Dave Post
Level 2 (270 points)

Q: White vertical line on iBook G4 display

I have a late-2003 iBook G4 (PowerBook 6,3) and a white vertical line appears in roughly the center of its display. It's present on the Desktop and all apps and does not appear in a screenshot, so it's evidently hardware-related.

 

One odd thing: If I move the edge of a window within 1-cm or so of it, the portion of the white line near the window's edge disappears and the sceen looks normal. The portions of the line above and below the window's edge remain visible, though. It think this is due to the subtle "shadow" effect OSX 10.5 uses around windows. Anyway, the line does respond in this way to software.

 

Any ideas for a fix, short of hardware replacement?

Posted on Sep 16, 2012 6:52 PM

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Dave Post

Q: White vertical line on iBook G4 display

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  • by Ronda Wilson,

    Ronda Wilson Ronda Wilson Sep 16, 2012 7:23 PM in response to Dave Post
    Level 8 (41,547 points)
    Sep 16, 2012 7:23 PM in response to Dave Post

    Have you tried resetting the PMU?

     

    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1431?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

  • by Dave Post,

    Dave Post Dave Post Sep 16, 2012 9:28 PM in response to Ronda Wilson
    Level 2 (270 points)
    Sep 16, 2012 9:28 PM in response to Ronda Wilson

    That was a good idea -- thanks. Unfortunately, it didn't help. (And, yes, I checked to see if date/time got reset, to ensure I did the PMU reset correctly.)

     

    I notice the line comes and goes during restart. That's added evidence the problem is GPU-related, rather than a display or connector fault.

  • by Knucklesmac,

    Knucklesmac Knucklesmac Sep 17, 2012 12:48 AM in response to Dave Post
    Level 4 (2,225 points)
    Sep 17, 2012 12:48 AM in response to Dave Post

    Sounds to me like your Graphic Processor is starting to become a victim of the pin detachment from the logic board. Seems to be a common and deadly problem in the iBook Duel USB G3 and G4 range.

    Unless you replace the logic board, there is no quick fix. You may find the line will disappear if you apply pressure to the left side of the tracker pad with the palm of you hand.

  • by Dave Post,

    Dave Post Dave Post Sep 17, 2012 11:16 AM in response to Knucklesmac
    Level 2 (270 points)
    Sep 17, 2012 11:16 AM in response to Knucklesmac

    Applying pressure as you described does nothing. If there was a pin detachment, I don't understand why the line would come and go in the ways I've mentioned. But I agree it seems to have something to do with the graphics system. Does this model use RAM for any of its video memory?

     

    I've tried a PRAM reset, too, BTW -- no help.

  • by Ronda Wilson,

    Ronda Wilson Ronda Wilson Sep 17, 2012 11:33 AM in response to Dave Post
    Level 8 (41,547 points)
    Sep 17, 2012 11:33 AM in response to Dave Post

    Does this happen if you start up in another account? If you don't have another account, you can create one by going to System Preferences > Accounts and adding an account.

     

    Log out, and log in as the new user and see if it happens there, too. If it happens there, too, then you've pretty much isolated it as a hardware problem. You could try reinstalling the OS if you really think that there's a chance of it being software related, but it sounds more like a loose connection in the hardware (which could account for the off-and-on appearance of the issue).

  • by Dave Post,

    Dave Post Dave Post Sep 17, 2012 11:46 AM in response to Ronda Wilson
    Level 2 (270 points)
    Sep 17, 2012 11:46 AM in response to Ronda Wilson

    It shows up in a Guest account, too. But it disappears during the gray startup screen phase and for the first few seconds of the blue background display, then re-appears. This consistency makes me doubt it's caused by a loose connection.

     

    Does the Radeon 9200 in this model use any of the DRAM as VRAM? I'm thinking a stuck memory bit  might be the cause, in which case a memory upgrade (which I've ordered anyway) may provide a cure.

  • by Dave Post,

    Dave Post Dave Post Sep 20, 2012 10:17 AM in response to Dave Post
    Level 2 (270 points)
    Sep 20, 2012 10:17 AM in response to Dave Post

    To partly answer one of my questions: I don't know whether the Radeon 9200 uses DRAM, but swapping out the memory module didn't fix the problem.  I'll just live with it.

     

    Thanks to Ronda and Knucklesmac for your assistance.