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Ugh...That Damn Faulty Logic Board Again |
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 Lord 'a mercy - it started happening again. My constant companion, my luggable huggable laptop, my reliable iBook is not so reliable any more. Inexorably, apparently, my iBook's logic board has just taken a big ole' dump on the sofa and didn't even have the common courtesy to clean it up or at least spray some air freshener.
I'm typing on it now, but very carefully. The iBook is resting on the floor, as I'm trying to use as flat a surface as possible: any amount of pressure on the bottom and *KAFLOOEY* - the iBook gets funky lines across the screen and it's unusable until a restart.
Apple fans, and/or owners of dual-USB G3 iBooks, will know this as the Logic Board Lines Of Doom®. It's been a big issue with G3-based iBooks for a while, and so bad, in fact, that Apple has a replacement program for the issue. People have even needed to have their iBooks replaced multiple times for the issue. Mine actually had the same exact problem last July.
So I took the first step towards getting the problem solved: I painted my face like a clown, tossed on my clown-wig, and put on my clown-speedos and strolled on down to the local supermarket to freak out some squares.
Nah! Just kiddin'! I had to put that off until later to take care of my iBook.
So I pick up the phone to call Apple's Tech Support. What was that number? 1-800 .... um... 1-800.... Safe Apple, pick up the phone the call is free... Safe Apple, play it safe! (My apologies to those outside of the States who didn't get that. It's a catchy auto insurance jingle, and man you missed out on a funny joke.)
Anyway I finally get on the horn with Tech Support, and as usual, I get first-class treatment. In this case I only have to jump through one hoop to prove that it is indeed the logic board that's hosed. I don't have AppleCare, but Apple will be footing the bill since it's still under "3 years from the time of first retail sale". They'll send me a mailer to get my iBook to Apple, and they'll fix it "within 14 days" or more likely, as the support guy hinted, in 4 or 5 days (speaking of which, you'll probly hear less from me for the next week or so as I'll be Mac-less at home. Call me if you want to play canasta or something.)
Once again Apple's Tech Support rocks! Yeah it sucks to have to send in the iBook for repairs again, and some people have had to do it a half-dozen times or more, but hardware is hardware and it goes bad. At least Apple is doing something about it and doing it quickly and at no cost to me. You can't say the same for every other computer manufacturer out there (one quickie example: the April '04 issue of Computer Shopper has a piece about a guy who's been going back and forth with Gateway about warranty work for over four years. Gateway finally told the guy they weren't fixing it and his only recourse is to pursue legal action.)
Oh yeah, one more interesting tidbit about this ordeal is that my Combo drive will most likely be replaced with a faster one. The system was down (must be their NT server, right?) so the guy couldn't tell me if my serial number fell into the range of iBooks that were eligible, but odds are I'll get one, absolutely free. Why? I don't know - I can only assume it's a method of appeasing angry iBook owners who have had this happen multiple times. It would make sense, as drives aren't that expensive, and Apple can use the old ones in refurbs.
So like wow, I made it through this whole article without one system freezup! (*knocks on wood - but not too hard*) I guess that's it. I'm off to hunt me down some Pot Noodle, at least for as long as the logic board can hang in there.
Until next time, here's hoping that the God of iBooks is looking down on you favorably!
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March 23 2004, 8:28 PM EDT, by
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Comments:
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| rlhamon |
3/23/04, 8:38 PM EDT |
I had to get my iBook fixed not because of the logic board but the cdrom is busted. ok my wife droped my iBook and the cdrom was the only thing that was damaged. I was impressed not even a key from the keyboard was knocked loose or the latch was broke. So I feel your pain Joanahan I am also without my iBook but luck I still have my iMac to fall back on .. phew!
Oh one last thing is when your Mac does have problems it's a very good reason to go to the Apple Store and drool on the cool gadgets until a friendly sales staff kicks you out for drooling on a 24" cinema display he seemed angry.
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| sweetjimmyhugs |
3/23/04, 10:11 PM EDT |
That makes me almost glad that my dual USB iBook was stolen last year... almost. It gave me a reason to buy a new Mac. Although I would be happier with two Macs, even if one had a faulty logic board.
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| raman |
3/24/04, 8:21 AM EDT |
Stop playin' the "Oh poor me" game I know for a fact that you have at least two other G4 Macs to use while the iBooks away....
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| Adam Jackson |
3/24/04, 8:27 AM EDT |
hey if you want to play some canasta, email me [email protected], my ibook G4 is going in too. the backlight keeps going out,
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| Pete Lavergne |
3/24/04, 10:12 AM EDT |
My son had four attempts at fixing the problem on his 800Mhz G3 . After that I stepped in and insisted that Apple replace the enitre computer. They were agreeable and he now owns an IBook G4 800 Mhz machine. I encourage everyone to persist and escalate their issues past the first contact at Applecare. You can logically get a fair resolution to your issues.
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| alex |
3/24/04, 10:37 AM EDT |
I am waiting for mine to come back from Applecare - its been 10 days now of which 7 days were "on hold"
I was able to clone it onto my iPod and continue using my stuff on a G4... cool
cheers
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| Jonahan |
3/24/04, 11:47 AM EDT |
Dammit, I knew I should have pushed harder for a G4 (other than, "can I have one pleeeeeease?").
Hopefully I can break it again and send it back then raise holy hell with 'em. And maybe by that time there'll be a G5 iBook!!!!
Ok ... I'm coming back to reality now.... ;-)
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| What's the frequency, Kenneth? |
3/24/04, 4:15 PM EDT |
Apple's had my new PowerBook more than I have :-( I'm available for canasta. My brand new 15-inch AlBook went back to Apple (again) 10 days ago, and the replacement parts are still on backorder...this after they replaced the upper because the trackpad wasn't working properly and they damaged the lower in replacing the upper....Fortunately, I was able to get my email over to my Pismo before I took it in for repair, so I'm not totally out of commission.
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| ZackMac |
3/24/04, 5:19 PM EDT |
My iBook G3 900Mhz Combo-drive model has been holding up well... How long before these problems start showing up? My iBook gets pretty roughed up somedays.
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| beecey |
3/24/04, 10:33 PM EDT |
It took 5 weeks to happen to my lightly-used (a couple hours a day in the evening) 12" iBook 900MHz, which is well outside the serial number range Apple claims is affected. Of course, it is still under warranty, so I sent it off to AppleCare. It came back unchanged, because when they started it up on the test bench it was the 1 time in 20 it didn't freeze, and somehow they lost the digital photos of the problem I had included. Now I'm waiting for the shipping box to send it back to AppleCare. What scares me is that since officially this is not the issue Apple has acknowledged (although all the symptoms are the same), there may not be a real fix for it, and I will be on the treadmill of repeated "repairs" experienced by others before Apple started the repair program for the officially affected units.
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| stickman67 |
3/25/04, 12:18 AM EDT |
The 20 MB Western Digital external HDD on my Mac Plus has broken. I only bought it in 1990! Anyone got Western Digital's phone number? Time to give those b*stards a piece of my mind.
Oh, sorry. You guys were being serious ...
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| Jonahan |
3/25/04, 12:00 PM EDT |
I smell class action lawsuit, Stickman. ;)
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| stickman67 |
3/26/04, 5:21 AM EDT |
Most of the faulty logic I've heard over the past 12 months has been from the governments of Australia, Britain and the USA concerning the invasion of Iraq.
Words of mass distraction ...
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| Jonahan |
5/26/04, 9:54 PM EDT |
allow me a belated LOL on that one, stickman.
LOL!
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