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Danoir · Dec 30, 2004, 10:59 AM

Hey all.

I got my iBook about a month ago (14-inch, combo drive) and did a little upgrading. I had an Apple Certified Repair technition install a Toshiba 80GB 5400rpm drive for me so that the labor is covered. Since then the computer has been acting a little strangely. Here are some of the symptoms.

-Twice now I have closed the lid to put it to sleep and come back hours later and the computer is off. The battery is nearly charged in both of these instances. When I power it up, nothing appears to be wrong.

-Just two days ago, I returned to my home network after being on my parents network in a different state. I power up Airport, it reads me the name of my home network, I fire up Mail and it hangs. The little black triangle appears, but the main window for the app never shows up. I force quit, start again. I try Adium, the buddy list never shows up. I launch Safari, nothing. So I turn airport off, on again, try again. Same results. I logout, login, this time the dock shows up, but the menu bar doesn't. Some of the meny icons do (like Date and Time, Airport, Sync, Volume), but there's no menu bar. Nothing will launch, beachball is there indefinitely. I try restarting the computer. Same thing.

Eventually, I shut the computer down. Log into my router with the PC in my roommate's room, check a few settings, disconnect, reconnect, logoff. Restart the iBook, all is well.

-Lastly, the other day, I put the machine to sleep by shutting the lid. After 2 seconds of being asleep, the computer audibly powers up again. I leave it shut for a few seconds, but it stays on. I open the lid, the screen doesn't come on. The computer is clearly running from the faint whir of the HD, but no amount of trackpad touching or key pressing will get the screen to turn on. I try shutting the lid again, no change. Eventually, I hard reset (by holding down the power key) and restart. Problem solved.

So is this a HD problem? Is this a firmware problem? Has anybody had symptoms like this before? Most of them are minor annoyances, but I would like to avoid having them. My fear is that the problem will get worse over the next year and if I don't get it taken care of now while it's in warranty, I might be SOL next December when it's out of warranty.

Many thanks,
D

pat++ · Dec 30, 2004, 01:51 PM

I had the same kind of issues after having replaced the video cable of my iBook G3. Most probably an hardware issue. Send it back to your Apple certified technician to have it fixed.

macaddict0001 · Dec 30, 2004, 02:04 PM

is your airport software up to date?

nbn22385 · Dec 30, 2004, 02:29 PM

I had a similar issue where when i closed the lid, the computer went to sleep, then immediately woke up again. I found the cause to be the keyboard not being clipped down all the way. The screen was in fact pushing the esc button when i closed the lid. This was right after i replaced the ram. Silly me.

MARINEOSX · Dec 31, 2004, 02:55 PM

I think I have the same hard drive you upgraded to in mine I installed it myself and have not had any problems. I would take it back to the tech and tell him what is going on. He will take a look at it and probably fix it right there for you, or at least as fast as you would expect.

Danoir · Jan 14, 2005, 12:55 PM

Well, I finally took it in to an Apple Authorized Repair Technician. He ran all sort of hardware and software tests and could not find out what the problem was. He reset the logic board. He might have reset the VRAM. I was charged $50 for his services even though I'm in warranty since Apple doesn't cover software problems.

I take it home, the next day, just shy of 24 hours from when I picked it up, I'm typing an e-mail and the screen goes blank. Huh? I listen and the HD is still whirring. I look closer and the screen is technically still 'on', with objects just barely visible admist the near-perfect black. I pressed F11 to engage Expose hoping to see some movement in the barely visible objects. Nothing. I press keys and the trackpad. Nothing. I shut the lid. It doesn't go to sleep. I open the lid. It's the same as before. I hard reset, everything is fine.

The problem has not occured again in the last day, but I can't put up with this crap. It's frustrating since it happens so rarely and is all but impossible to reproduce (for myself and for the technician). How can I get it fixed if they don't know what's going wrong?

I'm thinking about bringing it to a Genius Bar. I worry that since I have a third-party HD they will not take it. I'm also worried that they will keep it a week but nothing will be fixed since they don't know what's wrong with it. Li'l help?

Thanks,
D

MARINEOSX · Jan 14, 2005, 01:59 PM

Everything but the hard drive will be covered by apple because it was an apple certified tech. This I know for sure. You will have to go to the hard drive manufacturer for the warranty. If you take it to a genius bar or send it to apple and they find a problem they will fix it as long as it is under warranty and the hard drive is not the culprit. But they will tell you what the problem is or was so at least you will know.

Danoir · Jan 14, 2005, 02:14 PM

Nice. So if they get done testing and they conclude it's the HD, I can take their conclusion to Hitachi and make 'em give me a new one?

D

SSharon · Jan 15, 2005, 06:10 PM

yes and while you are at it I would fight that $50 bill from the tech that said it was a software problem.

Danoir · Jan 21, 2005, 04:41 PM

So I wiped it all clean. I zeroed all the data on the machine. I had another goofy issue with my now external drive (formally internal) so I zeroed all that too. Two nights ago, while ripping a CD, typing in Adium, with a few other apps open, the computer all of a sudden shuts off. I had it on a desktop. Hit the power button. Fine.

Software problem my butt?

D

Hi I'm Ben · Jan 21, 2005, 05:11 PM

put the old drive in there run it back to apple and tell them to blow themselves. Did you also see apple had a recall on logic boards for select iBooks listed on their website?

or something about logic boards... whatever it is.. here is the link
http://www.apple.com/support/ibook/faq/

ghporter · Jan 21, 2005, 07:42 PM

Originally posted by Hi I'm Ben:
put the old drive in there run it back to apple and tell them to blow themselves. Did you also see apple had a recall on logic boards for select iBooks listed on their website?

or something about logic boards... whatever it is.. here is the link
http://www.apple.com/support/ibook/faq/

Ben, I think this issue is with a NEW iBook. The Logic Board problem involves iBooks made between 2001 and 2003.

Danoir, I agree that this is indeed a hardware problem, and it looks suspiciously like it was caused by the tech's installation of the Toshiba drive. I don't think the drive is the issue; I think it's something that didn't go back together exactly right after the drive was installed. It's been compounded now by another issue.

Take your receipts and your iBook to a DIFFERENT (authorized) shop and have them go over it. While every shop is in business to make money, a properly performed installation gets you new business, while a badly performed installation loses you business. And it won't hurt the new shop's feelings to show up a competitor, either!