[tomppu]

Help!
I had/have my iBook (old clamshell model) set up so that it asks password when waking from sleep. Well, I put it to sleep for a minute and when I tried to wake it up, nothing. Screen stays black, no password prompt. I can hear machine is running but nothing helps.
Restarted. Still black. Did the screen actually die on me or what? I can log in just fine judging from the sounds iBook make. Resetting pram didn't help, nor do I know if it should have.
Filesharing works, as does ssh. How can I see the processes running on my iBook remotely? Any suggestions at all? Time for a new laptop?

tómppu

EDIT: Need to add, iBook doesn't sleep anymore. And there are some cracks in the handle but these have been here for a long time.

[Detrius]

Hmmm... Can you see a faint image in the screen? If so, it's a backlight issue. This would likely be either the inverter or the backlight itself. If not, it's likely either the display or the logic board.

Also, if I remember correctly, on those models, sleep is activated in the hinge. They went out of style before I started working as a Tech, so I haven't been inside too many of those machines.

[tomppu]

Not even faint image, nothing. I tried connecting iBook to tv for mirroring and resolution change but not image on either one.

tómppu

[ManOfSteal]

Have you tried re-setting the NVRAM/PMU?

[tomppu]

Yes for both, no help. Anything else to try?
It seems very odd that my iBooks screen would die putting it to sleep... I'm having really hard time believing this could be hardware issue.

tomppu

[Powaqqatsi]

Try to boot from an installer CD.

[tomppu]

Internal DVD-ROM drive is broken (been for along time). So I tried booting via command-option-shift-delete. External DVD-burner doesn't boot for some odd reason (yes, it's bootable) but external FireWire HD boots OS 9.2.1 fine (again, judging from the sounds). Still no image.
Graphics card busted? Tried "resetting powerbook screen - command+R", dont work on iBooks I suppose. Definitely not on this one anyway.


tómppu

[Powaqqatsi]

Sure sounds like a hardware problem you got there

[tomppu]

I was thinking... if I can obtain Remote Desktop from somewhere (yes, I know it is wrong, but this is not a normal situation), would it be able to show my iBooks desktop on my iMac if the gpu in iBook is broken? Atleast this would confirm the issue if so. Also, if the Remote Desktop would actually work I might be able to run some repairs on the iBook, yes?

tómppu

[Powaqqatsi]

Originally posted by tomppu:
I was thinking... if I can obtain Remote Desktop from somewhere (yes, I know it is wrong, but this is not a normal situation), would it be able to show my iBooks desktop on my iMac if the gpu in iBook is broken? Atleast this would confirm the issue if so. Also, if the Remote Desktop would actually work I might be able to run some repairs on the iBook, yes?

tómppu

If you don't try it, you won't know it

EDIT: problem is that you need to have Apple Remote Desktop access activated in the sys prefs.

[jmiddel]

Try to boot in open firmware mode by holding down the Command+Option+O+F keys. If that works enter at the prompt ( o> ):

o> reset-all
press the return key.

You may have to then type either exit/return or reboot/return to boot. Good luck

[smeger]

Make sure you don't have your screen contrast turned all the way down. On the newer iBooks, use F2 to turn it up. Dunno what it is on the clamshells, though.

[tomppu]

Booting in open firmware didn't gave me a pretty grey screen to look at, but I typed those commands you told anyway, jmiddel. Neither "reboot" or "exit" command worked, so I tried with my iMac (only the rebooting part of course). "Boot" was the command that worked with iMac so I tried that too. Nope. Tried "restart" also but no luck. Either forced rebooting did actually negate the effects "reset-all" command could possibly have or it just didn't work.
On a side note, I haven't found working copy of Remote Desktop yet, so no news or guestions on that front.
Oh, and smeger. Thank you for your suggestion but I'm pretty tired of bashing my F2 already

tómppu

[Detrius]

The fact that you can't get external video combined with the failures of the logic board resets means you have a bad logic board.


With respect to the Apple Remote Desktop questions...


you can install OSXVnc on the laptop and get it up and running through SSH (or FireWire Target Disk Mode if you would rather).

You can use Chick of the VNC as a client to view the screen. My guess is that once you do this, Apple System Profiler will show no graphics card on the AGP/PCI bus.

[tomppu]

Thanks again for the replies and sorry for my absense in the last few days. I've downloaded OSXvnc and Chicken of the VNC now and opened server on the iBook via ssh. Then pressed enter to supposedly start the server but Chicken fails to connect blaiming operation time out. Now what?

tómppu