iBook G4 life expectancy

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iBook G4 life expectancy

Hi all,

some years ago (summer 2006) I bought an iBook G4 (14", 1.42 GHz, 512 Mb RAM, 60 Gb HD) with Apple Care Protection. Until some months ago, I never had any problems and was a very happy Mac fan.

Unfortunately, my logicboard and airport card crashed recently and I kept getting the "You need to restart your computer" kernel panic messages. According to the Mac store helpdesk here in the Netherlands I need to replace them in order to have a functional iBook again (which will cost me over 800 euros since my Apple Care expired by now).

On this forum I read several posts from people with similar problems and the helpdesk in my town confirmed that this is a known problem with iBook G4.

Could some of you tell me at what point this problem commonly occurs? My computer is only 3 1/2 years old and (esspecially for the price I paid for it) I would expect that the life expectancy should be at least 5 to 6 years.

Thanks for your input !!

Piet

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Its pretty random and has a l

Its pretty random and has a lot to do with how the computer was treated - one that rarely leaves a desk might last longer than one thats seen a lot of lap use.

But its pretty random - and once those problems start to develop, they only get worse, until your computer is soon rendered useless.

Only help I can offer is be as gentle as possible with the computer.

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You might get some good infor

You might get some good information here if you're willing to get your hands dirty.
There's additional links at that site as well.

Apparently you can test to see if the above link is what ails your iBook by clamping just left of the touchpad. No crashes while clamped, you've found your problem spot.

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Last seen: 14 years 2 weeks ago
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thank you. I've seen the link

thank you. I've seen the link before. Unfortunately, I have no experience at all with soldering, so I do not feel confident that I will be able to do the repair myself.

It is useful info though, since I want to try and get the store to fix my iBook without having to pay as much as they are charging now. Hopefully I can convince them that this type of damage is not merely user related.

thanks,

Piet

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