Urgent help needed!! iBook 1.33 won't start

[Agent Smith]

Hi everyone,

I went with a friend of mine to get her a new iBook tonight. She just opened it up and it will not start! At all!!! I've been talking to her on the phone, trying the standard PMU reset stuff, but nothing works. Any other advice? I was able to convert her from Windows, but this is doing serious damage to my Apple reputation...

 

[mowogg]

Loose Airport Card

You could talk her through removing and re-seating the airport card. That can sometimes cause problems. Have her check that the ram is seated properly as well.
Other causes might be a bum power brick and dead battery. Does the battery show any lights when the button is pressed?

Good luck!

 

[DanielNTX]

If it's the 12" 1.33 iBook, the airport card is embedded deep inside the notebook and not user accessible unless you remove about 30 screws.

 

[Agent Smith]

Sadly, it is the 12". It's really hard to talk her through reseating things over the phone, so I told her that I'd take a look at it tomorrow for her. I have no problem with reseating things myself (taken apart and put back together practically every Mac I've owned, mostly laptops), so long as it doesn't void her warranty. I'll see what I can do, and if nothing happens, we'll take a trip back to the Apple Store tomorrow and see what the Genius bar says. Hopefully it's a DOA and a straight exchange can happen. Thanks for the quick response everyone!

 

[Sun Baked]

If it is brand new she can always call Apple to see if they can declare it a DOA machine.

Of course they might have an idea on getting it started.

 

[Megatron]

If it is brand new don't open it up and start messing with things. Take it back to the apple store and have them give you a replacement.

 

[QCassidy352]

try booting from the DVD. If you can, reinstall OS X. If you can't, or if reinstalling doesn't help, take it back. Have it declared DOA. Do NOT accept repairs on a brand new computer. If it won't work out of the box, it's defective, period. Even if they could repair it, you'd be working with a machine that has a history of problems; that's never good.

I had a DOA powerbook 2 weeks ago - started up, but wouldn't reach the desktop, and I couldn't install from the DVD. I sent it right back the next day. Just get a new one; you don't have to put up with this from a brand new machine.

 

[Agent Smith]

try booting from the DVD. If you can, reinstall OS X. If you can't, or if reinstalling doesn't help, take it back. Have it declared DOA. Do NOT accept repairs on a brand new computer. If it won't work out of the box, it's defective, period. Even if they could repair it, you'd be working with a machine that has a history of problems; that's never good.

I had a DOA powerbook 2 weeks ago - started up, but wouldn't reach the desktop, and I couldn't install from the DVD. I sent it right back the next day. Just get a new one; you don't have to put up with this from a brand new machine.

That's what I'll do then; I won't open it up, but I will try to install from the DVD. Failing that, we'll try for the DOA. Thanks again for all the help!