[Voxorion]

Hi all.

Short and sweet - my almost a year old iBook G4 took a dive off of a counter onto a nice hard floor about a month ago.

Cosmetically, I've got a nice crack in the lid, a broken lid clasp, and loose A/C plug and battery connections.

As a result - the computer can't be counted on to hibernate, or come out of it properly (probably relating to the latch).

The computer frequently just 'freezes' (ctl+opt+power is the only key combination it accepts). Always within a few moments on just battery power - occasionally when plugged in.

The AC adapter plug freqently goes "dim" and I have to wiggle it to get the charging light to go back on.

And -most frustrating - whenever I slide the computer across the desk funny, or dare to touch the battery - I get the ominous non/OS "Restart your computer" message.

(and I counted myself lucky that the display is still in perfect condition!)

So - I can't pretend it's a warranty problem with all the obvious physical damage. My question is twofold:

1. Have any of you had a laptop 'reparied' - and was it cost effective?
2. Who did you go to to get it done?

Thanks in advance!

[SSharon]

With an ibook of that age it is probably not worth the price to have it fixed by apple. What might be possible is to buy some other broken ibook (broken screen) from ebay and fix it yourself. You can always call apple or drop into one of their store and ask them how much it would cost to fix. Even in a worst case scenario you can scrap a decent amount of parts from it (battery, ram, HD, screen). What model exactly do you have? If its the cheaper 12" model it will most likely be cheaper to buy a new one. Good luck.

[Voxorion]

Sorry - Stats:

12" iBook G4 800Mhz 640/30/Combo/AirPort

[ghporter]

I have to agree with Sharon. With the cost of labor, you'll be luck to come out with a year old computer that's cost you about twice as much as it did new.

I suggest you start looking at a new iBook, and see what you can get for a "fixer upper" iBook on eBay. There are a lot of folks that part out their older and/or broken computers there-it's a great source for parts!

[Detrius]

You may have damaged the logic board, which could be what is causing the kernel panics.

As far as the power jack, that's an easy replacement on the iBook G4s. It's also an inexpensive part. You should be able to get just this fixed for about $100--no more than $150.

It sounds like maybe part of the bottom case is broken, causing the battery to pop loose, which can confuse things if it only barely pops loose. If that's the case, you could get that fixed easily too. As far as the latch, that's probably not worth fixing--unless the display is fine and it's the top case that's broken (the part with the speakers and the trackpad).

From the little bit that you have described, it may not cost you any more than a few hundred bucks to fix most of it. There's no way to tell without looking, though. If it is fixed with Apple parts by an Apple Authorized Service Provider, then you may be back under warranty afterwards, which could make it worth getting the Apple Care.

I would at least check with your local repair center. If the LCD or logic board were cracked, you could consider that the kiss of death.

[Hi I'm Ben]

Cosmetically I've seen lots of iBook shells on ebay too.

[Wiskedjak]

Originally posted by Detrius:
From the little bit that you have described, it may not cost you any more than a few hundred bucks to fix most of it.

If the logic board is damaged, as you speculated, that would likely drive the repair costs up to 50% the value of the iBook. Logic boards aren't cheap and replacing it is about 5 hours work.