Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

Chino · Mar 13, 2006, 01:30 PM

Hi everyone. Would really appreciate if someone could help me out with this problem. My iBook (which has been working great since I bought it about 3.5 years ago) suddenly died on me today. i logged out, shut the lid, took it with me to another location via car, opened the lid and nothing turned back on!

I can hear the HD running/spinning, but the display won't show anything. When i restart or turn off then turn back on the computer, it doesn't make that apple starting sound... the harddrive just makes noise like it's struggling to do something. but nothing happens. I tried taking out the battery & everything, but nothing!

Please - if any one has any advice, let me know. Thanks a lot! *exasperated* & nearing finals at school.

Dork. · Mar 13, 2006, 01:54 PM

Can you try hooking up an external monitor?

Do you have access to another Mac, and a Firewire cable? If so, you can try mounting your iBook HD on the other Mac using Target Disc mode.

b1NARY73 · Mar 13, 2006, 05:31 PM

Reply, I have had this happen to me with my PB 17"... I found taking the battery out and letting it sit for a 1/2 hour made it come back to life........ it has happened to me twice.... each time when I went from one location to another and wifi was available...... maybe a wierd sleep/airport extreme thingy...... dunno. Good luck!

Chino · Mar 13, 2006, 07:03 PM

thanks for your responses.

i don't have my monitor connection and i don't have another mac either.

i tried the battery thing and it didn't work. guess i'll have to take it into the shop. unfortunately, i'm way off warantee and the fees make me consider upgrading to a whole new mac (although this situation makes me wonder if i should stick to PCs). mannnnn. my iBook went to sleep and never woke up again

But thanks for all your suggestions! (if anyone else has anything to add to this thread, pls do!)

Chino · Mar 15, 2006, 06:16 PM

for those interested... the service centre called me back today. The logic board died. It actually died before on me shortly after i bought it. The $900 dollar difference being that back then, it was still under warrantee. *sigh* Obviously I'm not going to get it repaired.

What an opportunity for an upgrade. I just hope i don't get any more detrimental logic board issues.

Time to figure out how to retrieve my data....

Dork. · Mar 15, 2006, 08:12 PM

Originally Posted by Chino

Time to figure out how to retrieve my data....

The cheapest way would be to get an inexpensive USB or FireWire drive case for a laptop hard drive, like this one, for example. (I literally picked the first one I found, you can probably find a different one if you prefer.) Then disassemble the iBook, yank the HD from it, and put it in the case.

When you're all done, you have the additional advantage that after your new computer is all set up, you can reformat your old hard drive and have it for extra storage.

auggie · Mar 29, 2006, 02:33 PM

I would try calling Apple first. They *may* cover it.

The logic board in my iBook (800 MHz, dual USB) died about a 1 1/2 years ago, but it was covered by AppleCare then. It died again 3 weeks ago (3 months out of warranty) and we faced the prospect of a $800 repair bill. But my wife called Apple who agreed to cover it. Woo hoo.

The tech said that the fact that we had AppleCare was a factor in the decision. It does seem to be hit or miss, judging by comments on this forum, but it's worth a try.

imitchellg5 · Mar 30, 2006, 09:09 PM

Logic board.

Chino · Apr 7, 2006, 11:20 PM

You guys were right! I took it to the apple store even though it was technically 3.5 years old... but they did cover it for free (under the logic board program)! But now i just unnecessarily spent a whole lot of $ i didn't really have on a MBP.

Which I LOVE.

Thanks for all the responses.... let's see when the logic board dies again

volcano · Apr 8, 2006, 12:30 AM

Originally Posted by Chino

You guys were right! I took it to the apple store even though it was technically 3.5 years old... but they did cover it for free (under the logic board program)! But now i just unnecessarily spent a whole lot of $ i didn't really have on a MBP.

Which I LOVE.

Thanks for all the responses.... let's see when the logic board dies again

If you purchased the MBP less than 14 days ago, you can return it.

Of course, I might be willing to take it off your hands too...

lilford · Apr 13, 2006, 12:04 AM

What about me??