Would anyone be able to tell me what might be wrong with this ibook based on whats in this text?
Then I did a bad thing. I plugged in a cable into the AV port with both the computer and the receiver where on at the same time. Suddenly all I got was gibberish colors on the screen. I almost cried. I tried the monitor out jack and lo and behold- it worked! Not on the built in screen mind you, but at least I could plug it into a monitor and still use it.
I upgraded the memory to the max for this machine (a paltry 640Mb) and continued on my merry way. Then it started to act erractic at times. Freezing up or not loading, the hard drive was making noises, but it would eventually settle down. But it got worse as time went on. It finally got to the point where it would only load for a minute or two and that was after a long time to get it up and running.
Now it just clicks, clicks, clicks, clicks from the hard drive area. I threw in the towel and humbled myself to a used PC.
from the sounds of the clicking, the Hard Drive has likely bit the bullet. as far as the screen acting funny im not sure. however if the hd was on its way out, it could very well have caused freezing and crashing. try a new one and put panther or tiger on there, you should be good to go.
Is there any way I could take a motherboard form a 12'' ibook and use it in the 14"?
im not quite sure i understand your original post fully now that im thinking more about it. does the screen turn on and show a sad mac face or anything when you go to boot it up? if so then i dont think you would need to replace the logic board. but as i said before the hard drive definetely sounds bad.
when you first boot it up, if it decides to boot at all, the screen will look like the backlight is working but you get no image. Then the screen displays colorful waterfalls of streaks and stripes, repeating like waves on a shore. I don't get what could be wrong with it because if I use the vga out you can see the desktop on an external monitor. If it is the motherboard, could I use one out of a 12" ibook g3 and put it in this 14" g3? Would the lcd data cable hookup on the motherboard be the same as one from a 12" ibook? Is the size of the motherboard the same in both models?
you said it started acting funny after you installed the ram? try re seating the ram or take it out before assuming the mobo is at fault. as far as a 12" fitting a 14" i wouldnt know but highly doubt they are the same.