ibook G4 airport card/overheating/ touchpad/keyboard issues.. and I need opinions on pricing !!

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Laxicababe15's picture
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ibook G4 airport card/overheating/ touchpad/keyboard issues.. and I need opinions on pricing !!

Okay guys, i have an ibook g4 that i've almost completely fixed.. here's the deal:

-This ibook has overheating issues.. i'm wondering if i should just replace the fan OR if i should replace the heatpipe(with heatsink) and the fan as well. Both the fan and heatpipe together cost $20, which is reasonable.

-another thing about this ibook.. i know that the airport card was working about a month ago.. but now it doesn't seem to work (the laptop doesn't even recognize it).. and the keyboard (brand new, worked only once) and touchpad no longer work, USB keyboards and mice work perfectly. Any ideas as to why this laptop is being such a pain ?!?! i don't understand why the brand new keyboard randomly doesn't work !!

-I'm selling the laptop the minute i fix the overheating issues, but if they keyboard and touchpad still don't work.. i may have to sell it at a much lower price with an "as is" title. It's a 12" ibook g4, late 2004 series, 1.2GHZ/256/30GB/combo, brand new LCD, keyboard and battery, exterior is in good(not great) condition - the right hinge supporting the LCD is chipped, the laptop does not line up evenly when closed and the hook that clicks it shut is broken, so the laptop doesn't even completely close. It's running on OS 10.4... i also have all original cds (hardware tests, OS 10.3.. etc)

What price range should i be aiming for ? I'm not going to let anyone buy this laptop unless they know exactly what they're paying for, i'm going to be totally honest.. i don't want anyone to be disappointed.
THANK YOUUU !!

iantm's picture
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Overheating issues ...

I've seen symptoms like this before. 90% of the time, it's a bad logic board. The other 10% of the time require all of those individual pieces to be replaced. Since you've already replaced some of the components, I think the logic board is going to be the culprit for the overheat issue, the trackpad & keyboard issue, and the airport card issue. (all of these connectors are in the same general vicinity on the board)

With the trackpad, try it on the other internal usb connector (the 1.2 ghz iBook G4's have two internal usb connectors - one for the trackpad, one for internal bluetooth). It's possible that there is one bad internal usb connection. (this wouldn't explain the keyboard though)

Considering some faults (overheating, broken hinge, potentially damaged logic board, and so-so exterior), I would expect this to sell for between $200 and $250 as a good example of this model will fetch between $500 and $600 on the market. Since there is some uncertainty about the logic board (typically with iBooks - the logic board is generally the culprit with this many seemingly unrelated issues)

Replacing the logic board isn't an inexpensive proposition, however the cosmetic items can be addressed - the hinge can be had from an Apple service center for about $20, the display bezel (which includes the latch) is also under $20. (replacing these together is easier than one at a time)

Laxicababe15's picture
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logic board

but could the logic board still be fried if i've been on the computer before ? like after booting from cd to install 10.4 about a month ago, i can turn on the computer and it goes straight to the desktop after startup and i can do whatever i want on it until it overheats (about 10-15 minutes inside the house, over an hour outside in the winter cold)

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iBook g4 logic board failure paths

There are a lot of failure paths, this is one of the more uncommon failure paths. Typically, they can go no matter what.

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