[Gankdawg]

Bought it maybe 2 months ago, has worked flawlessly. Upgraded memory by adding 512 chip and upgraded HDD to 120GB right after I got it.

On Tuesday night, I shut it down in preparation for a flight on Wednesday. When I got to the airport on Wednesday, I figured I should power it up and then put it to sleep just in case the screeners wanted to see it actually work. I plugged it in and pressed the power button and nothing happened except the fans came on. The fans wouldn't shut off unless I unplugged it and removed the battery. At this point, I tried plugging in my portable USB hard drive (used the 30GB that came with the iBook) and no power to it.

Got to my destination and tried it again, still nothing. I can hear the optical drive make the normal noise when powering up but nothing else happens. Wait about 10 seconds and the fans come on full blast.

Take out the battery and unplug for 24 hours and power on. Get a bong and it boots to the desktop but then suddenly shuts off. Completely dead.

Take out battery again for 24 hours and power on. Get to the desktop. Launch a couple of applications, turn aiport on and off, search to see if any wireless signals available. Close lid and put it to sleep. Wait 30 seconds. Open lid, wakes from sleep, no problem. Close lid and put to sleep. Let it sleep overnight, open the lid in the morning and right when I get the lid to the normal viewing angle, shuts down instantly.

Is this the dreaded logic board problem? Again, after my upgrades, the iBook has worked perfectly.

[mfbernstein]

Sorry, but it definitely sounds like all the classic symptoms of a dying logic board. Your machine is probably outside Apple's logic board repair program, but you can have a look. Have you tried the Apple Hardware Test CDROM (when the machine does boot), or Techtool Pro or the like?

[chipchen]

It wouldn't be covered by the logic board program anyway. That's because:

1. It's a G4 and the G3's had the logic board issue
2. Different issue. Yours is power, the other issue is video

But YES, it does sound like there's a short in the logic board. I'd try resetting PRAM and PMU. To reset PRAM, make sure it's off, and turn on while holding down "P," "R," OPTION, and COMMAND. Wait until you hear three chimes. Then let go. To reset the PMU, do a search on Apple support. It's different for different models.. and I've seemed to have forgotten on your model.

[Gankdawg]

Originally Posted by chipchen 

It wouldn't be covered by the logic board program anyway. That's because:

1. It's a G4 and the G3's had the logic board issue
2. Different issue. Yours is power, the other issue is video

But YES, it does sound like there's a short in the logic board. I'd try resetting PRAM and PMU. To reset PRAM, make sure it's off, and turn on while holding down "P," "R," OPTION, and COMMAND. Wait until you hear three chimes. Then let go. To reset the PMU, do a search on Apple support. It's different for different models.. and I've seemed to have forgotten on your model.

I will try that, thank you. I think I tried already but will follow your instructions. Wouldn't removing the battery for 24 hours accomplish the same thing though? Does the logic/motherboard have a PMU button like some of the towers or a battery that I can remove? I'm not adverse to taking it apart as I changed the hard drive out. Thanks again!

[ghporter]

There WERE G4s with a different logicboard issue, and that could be the problem. But do the PMU reset and anything else people can think of before getting into that area.

[chipchen]

Here are the repair programs for the iBooks:

Apple - Support - Exchange & Repair Extension Programs - iBook

[Gankdawg]

Tried to PRAM and PMU reset with battery in and out. No luck. While doing the PRAM reset, I hear the first bong and the a faint clicking/popping over the speakers. Got 2 bongs on the first try and only one on the second.

I found the PMU reset instructions on Apple's sight easily (Resetting PowerBook and iBook Power Management Unit (PMU)) but the instructions are confusing.

For iBook (16 VRAM) and later models of iBook, there is no physical reset button.

If the computer is on, turn it off.
Reset the power manager by simultaneously pressing and then releasing Shift-Control-Option-Power on the keyboard. Do not press the fn (Function) key while using this combination of keystrokes.
Wait 5 seconds.
Press the Power button to restart the iBook computer.


It says press shift-control-option-power on the keyboard. There is no 'Power' on my keyboard, only the power button up by the right speaker.

[mfbernstein]

That's what they mean: the main power button by the right speaker.

[Gankdawg]

Tried resetting PMU and PRAM, didn't work. Someone mentioned it's a power issue -- could it be the part that the power cord plugs into instead of the logic board? I remember that when I took everything apart to replace the hard drive, I had to pull that part out so I wonder if I should replace that first before trying the DIY logic board fix?

EDIT: ifixit lists it as the DC-In Board for $49.95. And if the fans still come on, it's probably not the DC-In Board, huh? Power is getting in on some level. When I try the PRAM reset, I can hear the hard drive getting power too. And the optical drive always gets power on every attempt to boot.

[XXLBRITTAIN]

its a known issue it happenned to me last week i followed this tutorial:

ibook G4 logic board fix

had to adjust the shimming 2-3 times but i got it fixed!!!