So as many of you may have seen from my number of posts about my iBook G4, something else yet again is dead! Hooray.

I closed the lid to put it to sleep this morning and popped it in my bag to take to work, intending to work on a script for work during my lunch break.

Getting on the bus (public transport is so much cheaper here in WA for the distance and makes it worthwhile in terms of time), I pulled it out, opened up the display and no picture. Thinking this odd I force restarted (ctrl-cmd-power) and waited. Still nothing. Thinking this was still further odd I popped the battery out (fully charged according to the LED's), and put it back in and restarted.

At this point I became aware of a sort of whine. I thought perhaps it was the fans until I closed the lid and flipped the iBook over and heard the whine still. Putting my hand on the base of the machine I discovered the whine was the hard drive spinning.

At this point it is refusing to boot. There is nothing critical or vital on the machine that I need (I learned that the hard way this time last year), but I am curious as to what other ATAU members think the issue may be.

I think there is a service centre around here somewhere too...

Ideas?

EDIT: The 'nearest' service centre is 2.6km from work. Looks like I won't be visiting anytime soon

I reset the PMU and now the HDD spins up really loud and a force restart doesn't restart the machine. Disconnecting power is the only way to stop the HDD from spinning.

Someone? Anyone?

If your iBook's hard disk has died, I'd still expect that you'd get at least video and/or flashing disk icon, a kernel panic or very slow booting (perhaps with unusual sounds from the disk itself). Since your iBook neither boots, it could be a possibility the logic board has failed (more common in G3 models, but still prevalent in early G4 models too).

Resetting the PMU is the way to start, I'd also remove any third-party RAM to see if it boots without it. Same goes for removing the battery and leaving the machine alone for ~ 12 hours (the iBook battery acts as a PRAM battery - there is no other backup battery - without it, it will reset properly). Do you have another Mac where you can try connecting to the iBook via target disk mode?

Good luck,

JB

Hi JB

I will remove the 3rd party RAM I installed a few months ago.

Just seems odd the HDD spins up and keeps spinning and spinning and spinning and does nothing.

Cheers

Will get back with what happens

Removing RAM makes no difference.

I just had the logic board replaced a year ago - given that it seems like the HDD controller is shot I'm willing to be logic board.

Attempting to boot into Target Disk Mode fails. There is no picture generated at all and the HDD just keeps spinning.

I don't even get the chime. I disabled sounds before I got on the bus. When resetting the PMU, which I did successfully once, it chimed, but has not chimed again since.

I know it's probably a bit late for this, but did you notice if the sleep light was/is pulsating?
Just wondering if this may be "waking from sleep" related.

mutters

Err-sorry, I just missed your latest post by a bee's. Dis-regard.

Now that you mention it Mutters I don't think the sleep light came on when I closed the lid before putting it in bag...

And normally it does without fail

Could this have something to do with it?

Well it chimed this morning, but still no video and I can hear the HDD spinning. But it is nowhere near as loud/spinning as fast as it was last night. Force Restart still doesn't perform a force restart either.

I left the battery out and the machine connected to AC power overnight.

I'm starting to think logic board. Anyone else?

EDIT: Think not link...

Seeing it chimed (meaning everything is ok) i dont see why its a logic board problem

Try adjusting the brightness on the screen

Alternatively it could be the cable connecting the iBook to the screen, try connecting it to an external monitor, see if anything comes up

Yeah, I reckon it's the logic board too - you're doing all the right things though. When you leave out the battery though, don't have it plugged into the wall - you need to reset everything (PRAM, power manager).

Is there any video at all - flashes on screen, etc?

JB

Absolutely no video at all.

I'll connect it up to my spare monitor with the VGA adaptor that came with it.

At work at the moment, so I will d/c from AC power tonight, see how it fares in the morning.

Thanks everyone for your help so far.

Okay went to start after not having AC power connected for 24 hours and no battery in the unit..

No chime.

The hard driv spins up really loudly and keeps spinning.

No video on an external monitor connected.

Tried to reset the PMU - no luck it won't reset.

Sound like a logic board?

Question - as the third replacement of hardware, would i qualify for a new machine?

So far I have had the screen replaced, the logic board and the hard drive, and then this problem (if it is a hardware component).

Any thoughts?