On Nov 4, 2011, at 3:33 PM, a1 wrote: > Gentlemen, neither method worked. I suspect it has had a power > management issue for awhile now, since the trackpad would > intermittently freeze and require several restarts to unfreeze. Any > more drastic measures I can take? In the worst case scenario, would > any of the internals fit or transfer into a G3 dual usb 500 iBook? > Memory, hard drive, airport extreme card? I'd be keen to try to save > the hard drive; this has been my main mac lately. It is the final G4 > iBook made, I believe.
The G4 and G3 iBooks used the same hard drive, so that will swap OK. Airport Extreme (G4 iBook) will not fit in a G3 500 iBook (Airport). The G4's PC2700 RAM will not work in the G3 either. Nor will the slot load optical drive in the G4 fit in the G3. The LCD and hinges are interchangeable, though Chi Mei LCDs used in some late G4 iBooks require a manufacturer-specific LVDS cable. Keyboards may/may not swap, depending on screen/case sizes of the keyboards. The big win for you is the interchangeability of the hard drive. You may be facing a video chip issue. A loose video chip (broken solder joints) will cause a no-start condition. I've been able to get iBooks like yours to chime and boot to the desktop by placing some pressure on the top case on the left hand palm rest just below the bottom row of keys *after* doing an Open Firmware reset: set-defaults (hit Return key) reset-nvram (Return) reset-all (Return) You may have to try this several times. A long wait before the grayish OF screen lights up also is expected. What this does is clear out any corrupted PRAM and other start-up commands/checks caused by prior shutdowns or no-starts. The pressure (not too much because the hard drive lives under the left palm rest) pushes the broken solder joints together long enough to let a normal startup sequence complete. If you are successful in getting the iBook to start up this way, try lifting the iBook by one corner or another. If the iBook immediately shuts down or begins to send flashes of artifacts or black lines on the screen, that's strong evidence of a loose video chip issue. A reflow of the ball grid array solder joints (more than 400!) may temporarily fix the problem. Shimming the video chip in a G4 iBook doesn't work because the chip already is clamped between the logic board and a heat sink (however sometimes the clamping studs come loose from the logic board). Good luck! Jim Scott -- You received this message because you are a member of G-Books, a group for those using G3 iBooks and PowerBooks (we run a separate list for G4 'Books). The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-books.html and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To leave this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g-books Support for older Macs: http://lowendmac.com/services/
