This is probably the most bizzarre computer thing I've seen.. turns out that the signal strength is a function of the angle (wrt the keyboard) at which the lid of the ibook is placed.. If I open the lid all the way, to the maximum possible angle, the signal strength goes all the way to 0. If I bring it in a little, it immediately goes up to around 30%, a little more and it goes up to 50%.. I've confirmed this behavior under linux as well as OSX.. in OSX, the bars disappear when it's fully opened and slowly reappear as the angle is reduced.. I did some googling and looks like this is a known problem (something to do with a signal cable that runs thru the hinge):
http://www.theorganizers.nl/archives/september.01.a.shtml I just called Apple and setup a mail-in repair.. hope this alerts other users on this list who are unaware of this problem.. nirmal
