Okay so I've managed to get a very high spec (1.42ghz, 680 ram 60Gb HD, airport extreme) Apple iBook 4G for £80 on ebay, boxed in mint condition with lots of software etc. It was sold as spares or repairs due to a problem with the logic board which is allowing it to boot but then forcing a reboot at random intervals via a Kernel Panic. I've done a little digging but most logic board faults cause the system to black screen or fail to boot at all. This one is at the least giving a warning message. I could easily buy a replacement logic board for about £150 and still have a cheap system but I want to try and save money for my emmigration next month. Anyhoo long story short, ive read there are several techniques which can be used to put pressure on the faulty chip on the logic board but those only seem to cater for the very specific problem of non boot or system black outs. Has anybody had any experience with this issue before and recommend a course of action? The system hasn't turned up yet and the user appears to be a complete novice so it may be something simple but he says he has a certificate from some apple merchandiser claiming its a possible logic board fault. I'm worried.
I'm not sure about the 4G, but I had a 3G that had a faulty logic board where the video card would artifact all the time. I'm not really sure what to tell you for a solution as I just sold mine on ebay before it got too bad :/ Replacing it would be the best bet for reliability, tho theres no harm in screwing around with it b/c if you mess up you haven't lost much. good luck
The common logic board problem was on the G3 systems, and so the 'tricks' are likely not to work on a G4 as it sounds like a different fault. Kernel panics are more commonly caused by faulty memory, so I think you should pull out the extra RAM and run the computer for a while rather than jumping to conclusions and spending £150 before checking all your options. Also, if you have a way of testing that RAM, do it. I know that many Linux distros have a memory checker on their boot CD and so maybe you should try that too.
That's what I'm hoping it will be, the symptoms of if don't seem to match the logic board problem however the ebay auction says that certified apple dealers have tested the RAM and the Hard drive, he's even including the report in the package. We'll soon see, I'm expecting it tomorrow or thursday so I'll put it through some tests....surely a logic board failure would just cause permanent fault...this one seems to be random and intermittent.
Well, good luck dude. If it is a logic board problem, there really is only one option for repairing it and that's replacement. It's 99% unlikely you'd be able to fix it using the same solution to fix the fault on G3 hardware as it is a completely different issue. The G3 problem was caused by poor heat transfer (melting the solder on one of the chips) which meant that the screen didn't come on IIRC.
Well there are solutions for fixing the G4 boards which involve forcing pressure on the right chips...it just takes some testing to find out which is at fault.
What a turbulent morning. After recieving the iBook I started to fiddle. After formatting the OS and trying a re-install I received my first kernel panic. Off came the case, after putting pressure on the board I still had no successful boot. Eventually the system reported corrupt ram and forced me into the bios boot. Eventually I managed to install the OS from CD after resetting the Pram, however after install, kernel panics would kick in during my profile set up. In despair I tried more pressure on random chips, shocking myself several times in the process. My father suggested I take the logic board out and take it for X-ray analysis , something I could do for £100 or so at a local place who would also fix any faults they found. I started to unscrew anything but slowly got fed up of pulling at plastic and dropping things into the case. So back it went together and I let it be. An hour later I tried something new, I unplugged every ribbon connection, every power cable and left it all for half an hour. All back together and now im typing this is Safari on a fresh Mac OSX install that has not done one kernel panic in an hour. I'm terrified to switch it off again but somehow its working, I dont know why. I'm going to leave it on mute and run itunes with a visualizer on loop overnight. See what happens...nail biting stuff. EDIT: Spoke too soon, on a restart after an OS update it threw a kernel panic at me, after 2 reboots im back in OSX again. Very peculiar behaviour...
Success!!! On a whim I decided to run the ibook with airport disabled...oddly enough no kernel panics or bad reboots occured, however with no Wifi I might as well have bought a thinkpad, (shudder). After a little digging on the internet it turns out that the model I have being a 1.42Ghz version, was produced long after the other G4 revisions and was made with a different logic board and an internal off limits to user airport card. Other websites claimed that this could also cause kernel panics, at last I was getting somewhere. So out came the screwdriver again, it took an hour and a half to reach the airport card. When i found it there didn't appear to be any loose connections so i simply removed it and resat it. The system has been in use for a good 3-4 hours now, restarted several times and put through some intensive apps. All is well.
Good to hear that you got everything working well. Hopefully it is a reliable system from here on out. If anyone could point me in the right direction to fix a few G3 boards I would appreciate it as I have several faulty ones laying around here. *edit* Never mind. I just found what I was looking for.
You should find it easier to locate info on what's wrong with your G3 boards, however unless you're a dab hand with micro solder then most fixes are a bit cut'n'shut. Good luck with your fixes. I'm now in a bit of a dilemma, sell this and add the profits to my emmigration fund or keep this and cancel the Dell XPS 1330 i've bought on 6 month free finance.
