iBook trouble

In article <wienands-08CECB.17355224022005.RemoveThis@news.stanford.edu>,
Uli Wienands <wienands.RemoveThis@gmail.com> wrote:

 > My wife's iBook (16Vram, 700 MHz) produced weird screen behaviour for a
 > moment (a few tries & moves of the display to see if this was the cable
 > problem) and then crashed (which it has almost never done before). Now
 > it won't start: initial "bong" as usual, disk spins up but no apparent
 > activity after that. neither the internal display nor the external
 > display port will show any signal. Trying to boot it into
 > Firewire-target mode (keep "T" down while powering up) produces the same
 > non-action and my other machines won't see it as a disk (although they
 > may be seeing that *something* is connected... can't quite tell).
 >
 > Is this consistent with an LVDS cable problem? i recall that some old
 > Macs would not boot with no display connected...
 >
 > Uli

Does the HD do anything more than spin up? I.e. can you hear the drive
access data?

--
Later.
johajohn.RemoveThis@indianahoosiers.edu
Let 'indiana' be a 'noln', and 'hoosiers' be a 'solkk'.
Leave only the 'noln' and .edu after the @ to reply .<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: iBook trouble 

In article <null-BC5BBF.20531424022005.RemoveThis@newsclstr01.news.prodigy.com>,
John Johnson <null.RemoveThis@invalid.com> wrote:

 > In article <wienands-08CECB.17355224022005.RemoveThis@news.stanford.edu>,
 > Uli Wienands <wienands.RemoveThis@gmail.com> wrote:
 >
  > > My wife's iBook (16Vram, 700 MHz) produced weird screen behaviour for a
  > > moment (a few tries & moves of the display to see if this was the cable
  > > problem) and then crashed (which it has almost never done before). Now
  > > it won't start: initial "bong" as usual, disk spins up but no apparent
  > > activity after that. neither the internal display nor the external
  > > display port will show any signal. Trying to boot it into
  > > Firewire-target mode (keep "T" down while powering up) produces the same
  > > non-action and my other machines won't see it as a disk (although they
  > > may be seeing that *something* is connected... can't quite tell).
  > >
  > > Is this consistent with an LVDS cable problem? i recall that some old
  > > Macs would not boot with no display connected...
  > >
  > > Uli
 >
 > Does the HD do anything more than spin up? I.e. can you hear the drive
 > access data?

Nope, no head movement can be heard after the initial spin-up &
"settling" (what most drives always do on their own). When it worked I
could always hear the accesses during boot etc.

Uli.<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: iBook trouble 

In article <wienands-797996.17145925022005.DeleteThis@news.stanford.edu>,
Uli Wienands <wienands.DeleteThis@gmail.com> wrote:

 > In article <null-BC5BBF.20531424022005.DeleteThis@newsclstr01.news.prodigy.com>,
 > John Johnson <null.DeleteThis@invalid.com> wrote:
 >
  > > In article <wienands-08CECB.17355224022005.DeleteThis@news.stanford.edu>,
  > > Uli Wienands <wienands.DeleteThis@gmail.com> wrote:
  > >
   > > > My wife's iBook (16Vram, 700 MHz) produced weird screen behaviour for a
   > > > moment (a few tries & moves of the display to see if this was the cable
   > > > problem) and then crashed (which it has almost never done before). Now
   > > > it won't start: initial "bong" as usual, disk spins up but no apparent
   > > > activity after that. neither the internal display nor the external
   > > > display port will show any signal. Trying to boot it into
   > > > Firewire-target mode (keep "T" down while powering up) produces the same
   > > > non-action and my other machines won't see it as a disk (although they
   > > > may be seeing that *something* is connected... can't quite tell).
   > > >
   > > > Is this consistent with an LVDS cable problem? i recall that some old
   > > > Macs would not boot with no display connected...
   > > >
   > > > Uli
  > >
  > > Does the HD do anything more than spin up? I.e. can you hear the drive
  > > access data?
 >
 > Nope, no head movement can be heard after the initial spin-up &
 > "settling" (what most drives always do on their own). When it worked I
 > could always hear the accesses during boot etc.

In that case, I'd say it was a problem more basic than the LVDS cable,
PMU, RAM, CPU, logic board maybe. From what I see here, you're not even
getting to the point where the computer is generating anything to
display, never mind having trouble displaying it.

My Pismo displayed similar symptoms when it's CPU died (diagnosed by
swapping CPU out, in my case, the problem moved with the CPU).
FWIW

--
Later.
johajohn.DeleteThis@indianahoosiers.edu
Let 'indiana' be a 'noln', and 'hoosiers' be a 'solkk'.
Leave only the 'noln' and .edu after the @ to reply .<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: iBook trouble 

did you try booting from the CD?
of course, you have to open the CD port with a paper clip first
insert the CD and start with the letter "c" held down

if not, bummer!
 >> Stay informed about: iBook trouble 

You might try removing any RAM that has be installed just to eliminate
bad RAM as the fault. You might also hold down apple-option-P-R right
after hearing the first startup chime and continue holding the 4 keys
until the next chime. I really doubt that this will do anything, but it
doesn't cost anything to try.
 >> Stay informed about: iBook trouble 

In article <null-BB1DBD.20385325022005.DeleteThis@newsclstr01.news.prodigy.com>,
John Johnson <null.DeleteThis@invalid.com> wrote:

 > In article <wienands-797996.17145925022005.DeleteThis@news.stanford.edu>,
 > Uli Wienands <wienands.DeleteThis@gmail.com> wrote:
 >
  > > In article <null-BC5BBF.20531424022005.DeleteThis@newsclstr01.news.prodigy.com>,
  > > John Johnson <null.DeleteThis@invalid.com> wrote:
  > >
   > > > In article <wienands-08CECB.17355224022005.DeleteThis@news.stanford.edu>,
   > > > Uli Wienands <wienands.DeleteThis@gmail.com> wrote:
   > > >
   > > > > My wife's iBook (16Vram, 700 MHz) produced weird screen behaviour for a
   > > > > moment (a few tries & moves of the display to see if this was the cable
   > > > > problem) and then crashed (which it has almost never done before). Now
   > > > > it won't start: initial "bong" as usual, disk spins up but no apparent
   > > > > activity after that. neither the internal display nor the external
   > > > > display port will show any signal. Trying to boot it into
   > > > > Firewire-target mode (keep "T" down while powering up) produces the
   > > > > same
   > > > > non-action and my other machines won't see it as a disk (although they
   > > > > may be seeing that *something* is connected... can't quite tell).
   > > > >
   > > > > Is this consistent with an LVDS cable problem? i recall that some old
   > > > > Macs would not boot with no display connected...
   > > > >
   > > > > Uli
   > > >
   > > > Does the HD do anything more than spin up? I.e. can you hear the drive
   > > > access data?
  > >
  > > Nope, no head movement can be heard after the initial spin-up &
  > > "settling" (what most drives always do on their own). When it worked I
  > > could always hear the accesses during boot etc.
 >
 > In that case, I'd say it was a problem more basic than the LVDS cable,
 > PMU, RAM, CPU, logic board maybe. From what I see here, you're not even
 > getting to the point where the computer is generating anything to
 > display, never mind having trouble displaying it.
 >
 > My Pismo displayed similar symptoms when it's CPU died (diagnosed by
 > swapping CPU out, in my case, the problem moved with the CPU).
 > FWIW

Thanks everyone for their input. It nudged me toward the right action:
take it back to my friendly Apple Genius. The Genius identified it from
my description immediately as the chip problem that has plagued this
particular model series & shipped it off to Apple to get a logic board
replacement under the repair extension program. Hope they accept his
conclusion.

Uli<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: iBook trouble