[khans]

I have an Ibook G3 700 which until yesterday was working just great.

Never had any problems with it.

This morning I powered it on, and it appears it be working fine except that the display has become dim to the point of not being able to see anything on it. It's really really dim - basically unusable.

I hooked up an external display and everything else appears to be working fine. Just the display seems to have konked off.

Anybody seen this?

Unfortunately this machine doesn't have applecare on it. For people that have run into these type of problems any idea how much $ I'll need to spend to get it back up and running again?

thanks.

[indigoimac]

I have seen it in fact I have the exact same machine with the exact same problem, unfortunately it is not economical to fix it. What I believe has happened is that the cable that runs from the insides to the monitor has cracked or something so what happens is whenever you move the screen it moves the cable and it shorts out the lcd. To get around this either use an external monitor or do what follows
1) shut down ibook wait a little while
2) open iBook to desired position
3)turn it on
4) don't adjust angle of screen close it w/e
This of course is not terribly practical and ur iBook has resigned itself from being a functional laptop
I have mine setup now as a print server and it is always open and all i have to do is walk up to it and it will wakeup and the backlight will turn on. It works but if I even touch the monitor it will go out again!
Sorry -indigo

[damosan]

Originally Posted by khans

For people that have run into these type of problems any idea how much $ I'll need to spend to get it back up and running again?

There is a snippet of text on the Apple website that talks about repair costs for standard items such as screens...touchpads, etc. They class them into categories: sadly (though understandably) the screen is the most expensive item to repair.

I remember the cost being quite high though. It may be better to just purchase a new machine.

[damosan]

Second thing to check...for some reason my screen brightness settings got hosed with the Tiger install. I had to manually go in and reset my brightness.

[jasonv1]

If you are lucky, inverter board. Fairly easy repair (on Ibooks anyway). The inverter board powers the LCD tube in the display, and is usually fairly cheap.

If you are unlucky, bad bulb on the display. This means new display (ouch).

Running third, system board.

I can get you a part number on the board (along with repair instructions) if needed. Just let me know if you want to try it yourself.

Jason

Originally Posted by khans

I have an Ibook G3 700 which until yesterday was working just great.

Never had any problems with it.

This morning I powered it on, and it appears it be working fine except that the display has become dim to the point of not being able to see anything on it. It's really really dim - basically unusable.

I hooked up an external display and everything else appears to be working fine. Just the display seems to have konked off.

Anybody seen this?

Unfortunately this machine doesn't have applecare on it. For people that have run into these type of problems any idea how much $ I'll need to spend to get it back up and running again?

thanks.

[khans]

Hi Jason,

Part # + instructions would be good.

thanks.

[khans]

Anyone know if this kind of repair comes under the ibook logic board repair program?

Haven't checked the serial # but I believe it was manufactured around that time.

thanks.

[andretan]

Maybe what you're looking for is this reed switch?

If you don't know how to fix it, I think it's best to leave it to AppleCare... but it won't be cheap since you've got no AppleCare Protection Plan (ACPP).