I got this iBook G4 dead for few years what happend was one day he just won't turn on and I left him like that for a day then other day he turned On and I was normally working some stuff on it, and he was like that sometimes not turning on / turning on. And one day he completely died, I got two chargers some replacement battery but still not life in it. Any ideas where to start what is the most common problem on this G4 iBooks ?
Mac mini, Mac OS X (10.4.7)
Forgot to say I tried reseting SMC with everything disconnected battery, charger but still nothing. I heard that some chip on G4 mbo have poor solder joint, is that true ?
On the Ibook it's PMU not SMC. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT1431 When you push the little button on the battery, do any show a charge by lighting up one or more lights? Can you get a chime sound when pushing the power button? https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204063
No sound when power button is pushed. When I push a little button on the battery there was some indication of power in battery for some time and now it's gone it was I think orange but now it's not showing anything. I tried without battery too but still nothing.
I even got new replacement battery and adapter from ebay but still no life in that G4.
Oh my bad, PMU, but I don't know which combination is for my G4 it is ibook 14' 1.33Ghz/256/60g/Combo/APX
I kind of doubt that resetting PMU will help.
Could it be that IC chip have bad solder I heard that is frequentproblem on this ibook G4.
PMU reset. First try Control/Command/Power button. Then Shift/Control/Option/Power button. Hold down for about 10 seconds. Do you have the apple power adapter that has the ring on the end of the plug that glows when plugged into the Ibook? And does it? It will glow green or orange. Green for power and orange for charging. Sounds like the battery is too depleted to power it up on it's own. You could have a bad dc-in board. Known problem.
I will try that. I have green light when adapter is plugged all the time but it looks like it's not charging the battery. What do you mean by bad dc-in board can it be fixed with solder and new mosfet or something ? Can you show me where that chip is ?
When the battery is being or needs charging the light turns orange. The dc-in board is what the power adapter plugs into. If you had access to a fully or even half charged battery and it would start up. Then that would make it possible to be a bad dc-in board. https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iBook+G4+14-Inch+933+MHz-1.33+GHz+DC-In+Board+Repla cement/182
Oohh right I get it now that cable that connects board and power, but mac should power itself even without battery right ? And mine isn't.
That is correct. A long time ago I repaired an Ibook that would not turn on. But at the time I also had an Ibook. So I used my battery to see if the other Ibook would boot. Then I tried my power cord on it. Finally I changed the dc-in board and got it to boot and charge the battery. It was process of elimination and an educated guess. If a known good battery would not power it up then changing the dc-in board might not have fixed it.
But if there was power in battery ibook should boot even if dc-in was bad or not ? Because there was power in that battery like 1 dot green when I press that little button but that was few years ago, and ibook was still not turning on.
Was this a problem a few years ago also? You need about 20 to 30% of charge to power up the Ibook. When I did it the battery I used was at 100%. You could call the local apple store. They might be willing to check it out.
This laptop is sitting in box for 5 or more years now. First I need new IC chip because I messed this one up by reflowing the solders, I will get new from aliexpress it's 2$ there and put fresh joints, and then do some more tests. Plus I need to check how much is that dc-in. Will dc in from 2005 ibook be ok on this 2004 version of ibook G4 ? I found some store with mac parts that have dc in of G4 but from 2005.
P.S
Didn't know that dc-in problem is often on this G4 series I google a lot didn't find anything or anyone saying that, only that problem with bad soldering on that IC chip.
Forgot, is there any way to test that dc in cable before I get "new" one.
Other than what I already mentioned, no. Possibly the apple genius bar could as they have access to better testing. Normally they test for free. I don't know if they would test an old Ibook or not.
iBook G4 Dead
