[irydna]

Good day good sirs and madams,

Approximately one year ago, I purchased a used (late 2001) 12" iBook G3. Yes, I'm aware that it's quite slow, but it is serving my limited computing purposes fairly well. My question concerns the recent possession of my screen towards a flickering nature.

My screen now decides on its own when it shall turn off and on. The slightest touch will send it to the darkest setting, and any variable in between will select whatever brightness it desires. I have very little control over this, but it seems when I apply torque to the entire body (grab opposite corners and twist), the screen gets better - for only a moment. Oftentimes, in these wrestling sessions with my iBook, the "at rest" setting will produce no screen output, but if I retain it in a constant torqued position, the screen is at least visible.

I have disassembled the entire computer and reassembled to no effect, hoping for an obvious loose or frayed wire. Please assist me with diagnosing the problem or telling me it is all a lost cause and I should take this out to a meadow and pull a scene from Office Space (or, if there's anything worth salvaging on this thing, what could be sold and for how much?). Thank you all very much in advance.

-Andy

[Dave N]

While the symptoms aren't exactly the same, a year or so ago my G3 900 12" iBook had a reed switch cable go bad. The reed switch cable assembly also contains the power supply for the screen lamp, and this is actually the cable that frayed in mine (and not the reed switch cable itself). My screen would go dark (lost power) when I had it tilted at certain angles. I dealt with this for a while, but one day the cable broke completely and the screen lost all power. I could still see the desktop if I held a bright light behind the screen, because the video cable/signal was still fine (this is the definitive test for reed switch failure).

I bought a reed switch assembly from smalldog.com for $20 and replaced it. You should be able to replace it yourself if you've had the computer totally disassembled like you said. The reed switch assembly also comes with a new version of the plastic hinge vent which pinches the wires less than the original did, so it should prevent the problem for recurring. Unfortunately I didn't know this when I replaced mine and didn't install the newer vent. Now my wires are fraying again and it looks like I'll have to replace the reed switch soon. Not a task I'm looking forward to...


On the other hand, if torquing the body restores the screen it may be a video connection/board going bad. I don't know anything about that.

[turtle777]

Sounds like the little switch ("reed switch') that turns on and off the backlight is damaged.
Parts cost $ 55, incl. rep[air $ 125.

http://www.dttservice.com/ibookg3.html#ibkbacklite

Disclaimer: I had my iBook (logic board replacement) repaired by DTT Service. They did a good job on the repair, but they took out my 512 MB RAM chip to test different configurations. It took me 5 months and many phone calls to finally get it back. So your mileage may vary with them.

-t

[turtle777]

Ha, Dave N., you were faster. But same diagnosis

$ 20 for parts is good though.

-t