iBook G4 won't boot

[iSaint]

I gave my G4 iBook, purchased in August of '04, to my 13 year old daughter last year. She's been doing nothing but IM and email, and some homework. She said it was 'locking up' at times and brought it to me.

I searched the forums and found similar problems. But, I think I have few more findings as a result of several boot attempts.

Here's what I get and what I've been able to do:

It boots beyond the gray screen to the blue screen, then stops.

It will not mount to OS X install disc.

It will mount via Firewire from my Powerbook. I ran 'Verify Disk' from Disk Utility and it said everything was ok.

I can see the drive from the Powerbook, and everything appears in order.

I reset PRAM, even let it 'dong' four times.

A couple of times the screen displays thin lines across. Once, the display pixelated in some form or fashion. Hard to describe really.

Is the harddrive going??? Any other suggestions???

Thanks in advance.

 

[mad jew]

Does it have plenty of free space available? Can you perform an Archive & Install via Target Disk Mode? It's a bit of a worry that it won't boot from the discs though, especially as that means you can't run the Apple Hardware Test.

 

[maccam]

Sir, your logic board is bad. And I'm afraid their not cheap $500-700 unless you have applecare.

 

[iSaint]

Does it have plenty of free space available? Can you perform an Archive & Install via Target Disk Mode? It's a bit of a worry that it won't boot from the discs though, especially as that means you can't run the Apple Hardware Test.

There is 6.8 gig available on a 40g harddrive.

How do I Archive and Install via target disk mode? If I double-click on the install icon, it tells me to restart my computer (the Powerbook). Once it restarts, will I be able to tell it which drive I want to archive? e.g. it won't start erasing my Powerbook?

p.s. this morning it booted up, but froze at a Finder window.

 

[FJ218700]

There is 6.8 gig available on a 40g harddrive.

How do I Archive and Install via target disk mode?

when your powerbook gets back to the "choose install disk" screen, the firewire-connected iBook hard drive should be an option. select it, but under the options choose archive and install.

Just be sure to keep the iBook connected at all times, even after the install is finished and you have to reboot. It will then boot from the iBook hard drive. Go ahead and update everyhting before shutting down and disconnecting. The iBook and PowerBook will then reboot from the new or original system, respectively.

 

[iSaint]

Between mowing the lawn - and having to buy a new lawn mower (and getting a new weed eater as well ) I ran the archive and install. The iBook wouldn't boot. So I restarted in fire wire mode again, ran "Repair Disk" and started getting errors. Here's a screen shot:

Is it logic board, or hard drive?




Thanks for the replies...

 

[FJ218700]

Prob is logic board then. If it were me, I would just get my files off in transer mode, and then try a clean install one more time.

Sorry I can't be more help.

 

[dartzorichalcos]

Is the iBook G4 still covered by warranty. If so, I would suggest calling Apple. This could be a faulty logic board. Late iBook G3 and Early iBook G4 had this kind of problem, so Apple should fix this for free.

 

[iSaint]

Is the iBook G4 still covered by warranty. If so, I would suggest calling Apple. This could be a faulty logic board. Late iBook G3 and Early iBook G4 had this kind of problem, so Apple should fix this for free.

No. It's nearly three years old, which doesn't seem that old, but I guess it's what can happen with a laptop. From what I remember the logic board issues were supposed to be fixed with the 1.07g G4 iBook. I'll do some research, though.

Prob is logic board then. If it were me, I would just get my files off in transer mode, and then try a clean install one more time.

There really isn't anything to save, thank goodness. I was going to try a clean install at your suggestion, but I had problems getting my Powerbook to the install screen after restarting, so I gave up. I was getting concerned about the condition of the Powerbook!

 

[Angrist]

The logic board is probably bad.

There is a replacement plan for those models, my little brother had his G3 iBook replaced in August. So I'd think that yours might still be under the program, coverage for 3 years from the date of purchase.

http://www.apple.com/support/ibook/faq/