Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

pks1850 · Nov 10, 2003, 06:08 PM

So I've had my new 12" G4 ibook for some time and have been using it daily (or rather, my wife has been using it daily, building my case to purchase yet another Mac...).

In any event, back to the odd behavior. Browsing Web sites using Safari for several hours, my screen would lock up and be taken over by repeating horizontal black lines. This happened several times over the course of a couple days.

The screen would lock up, thin black repeating lines would appear, and then they would disappear after several seconds. I didn't have to reboot, and everything seemed to work normally after the event.

So, this being my first Mac, I'm not sure what to make of this -- is this a kernel panic that I often read about, or is this a precursor for bigger problems like a faulty logic board or something? Has this happened to anyone else? I wish I had taken a screen shot for reference, if it happens again I'll post.

For reference, this is a standard off the shelf configured G4 ibook, with the only exception being the addition of an Airport Extreme card. No 3rd party RAM... yet (ordered the 512MB stick today).

SupahCoolX · Nov 10, 2003, 10:14 PM

Sounds like a hardware issue. I'd have it checked (loose/broken video cable perhaps?). Does anything happen if you raise/lower the screen, press on certain areas, etc?

For reference: If you get a kernel panic, a message on the screen saying something like "The computer has a problem and must shut down" in several languages will appear and tell you to hold the power button to shut down. This is extremely rare for most people (I've only had one in the past two years, and that way back with OS 10.1).

pks1850 · Nov 11, 2003, 10:07 AM

Originally posted by SupahCoolX:
Sounds like a hardware issue. I'd have it checked (loose/broken video cable perhaps?). Does anything happen if you raise/lower the screen, press on certain areas, etc?

For reference: If you get a kernel panic, a message on the screen saying something like "The computer has a problem and must shut down" in several languages will appear and tell you to hold the power button to shut down. This is extremely rare for most people (I've only had one in the past two years, and that way back with OS 10.1).

Ugh. I hope it isn't a hardware issue. Luckily, I have a Mac store near my house. The catch is the problem doesn't surface all the time, and there isn't anything I can do to make it happen for the Mac Genius to diagnose.

I guess I'll have to wait for it to happen again and take a screen shot in to show them. Hopefully it'll never appear and it becomes a non issue...

khufuu · Nov 11, 2003, 01:03 PM

Originally posted by pks1850:
So I've had my new 12" G4 ibook for some time and have been using it daily (or rather, my wife has been using it daily, building my case to purchase yet another Mac...).

In any event, back to the odd behavior. Browsing Web sites using Safari for several hours, my screen would lock up and be taken over by repeating horizontal black lines. This happened several times over the course of a couple days.

The screen would lock up, thin black repeating lines would appear, and then they would disappear after several seconds. I didn't have to reboot, and everything seemed to work normally after the event.

So, this being my first Mac, I'm not sure what to make of this -- is this a kernel panic that I often read about, or is this a precursor for bigger problems like a faulty logic board or something? Has this happened to anyone else? I wish I had taken a screen shot for reference, if it happens again I'll post.

For reference, this is a standard off the shelf configured G4 ibook, with the only exception being the addition of an Airport Extreme card. No 3rd party RAM... yet (ordered the 512MB stick today).

This sounds like the same thing that happened to me my G3 iBook a couple of months ago. Apple had to replace the logic board. It will probably get worse as time goes on till your screen completely goes to black and you can't do anything.

Bit Density · Nov 11, 2003, 01:58 PM

Originally posted by pks1850:

I guess I'll have to wait for it to happen again and take a screen shot in to show them. Hopefully it'll never appear and it becomes a non issue...

If it is a hardware issue (IE, a display or cable issue) then a screenshot won't work, because the screenshot will be what is supposed to be there.

If it is either a software issue, or hardware issue on the way to writing to the screen (IE it is actually written to the screen buffer that is captured in a screen capture, then a screen shot may work).

So, you may want to be prepared to take a photo of the screen, so that you can show it to the techs.

Cheers

pks1850 · Nov 11, 2003, 02:43 PM

Originally posted by Bit Density:
So, you may want to be prepared to take a photo of the screen, so that you can show it to the techs.

Ahh... why didn't I think of that? Should have done that the first time around with my digicam. Thanks for knocking some common sense into me.

From the messages posted so far, it sounds like I need to pick up Applecare just to be safe...

fhoubi · Nov 11, 2003, 06:14 PM

Congrats & condolance also.. this IS the start of a logic board failure. I had those lines on my g3 iBook also. After the first repair the lines went all the way here 3rd picture f.e. . My guess it takes less than 3 weeks to become complete annoying/defect.

pks1850 · Nov 11, 2003, 06:46 PM

Originally posted by fhoubi:
Congrats & condolance also.. this IS the start of a logic board failure. I had those lines on my g3 iBook also. After the first repair the lines went all the way here 3rd picture f.e. . My guess it takes less than 3 weeks to become complete annoying/defect.

Some of the pictures you posted look similar to what I experienced. Is the symptom of a logic board failure the lines, and then a forced reboot?

My experience was the screen seizing up with black lines for several seconds, and then the screen reverting back to normal. I've never had to reboot from one of the occurances. They're also sporadic, and don't appear to be repeatable based on anything on do on the ibook. All in all, I say it's happened about four times over the span of two days.

If it is indeed the beginnings of a logic board failure, what recourse do I have with Apple? Will the simply swap and replace with a new ibook, or will they force me to ship my ibook to them in an attempt to fix the problem?

The whole reason I bought this ibook was to take with me on my upcoming trip to Thailand in two weeks. My plan was to store the hundereds of photos I was going to take on the ibook over my 2 1/2 week stay. Can't afford to go to Thailand without it.

This is my first Mac. Beyond this one perceived problem (hoping it isn't a logic board issue) its been heaven. Crossing my fingers that the dreaded lines don't appear again.

discotronic · Nov 11, 2003, 06:53 PM

Originally posted by pks1850:

The whole reason I bought this ibook was to take with me on my upcoming trip to Thailand in two weeks. My plan was to store the hundereds of photos I was going to take on the ibook over my 2 1/2 week stay. Can't afford to go to Thailand without it.

If you live close to an Apple Store take it in asap. If not called Applecare asap. If there is a problem they can have it repaired by time you are ready to leave. They have excellent turn around time.

fhoubi · Nov 11, 2003, 10:06 PM

I have to catch some sleep now... First the lines went just away on my iBook, after a couple of seconds. After a week or so, it simply crashed when happening.

My second repair was succesful, they picked it up and brought it back the next day! (yes Applecare, the iBook was 51 weeks old, although we have here "2 years standard warranty").

Repair it asap, big change it will give you trouble soon. The only drawback would be to convince them of the problem "my iBook sometimes acts weird..."

Besides those problems, the iBook is the niciest computer to have.

geoffeg · Nov 11, 2003, 10:40 PM

I had the same problem with my 700mhz g3 iBook. It would start out only happening every once and a while and get worse until the laptop was no longer usable. I sent it in for repair three times for that exact same problem before Apple agreed to replace it with with a G4 iBook. The fact that it happens in the new iBook isn't comforting. I know it can't happen to everybody because I know lots of happy iBook owners who have never had this problem. Apple's repair contractors usually get the repairs done in a day although they sometimes seem to create more problems than they fix.