90 degrees and black out!!!!

I have the same problem that just started 2 days ago. My 600 Mhz iBook w/ dual USB started flickering randomly. There is no rhyme nor reason to it, and I have to tap/shake (softly of course) the computer to make the display fix itself. I am unable to bring my computer in for service because I need it for work & I am away from home for a while. Is it the connection btwn. the lap & the top? Any ideas???? Anyone???

yes yes yes, well guys, alls i can say is that your ibooks will have to take a lovely trip to appleland! i had the same troubles and it cost me 3 weeks without my ibook.

lucky number 7, yes thats right, a total of SEVEN times apple has had my ibook, ive owned it for 9 months, apple has had it for a total of 5. literally.... out of that 5 months, i got one loan computer from apple (the second ever powerbook G4 500) not good for a multimedia student during exams, especially when the battery they supplied lasted 20 minutes!

I say, is this really CUSTOMER SERVICE?

sorry that this has turned into a whinge about the service quality, but i needed to get it out:).

so in reply to your post, it needs to go to apple

I have the same d@mn problem! but mine will blank out, then i have to shut the ibook (so it goes in sleep mode) then open it up again. and ill have the screen on again.

I have two major things wrong w/ my ibook - the screen, and the battery. i think i would be better off selling the one have and then buying the $999 ibook.

the only downfall is tad i hav only had my ibook a little over a year..

I have the same problem. When the screen is lifted any more than 85 degrees and the screen goes black. I purchased this iBook from apple Japan and I am still investigating the warranty and repair services here. Just keeping my fingers crossed. Does this sound like a manufacturers defect? After about 11 months? I hope I can get it repaired under warranty. Does anybody know from experience what exactly the problem is? I think it is either a mechanical hardware(hinge)problem. Though I read a few other posts that suggest that it could be an internal logic board problem.
Any suggetsion or opinions would be greatly appreciated.

Check out the topic "At 30 degs the screen goes black!" Some of us have been following this problem for over a year now.

- Shawn

As previously noted, I had the same problem a few other did with the blackout screen. My AppleCare fully covered the fix and I sent my computer to get "born again". My computer came back with a new logic board, a new hard drive, a new combo drive (the previous drive had not been able to burn for 6 months or so) and a new display. Oh my stars, it took 2 business days for a complete turnaround and my iBook is running way faster & way better than before. For once there is a happy ending.

Good night.

Doubtful it is a happy ending. Give it 30 days, then you can call it a happy ending. I'm sending my IBook on for the 2nd time...the computer is only 4 months old.

As a technology directory for a public school I have several ibooks. The only one with a problem is the personal one I bought for my dauther. Like everyone else it starts by have a backlight failure (the computer still works perfectly just very very dim). After dealing with this for about 6 weeks it has now gone black. But... I have access to other monitors so I connected a VGA cable to a SVGA monitor and taa daa an gray screen? Yep. I now have a millions of gray 800 X600 display. Not sure why its gray. I've tried to adjust averything. Zap'd Pram, power reset, etc. no joy. I now have gray externa display.

I've taken it apart looking for the frayed cable but could not see any obivous stress in the cable. My monitor is not dead and the display is gray. I now fear the on board ATI rage mobility has shorted.

I still like macs. As a school I have 650 computers. 3/4's are macs and I spend 3/4's of my time on the remaining windows machines dealing with compatibilty issues in hardware and software so I don't want to drop the mac line. But I will have to reconsider if I want to keep recommending iBooks as laptops. It might be prudent to go back to the iMac (flat) instead.

Mike

Mine is completely black, I cannot get it to come on in any angle. I hear it booting up and shutting down normally, but nothinb on the screen.

I bought two ibooks and a powerbook over the past year, and a total of 10 macs over my lifetime for various places I have worked, home office etc. I sure hope apple takes care of this issue.

This just started happening to my ibook 600 mhz dual usb. I pick it up and the screen goes black. I can hear the comp working but can't get the screen to light back up. I have to push buttons until I can get it to restart.

What is up with this?

sue

Hello, i just retrieve my iBook (bought in September 02) after send it for repair, it took 2 weeks. I had the same problem, at 90 degree screen position it went black and go in sleep mode. They have change the entire display. I'm a little disappointed about this apple product. I'm a student at university and i have few friends who have ibooks too and the majority experienced some problems with it. This computer is said to be built for students...Well, it don't seems so.

Finally, my advice is to buy the apple care for your iBook and pray the Lord that it will going well.

P.S. excuse my english it's not my first language

Well, I am thrilled to find others with this problem that just happened to my yesterday. As I type with my Ibook half open, I, too, am away from my home country and working only with my Ibook. Has anyone decided what the best thing to do would be for this problem? My sincere dread is that I will go black altogether, not being able to work from this remote area. Thanks for any help. Jeanne

I like many others have had this same problem with the backlight going out at various angles. I have had to close lid to put it to sleep then reopen to get backlight to come on again

I have found that the problem is a break in the display backlight power and control cable where it passes through the hinge. The flexing of the wires when the lid is opened and closed fatigues and cracks one or more of the wires. At some angles it makes contact and works and when you open it too wide it breaks contact. Typically the wire breaks contact when it is stretched when the lid goes past say 45° - but it varies from case to case and can change with time as the wire insulation stretches leaving a bigger gap between the broken ends of the conductors.

Four months ago I believed this was the most likely cause and today I proved it.

I have just completed repairing mine and it now works fine.

The broken wire was the black one in the backlight control cable going through the right hand side hinge. The black carries 12.5volts for the backlight. My tests confirmed the black wire was broken where it goes through the hinge. (the other wires are still intact at this time).

As a zero cost repair - I cut the wire near each end and soldered in a new segment of wire to bypass the broken wire.

The wire I used is very flexible and durable earphone cable (which should better resist fatigue / work hardening failure).
I also enlarged the diameter of the semi-circular hole in the plastic hinge shroud - to avoid the stress localisation on the wires through the hinge - which is a serious design fault in the iBook.

This is a tricky repair but it beats paying the high cost of having Apple repair it (mine is out of warranty). It would also be possible to purchase a new backlight control cable assembly - other posters have purchased one from Smalldog for about US$50.

There are pictorial guides available on the net showing how to dismantle such as http://norum.homeunix.net/~carl/mods/ and http://

homepage.mac.com/itiburon/cybergreg/iBook500HD.html

http://www.cj7jeep.com/ibookdisaster/index2.html

http://rabu.homeunix.net/~stan/ibook/ibook.html (get the Apple manual ibk01.pdf - Stan has a link near the top of his page. This manual is very good in helping work out where all the screws came from and go back)

Good luck all