while Southerners tend to be slow and lazy
-Have fun with your new logic board

[Xiaopangzi]

I brought my iBook in and asked whether they've had any customers receive new iBooks after multiple logic board failures and replacements. The dealer, WestWorld, told me that although they have had a few, it has usually been only customers who are still under the original warranty or who purchased the AppleCare extended warranty, so it looks as though I'm out of luck now and will just have to continue to get logic board replacements until my three years are up (under the special extension plan for logic boards only).

Many people have been kicking themselves for purchasing AppleCare before Apple finally caved in and offered the special extension in January, thinking that they wasted money when they're repairs could have been free of charge anyway, but if they will get a new computer out of it while those of us who didn't pay that extra money for AppleCare do not, the purchase was not the waste of money that they have assumed it to be.

If the problems continue to recur right up to about March 2005, when the first customers will have reached the end of their three years of special extended logic board coverage for that one series of iBooks, I'm sure enough people will make enough of a fuss that it will be further extended or all further cases will receive automatic new iBook replacements. If I were Apple, I'd begin that latter policy now, because it will obviously save them money in the end and ensure satisfied rather alienated customers.

If I am to get a new iBook eventually, such as after about the eighth logic board failure, I hope it happens after OS X 10.4 (Tiger) is out so that I can save myself the purchase that I would have had to make otherwise. That should be the reward for lost productivity and even lost clients, in my case. The logic boards are sometimes on back order for a couple of weeks. I was fortunate that it was only a week the last time, but I have no idea how long I'll have to wait this time. It's frustrating, but if I get a new iBook around the time I would have liked to upgrade to a newer computer anyway, it may ALMOST (not really) have been worth it.

I have one more year on my coverage to see what will happen, but I am absolutely certain that I will require a few more logic board replacements in that time.

[mi5]

Well I got my iBook G4 800 back on 14th October complete with a new hard drive (2nd replacement) and a new logic board. What is interesting is that on the repair docket the reseller listed the price (in Australian $) for the replaced items: $475 for the hard drive (odd considering you can buy a 2.5" 30GB notebook drive for A$105) and $1900 for the logic board. Don't get me wrong, I am extremely happy they have replaced it.

Anyway, all has been well until this week (less than 2 weeks since the above work) when the iBook started freezing up again, so I started the usual troubleshooting tasks...going into Disk Utility via booting from the OS disc, but on a number of occassions it either didn't find the hard drive or it took more than 5 minutes to "gather disk information"...I was finally able to do the Disk Repair and Repair Permissions...and the iBook started again okay.

So I called the tech at my reseller and he suggested 2 things: (1) call and let Apple know of the problem(s) and (2) bring it into him.

The tech suggested it might be the hard drive cable, but am I right in thinking if a cable is faulty or not connected correctly, that you would have no activity from the hard drive to the logic board, etc?????

Interestingly, the Apple rep said that if the tech deemed that my iBook required another new hard drive (ie. a 3rd replacement), they would look at a whole machine replacement (I have only had my iBook for 8 months). When I took the iBook into the tech I mentioned what Apple had said and he said he would essentially try and get me a "working" machine.

What do you think my chances are? If they replace my iBook G4 800 would they replace it with a current model? The price has dropped since I bought mine...in fact, I bought an extra 512mb RAM + Airport Extreme card, which compared with a current model is still A$200 dearer for mine. Logically, a current model at the same spec is cheaper than what I paid.

Anyway, the tech said he would do a quick turnaround (3 working days), so including Friday, I'll be calling him Tuesday morning!

Any thoughts would be most appreciated!

Cheers