[Millennium]

I've got an iBook G4 that seems to be developing the issue where the video chip's connection to the motherboard has gone intermittent. My iBook isn't among the serial numbers in the Apple logic board replacement program (assuming that's even still going on; it doesn't look like it is), and it's not under warranty anyway. It was doing more or less all right for the last few weeks -if the connection went bad I could disconnect power and leave the machine off for a few minutes, and it would be fine on reboot- but now I can't get it to work at all anymore.

I've been reading the various insane do-it-yourself repair methods in the archives: stuff with heat guns and propane torches and stuff like that. When it comes to last-resort insane repairs of expensive consumer electronics, my weapon of choice is a toaster oven, but I haven't seen anyone try that yet, and it comes with risks that the other methods don't seem to have: among them, you can't just stick part of the motherboard into a toaster oven (the heat-gun and blowtorch guys masked off part of their motherboards with aluminum foil).

So before I depart on this exercise in mad science, I thought I'd ask if anyone else here has tried a toaster oven. The alternative seems to be replacing the logic board, and that's not an option in my situation, so the way I see it I don't have much to lose. But I thought I'd check to see if anyone else had tried reflowing the video card this way, jut in case there were any caveats. You know, besides the fact that you're PUTTING YOUR MAC'S MOTHERBOARD IN A FRIGGIN TOASTER OVEN.

[seanc]

I assume you've checked out the DIY logic board repair thread. Check out the last few pages where they start talking about G4s.
There's a bit of discussion about a chip which controls the voltage of the memory that has a bad solder joint, look for some pictures of it, take the bottom and the bottom shield off of your iBook and put some pressure on it to see if it starts working again. You should be able to fix that with a soldering iron.

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I had the same problem. It came from me grabbing the computer from the edge. Of course it did not help that the case is just too flimsy to support the weight of the components. I would think that Apple would have thought(tested) of that knowing that most people will pick it up by the edge before carrying it. Therefore, the welds came loose from the graphics chip attached to the logic board...a very common problem with that model.

I just had my logic board reflowed, a solution to the problem, by First Phase Techonlogies in Tempe, Arizona. The cost was $50.00 total cost, which I think is more than reasonable. For that price, they will also return your logic board to you. They have a technician who has been doing this process for over 9 years. Give them a call 1-480-967-1100. Ask for Bobby or Tom.

Of course, you have to remove the board yourself. There are directions on the internet of how to do that if you are so brave. I did it myself and found that it was only slightly painful. You will need a static free mailing bag to send it to them. You can get those from a computer repair shop cheap.