[abetterbell]

I sold my pampered 14" ibook g3. The person got it and claimed he saw only a black screen. I had him ship it back to me and tried to boot it up. I did get the welcome screen displayed but then after a few minutes when I touched the trackpad it began to flicker. Tried to boot up again and saw only black. Today I did it again. Got the welcome screen and the track pad and keyboard worked fine. After a few minutes the curser was unresponsive. Tried to start up again and got a black screen. Any help in diagnosing would be appreciated. Don't know if the cost to repair would be worth it at this point.

[unisphere]

sounds like the classic GPU problem.
do a search..there are tons of threads all over the place.
i'm writing this on an ibook g3 800 that formerly (and still, occasionally) had that problem.

hopefully your shipping was insured.

[MuyMalo1]

Originally Posted by abetterbell 

I sold my pampered 14" ibook g3. The person got it and claimed he saw only a black screen. I had him ship it back to me and tried to boot it up. I did get the welcome screen displayed but then after a few minutes when I touched the trackpad it began to flicker. Tried to boot up again and saw only black. Today I did it again. Got the welcome screen and the track pad and keyboard worked fine. After a few minutes the curser was unresponsive. Tried to start up again and got a black screen. Any help in diagnosing would be appreciated. Don't know if the cost to repair would be worth it at this point.

I had the same problem w/ my iBook 900 G3, which I purchased in April or May 2003. There was a defect w/ some of this machines, because Apple made repairs for free at at first, even after the original warrantee had expired, ask your local Apple store about that or call Apple directly. I was told that it was uncommon to encounter this problem more than once; However, in my case, I've had to have my machine shipped and repaired every Fall since I purchased it. Luckily thay have covered the costs of repairs and shipping, which is aprox. USD $280. each time. Hope it helps.

[abetterbell]

I spoke to the guy who I sold it to again. He told me that he took it to the Apple store and they told him it was the video card on the logic board. Is that a replaceable part or do I have to replace the whole motherboard? My machine was shipped Fedex and I did a declared value. I opened a claim with them and I am waiting to see if they will make good for damages. This whole thing just turned out to be a major pain.

[unisphere]

the video chip is not replaceable, youd have to replace the logic board (which stopped being covered under warranty by apple in may '05 i think). there are two 'fixes':

MacBook-fr - Repair G3 video (EN)
http://forums.macnn.com/66/ibook-and...ual-usb-logic/