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iBook and Powerbook died on the same day - help!

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El Fragil

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 6, 2008
11
0
Yes, this actually happened to me.

My wife's powerbook and my iBook died Friday. I believe the Powerbook's HD crashed. As for the iBook:

Its a 1.2 ghz PowerPC g4 with 768 Ram. For some reason, the computer runs all day when its stable and on my desk. Once I move it, the screen will go blank and its obvious the computer is on. But the screen is a black with everything locked up. When I power down, let it sit and start it up, it works again, only until you move it. You can imagine how frustrating this is. Its completely updated to the lastest version of 10.4. Any ideas? Help? Will Apple help me?

Onto the Powerbook:
I heard some clicking. It sounded like a harddrive problem. I turned it on, it went right to a black screen which looks very similar to a DOS command screen. It says "Computer's Name Powerbook" or something like that on a command line. It just stalls at this screen.

My concern is this..are both computers dead? I'm in summer session and NEED a computer. So I have to act fast. What can I do?

Thanks for ANY help.
 
velocityg4

velocityg4

macrumors 604
Dec 19, 2004
7,329
4,717
Georgia
The quickest is pull the iBook HD and put it in the Powerbook. Then at least you will have one working computer. Since you installed 10.4, I assume retail, I believe that the iBook HD should have all necessary drivers to run the Powerbook. Assuming this is a newer Powerbook not some old one with a 68000 processor running System 6.

The ibook probably has a loose/worn cable going to the screen, though it could be something else without more details possibly causing a short circuit. As for the Powerbook the HD is probably dead. If their is any data you need to recover stop futzing with it by turning it on with the damaged hard drive installed. Each second that Powerbooks Hard drive is turned on greatly increases the odds that nothing can be recovered.
 
techound1

techound1

macrumors 68000
Mar 3, 2006
1,977
7
Is the ibook freezing or is the screen just black? Do you have an external monitor to patch into the ibook - that will answer the q for you. If it's a freezing problem, you may have something floating around in there shorting it out (I've seen it many times in the shop). The ibooks are also prone to wear on the cables that run from the board to the display (as velo said) - if you can find an indy apple tech (one who doesn't make a commission by telling you you need a new macbook), the screen cable replacement is straight forward (a little time-consuming, but straight forward).
 
E

El Fragil

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 6, 2008
11
0
The screen goes black, but its still lit. The Apple logo is still lit up. If I close it to force the iBook to go to sleep, it won't. But the iBook doesn't go on pause, if that makes sense. The screen is backlit, but nothing is there.
 
E

El Fragil

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 6, 2008
11
0
Ok, I'm trying to connect to the Powerbook via firewire. When the drive appears on my desktop, I get the beach ball of death. Is the harddrive done for? Or should I keep trying to access it via firewire?
 
techound1

techound1

macrumors 68000
Mar 3, 2006
1,977
7
If it's staying backlit, my guess is that the signal cable has bitten the dust. As far as things to repair, it's pretty straight-forward.

There are several things you can try on the pb hd, depending on how badly you need to get the data that's on it. There are data rescue software programs that can read drives that disk utility can't. You can try cleaning up the file tree with Disk Warrior. If you really, really need the stuff, you can shell out some money for a data recovery service.

The fact that you get the beach ball at all (rather than it seeing nothing) would be encouragement enough for me to start working with Data Rescue (or another data-salvager program). Clicking can be the sound of a phyical drive failure starting, but the fact that you are getting a terminal screen - again - makes me optimistic.
 
E

El Fragil

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 6, 2008
11
0
Well, Apple had suggested I reset the ram by holding Option Ctrl P and R on my iBook. I tried that, now I can't get into the ibook to get into the pbook. The ibook starts and goes to my desktop screen up until right before the actual icons load and wham-0, dead screen (but still lit).

Do I have any more options?
With the MacBook deals, I'm thinking I may just pull the trigger.
 
techound1

techound1

macrumors 68000
Mar 3, 2006
1,977
7
1. Don't panic. Everything is repairable. :eek::)
2. If you really want a new macbook, go for it. Salvaging the hard drive on the pb and the screen on the ibook will give you a nice chunk of change toward that macbook.

Now, down to business:

If your computer won’t start up after resetting PRAM, try these steps:
  • Restart your computer while holding down the Option key to select your startup system.
  • If this doesn't work, restart your computer while holding down the Command, Option, Shift, and Delete keys.

I'm surprised they had you reset PRAM. Mac OS X only stores five things in PRAM:

  • Time Zone
  • Startup Disk
  • Speaker Volume
  • DVD Region Setting
  • Kernel Panic information (only on first reboot after a panic)

:shrug:
 
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