I have two 12" ibook G4 laptops. The logic board in one failed about six months ago. I didn't try to hard to fix it because it was my roommate's and mine still worked fine (he bought a new Powerbook). Last week when trying to start up my ibook the screen went dark and the fan made a loud whirring noise, the exact same thing the other ibook had done. After doing some digging today it appears this is an issue with the ibook G4s, most of which fall outside of Apple's logic board replacement program. The problem seems to be that the case of the G4 (and possibly the soldering on the GPU) is defective. The case allows the logic board to flex, which causes the (possibly defective) soldering on the GPU to seperate, disconnecting it from the board. I just talked with Apple support and was told that they were not willing to fix my ibook unless I paid, which seems a bit unfair to me considering the product is defective, but OK, life's unfair, no need to dwell on it.
My question is: it seems that the hack for fixing defective G3s is easier because the GPU is mounted on the underside of the logic board. Has anyone found a reliable fix for G4s?
Also, if this has happened to you, please let Apple know about it. Maybe they will extend the replacement program (again).
Thanks!
Corey
PS. Here are a few relevant links:
http://www.applefritter.com/node/10193
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=1369476
http://www.powerbook-fr.com/ibook/bricolage/repairg3_video_enarticle797.html
ibook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.7)