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iBook G4 serious issue?

S

shortwavesam

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 9, 2012
11
0
Australia
Hello everyone,

I bought an iBook G4 from eBay with the seller stating that the power jack needed pressure to keep the laptop charged. When i received it, the machine would run on battery power (battery was at 0%) so i let it charge over night. The light on the adapter went Amber, Green, Amber, Green every 30 seconds in a loop (keep in mind the battery was slowly charging). When i tried to use it on the battery power the next morning (it was at 100%) it would just shut off after 3 mins, but would still standby for hours. I stuffed some paper above the rim of the power jack which seems that it is working fine, but now it just goes dead as soon as i unplug it. Tried resetting the PRAM several times, and that didn't work. The battery is still at 97% and won't charge. So is this a Logic Board issue/ DC Board, or Battery problem? Please help!


Thanks. :confused:
 
By power jack you mean the plug in part into the laptop or the adaptor its` self? The iBook is at least 6 or 7 years old and if the original battery hasn`t been replaced it probably doesn`t have much more than 3 minutes charge. Even a replacement battery could be equally low at this point. Regardless of how old and worn the batteries are they always show 100% charge. I just replaced the battery in my G4 iBook from 2005 and it had about 5 minutes charge before computer went into dormant mode. Luckily you can buy good replacement batteries at low cost on ebay and other places. The new battery last at least three hours, I haven`t taken the time exactly, battery indicator shows about 4 hours charge.

I have often been told the weakest part of a laptop is thel plugin part, it can get damaged by mechanical wear and tear. The chargers themselves can go bad too. I don`t have the adaptor type you have with blinking lights, I have the white square block type. If it is only battery and new adaptor you need it is a small thing.
 
Replace the dc-in board. No biggie but for the time and the amount of screws involved. Hint: use a couple of empty egg cartons for your iBook screws. Also upgrade the hard drive and optical drive while you have it open.
 
Ok thanks for the info. What this battery did is, it would charge when i first got it. I did notice when it was at 77% 2 days ago, it just suddenly jumped to 100%. The meter on the battery was all 5 green lights (100%) then today just minutes after the last test, it was blinking green (flat battery). I gave the battery to a friend who has the 1.42GHz iBook G4, and they are going to test out the battery on their machine. I managed to fix the DC In board by stuffing some paper above the rim, which has seemed to have fixed the issue with the power adapter. Let's just hope it's just the battery.
 
Well i gave the battery to a friend with the 1.42GHz 14" iBook G4. He said it charged perfectly. When i put it into my iBook, it came on for 10 seconds on the battery, then shut off. It will standby just fine on the battery though. After a few attempts to run off the battery, it will not even run at all on the battery, not even on standby. I'll try freezing the battery to see if that fixes the problem, but the fact that it charges on my friends iBook and not mine is just plain weird, and it only runs off the battery in standby mode. Could this be a bad DC regulator? :eek:
 
shortwavesam said:
Well i gave the battery to a friend with the 1.42GHz 14" iBook G4. He said it charged perfectly. When i put it into my iBook, it came on for 10 seconds on the battery, then shut off. It will standby just fine on the battery though. After a few attempts to run off the battery, it will not even run at all on the battery, not even on standby. I'll try freezing the battery to see if that fixes the problem, but the fact that it charges on my friends iBook and not mine is just plain weird, and it only runs off the battery in standby mode. Could this be a bad DC regulator? :eek:
Click to expand...

Don't bother freezing the battery if it works, your iBook seems to be the problem most likely DC board.
 
I repaired the DC IN board, and he's stuffed. I bought myself a 12" iBook G3. Also on another note, can a 14" G4 battery work in a 12" G3?
 
for future reference and help, one could first install coconutBattery 2.6.6 (2.6.7 does open under 10.4, but doesn't work correct).
 
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