[der Kopf]

Just two weeks ago, my iBook G4 died (the first, cheaper 933 MHz model with 14 inch screen). It shows all the symptoms described by Apple in their logic board repair program, but since its serial number is just a little higher than the ones covered by that program, and I stupidly decided to cheap out on the Applecare, I'm now daily looking at a useless slab of expensive electronics, that gave the ghost through no fault of my own.

My question is: are there other people who have the same problem? Is this a widespread problem? Is there a way to get Apple to include these iBooks in the repair program? Is there maybe a site or organization for people with this problem?

Thanks for any and all info.

[galarneau]

what symptoms did it have?

[jadekitty24]

Are you sure it is the logic board? Let us know of all symptoms.

[der Kopf]

The symptoms are the following:

It froze up while I was reading some news sites in the morning and when I tried to reboot it, I got this horrible black (yet lit) screen with purplish white ‘LCD flowers’ blooming from the corners and the right hand side.

After leaving it alone for a few hours, I can get it to boot up and run normally for a few minutes, after which it’ll lock up again. If I put it in an actual freezer for an hour or two, I can use it up to half an hour before it locks up again.

Sometimes, rebooting after a lockup will show me the same screen I saw when it locked up, but almost as a negative, with lots of black and orangy stripes. Other times, I'll vaguely make out big colored vertical bars, green and yellow and the like, appearing upon boot. The LCD itself is not affected, as the backlight always turns on normally. However, video out also does not work when the iBook is borking.

It was diagnosed by an authorised service provider here as a logic board failure (in particular, a failure of the video card which is soldered to the logic board).

By the way, for anyone reading this now, or in the future, I found a site that is trying to get together people who where hit with this small tragedy.

Its url:

http://www.the-set.com/index.php?id=1

[jadekitty24]

I really don't know what to say besides contact Apple and make an adament case. Wow. I am speechless. (and if you know me, that is HARD to do)

[mainframe.ai]

Well… I am the one, who set up http://www.the-set.com.
It was planned in the beginning as my personal portfolio, but at present time there is obviously much more need to proagate the "iBook-Dilemma" as far as I see it…

To add to the stuff already mentioned. From what I heard and in the case of my brothers ibook learned personally: It seems that it IS the video board, which craps out after a while. Thanks ATI… :-/

Meanwhile there are ca.90 people in the list… my plea here:

If you know someone… or if you are stricken with a defective iBook g4… please add yourself to the site…

I would like too wait until we reach 100 or more people…
And if someone has any good ideas how to proceed from now on…
I am eager to hear.

Disclaimer: I have no ibook myself. I am just doing this, because I talked my brother into getting one and therefore feel responsible for his decision, which turned out to be less than optimal.

I have no personal interest beyond that. And I am shocked, that there are so many cases of defective logic boards here.

Best regards,

Martin Adelstein
http://www.the-set.com

[der Kopf]

Thanks for your reply, Martin.
Since my last post, I've done something which I thought I'd never do: I've bought a PC laptop. I figured it might be better trying Windows on for a while rather than splurging on Mac hardware that I know is going to be outdated in a period of mere months. Of course, after having had two different hardware issues with my two iBooks after their warranty ran out, I'm weary of ever buying that laptop again. Anyway, I love Mac OS X, so this is all very unpleasant for me. Three weeks ago, I was happily installing 10.4.3, today I'm installing Security Patches for IE and scanning for viruses.



I hope many other people find your site, Martin. The only option we seem to have is making enough noise, so that people can find each other. That's the reason why I first mentioned your site here. It might be useful to plug it in other places as well.

As for other courses of action we might pursue, the phrase class-action lawsuit sounds impressive and effective, but I wouldn't know where to begin, and I live in China right now, so that complicates matter further.

[brokenjago]

I'm sorry about the windows laptop.

So sorry.

[Captain Obvious]

Originally Posted by der Kopf

rather than splurging on Mac hardware that I know is going to be outdated in a period of mere months.

Of course, after having had two different hardware issues with my two iBooks after their warranty ran out, .

And that is not true of PC laptops? Yours was an idiotic statement. All computer hardware is outdated in a period of months. That is the nature of the industry and it is worse on the PC side.

As you said you were too cheap to buy Applecare and it was a poor decision. Computers sometimes break, laptops are almost assured to. Don't buy a laptop without an extended warranty.

[twocows]

Originally Posted by der Kopf

Thanks for your reply, Martin.
Since my last post, I've done something which I thought I'd never do: I've bought a PC laptop. I figured it might be better trying Windows on for a while rather than splurging on Mac hardware that I know is going to be outdated in a period of mere months.

well my laptop is OK at the moment. I dont have the problems you guys are describing so we'll see what time will tell.

I do however regret so much buying an ibook. i should have put more money into perhaps a powerbook but the more i think about the less i think that considering powerbooks use G4's just like the Ibooks.

Your other comment about the move to intel hardware makes me take back what i said above. not only am i angry that my hardware (laptop) will be obsolete very fast (thanks apple) but feel betrayed. its just human reaction when you decided to make a dedication i suppose. all for the best. if apple had started with intel we'd all be happy and we'd be dual-booting windows instead of having .

anyways. good luck and sorry i hijacked your thread.

[nJm]

From what I gather the first gen iBook G4's have suffered from logicboard issues. I haven't heard any reports of it happening to the 'rev b' iBook G4 (which is the 1.07ghz from around May 2004).

[Mojo]

Computer hardware becomes "outdated" only when it won't do what you need it to do anymore. Just because a new model comes out doesn't mean the older hardware is obsolete, unless you are one of the folks who frequent this forum and are obssessed about having the newest hardware.

My G3 600MHZ iBook will be four years old in December. It is running Tiger and I cannot yet forsee a time when I will need to replace it. If you buy-into the common trap of thinking that you need a "new"computer, you will be out a lot of money you didn't really need to spend. And every time you spend money you also spend some of your "freedom" to do things other than work.