[MadanKnightRyukendo]

I have a G4 iBook that is just shy of two years old. Recently, the hard drive started making humming sounds, which lead me to believe my hard drive was failing. But, on Apple's forums it was suggested that there might've been a cable loose. I was planning to replace the hard drive myself, so I performed a little "exploratory surgery" a few days ago to make sure the problem wasn't something I could fix without a new hard drive. By the time I got it opened, I found that the hard drive cable was extremely loose, so I popped it back into the slot, hooked up everything exactly as it should've been. But when I turned it on, it only worked for about 15 minutes before the screen went black (but with the backlight still on), and then it powered off and refused to turn on at all. I figure something must've been blown on the motherboard or in the power supply unit because I smelled the familiar smell of burnt electronics (I work for Radioshack so I recognize that smell easily), so I opened it again, but couldn't find the source of the burnt smell, so I put it back together again, and it booted again, but the cursor moved on it's own, and very erratically at that. So I powered it off and grabbed two different mice. I booted it again and tried both mice (since now the trackpad wouldn't respond at all), and they'd both move the cursor, but the only things I could click were the battery meter, the clock, and everything else in that upper right corner. Then it powered off on me again.

So basically, the two questions I have are....

1. What component seems to be the one at fault here?
2. Is there any way to wipe the hard drive without having to buy an external enclosure and wipe it that way?

I ask because I'm planning to try and sell it on eBay for parts/repairs to earn a little extra money for a new laptop, but I would like to have a better idea of what could be wrong with it for the description, and I don't want to send it off to someone if the hard drive can possibly be salvaged and my information taken (I don't want to have to go through every site and program I've used on it and change the password). I know that using a magnet on a hard drive will wipe information from it, but will it totally wreck it?

[frdmfghtr]

It sounds like the trackpad...were you able to disable the trackpad and use it with external mice? You might have to physically disconnect it.

I'd suggest pull out the HD and sell it for parts that way. If I can't wipe a hard drive, it doesn't leave my possession until I CAN wipe it or physically destroy it.

Good luck!

[MadanKnightRyukendo]

When I plugged in the mice (two different ones), it would move the cursor, but the only things on screen that would react to clicks were the icons in the upper right corner. None of the menus reacted, nor anything else. It died about 2-3 minutes after booting.

I suppose I could sell it without the hard drive, since quite a few of the components still work great (battery, AirPort Extreme, 256 MB RAM expansion, screen, etc.), but should I change my prices at all? I was going to put it starting at around $125 starting bid, with a $200 Buy It Now, since I've seen similar parts laptops go for at least that much.

[kick52]

thats quite weird.. you probably have a hardware problem.. but the symptoms seem like software issues..

are you using it on AC power?
have you tried booting off a cd? (try the apple hardware test)
have you tried taking out the extra ram?

[MadanKnightRyukendo]

The problems didn't happen until after I opened it. Before that, there weren't any problems other than the weird hard drive sounds.

I used it on both AC power and Battery power. Didn't try a CD boot because it really won't power on 99% of the time. And I didn't take out the extra RAM.

But I just finished removing my hard drive and putting it back together, so it's too late to try because I really don't feel like going through it all again.

[jdrumstik]

don't put a starting bid at what you want to sell it for. I put everything at like $20 if its a computer, it will boost your bids significantly and you will end up getting a little more than it is actually worth. Aside from putting a high starting price and no one buys it.

Also when funky stuff like this happens trying a Linux Live CD is never a horrible Idea.

[kick52]

Originally Posted by jdrumstik 

don't put a starting bid at what you want to sell it for. I put everything at like $20 if its a computer, it will boost your bids significantly and you will end up getting a little more than it is actually worth. Aside from putting a high starting price and no one buys it.

Also when funky stuff like this happens trying a Linux Live CD is never a horrible Idea.

errr.. what?

installing an OS/running one off other media cant screw your machine, unless you change the firmware or hardware..