iBook won't wake from sleep, totally unresponsive

Based on my issues with my ibook and the last 2 months of researching various components of the ibook, it sounds like your reed switch has gone out. The reed switch is in charge of activating the sleep function. What happenes is when you close the lid, the switch is opened/closed by a magnet, thus resulting in sleeping. Once the magnet is pulled away from the switch, the circuit opens and the computer is awakened by the touch of a key.

If i were you I would google Reed Switch - ibook and see what comes up. I know theres a paperclip test - putting a paper clip by the location of where the magne tshould be. If it doesnt stick, the magent has been dislodged. Lastly, if its not the magnet, maybe the cables are pinched in the hinge.

Best of luck

Your iBook may be frozen, rather than asleep. When my MBP freezes, which it does a lot, I get the steady white light.

You can try holding down the power button until it does shut down--it should eventually. Then you can try starting it up and see what happens. Do you get a start up chime, for example?

You can also find the original CD's that came with it and find the Apple Hardware Test and boot off of that and see if you can run it and see what it tells you. If you had 3 year Applecare, you should have the Tech Tool Delux CD hardware test, and you could also try running that.

You could also boot off of Install Disc #1 and navigate to Disk Utility and verify and repair if necessary both permissions and the starup disk. Click on the hard drive brand name for this operation.

Your problem could be hardware or software. You could have the infamous logic board problem. Squeeze the lower left corner and see if anything works better. If so, it might be a candidate for a shim or reballing.

And of course, put a high priority on backing up your data. If you have access to another Mac, yo could do this using Target Disk Mode.

Try a few things, and post back with any results.

Good luck!

I don't know if all this could be caused by bad RAM, but if you can run the AHT, it will show up bad RAM.

I'm beginning to wonder if your power button is functional if you can't force shut down the computer with it. It sounds like it is stuck in the "on" position if you are having to turn your iBook on and off by putting the battery in and out. But you may not want to let your battery drain--no point in turning it into a problem. Can you also turn it on and off by plugging the power adaptor in and out? If so, find a power strip with a switch and turn it off and on that way with the battery out. This might help for troubleshooting.

When the computer is off, move the power button up and down several times to see if you can get it unstuck and working again.

Hanging a lot is definitely a symptom. I would not be surprised at hanging happening a lot before it froze entirely.

I presume when you turn it on by putting the battery in, you don't get a startup chime or anything like that? How about any beeps?

It sounds like you have some complicated issues here. I hope that some of the more experienced and knowledgeable members of the forum will step in here and make some troubleshooting suggestions.

Please post back about whether you get any start up chime or beeps. That information would be helpful.

Good luck!

What it sounds like is that the power button may be stuck in the "on" position. Does it have any travel at all? Or if the button itself isn't stuck, then whatever lies beneath it is stuck in the "on" position. By moving it up and down, I meant just to press it down normally and see if it would pop back up normally. If this doesn't do anything, or if it seems to have no travel, then there might be a mechanical problem with it. It should be just barely above flush with the case.

So it sounds that if the computer gets power, either from the battery or the power adaptor, it will go on immediately and be in its frozen state. And the only way you have to turn it off is by removing the source of power.

But I think your problems go beyond the non functioning power button. It seems to be frozen, and you have no means to change this since you can't even power on or off normally.

And the experienced and knowledgeable members of this forum have been strangely silent.

I have never read about another issue quite like yours and I really don't have the experience and knowledge myself to know what to suggest. I am assuming that you probably can't boot from a CD and run the hardware tests or anything like that.

At this point, unless someone on this forum posts something for you to try, the next step should probably be to make an appointment at the genius bar at you local Apple Store and see if they have any tricks that will get it unfrozen. Carry along your original CD's that came with it in case you need them and maybe an external hard drive in case it is possible to rescue your data, which should have a high priority given the problems you are having.

Please post back and say how it went.

Good luck!

The iBook depends on the main battery for the date and time settings--there is no other internal battery that does this. So if the battery is out for a while, the iBook will lose these settings and you will have to reset them. This is normal. When my battery was recalled for my iBook, I had to rely on the power adaptor alone for about 6 weeks. Every time I shut it off, I would have to reset the time and date when I turned it on because there was no battery.

Your results from DU and the AHT are very encouraging. So is the fact that you are up and running again. I was very afraid that your logic board had failed, but thought it was worth looking into other possibilities first. Since the logic board is prone to problems on iBooks, there is a tendency to assume that is the problem when weird things happen. Personally, I think it's worth doing as much troubleshooting as you can to try to at least eliminate other possibilities.

It may well be that your problems have to do with software rather than with hardware. If so, it won't cost you anything but some time and effort. The worst case may be a clean install of the OS.

When you go to the Apple Store, have them take a look at your crash log. It should give some clues as to why your computer froze the way it did. They can also look in your Library and see if there are any "p.lists" that should be trashed. And if they feel your software might be corrupted, they can tell you how to do an Archive and Install or an Erase and Install of the OS. And they can also check ot the reed switch and determine if it is working properly--that can be done with a magnet, as Mikeos suggested.

Good luck, and please post back and let us know how it went.