How to fix a broken G4 iBook

There is a problem with the logic board in the Macintosh G4 ibooks. It can appear after a year or more in some machines and the symptom is that after being on for a few minutes, the screen goes black (it looks blank, but the light has gone off) , the fan turns on, and the computer freezes. You might think it is a problem with the display but it’s actually a problem with one of the chips on the main motherboard. This article describes the problem and how to repair it.


What models are affected?

I conducted a survey (thanks to over 300 readers who participated!) to see which model g4 ibook had the problem.  The results are here and it appears that every  iBook model can develop the blank display problem.

Thankfully the Aluminium power books don’t have the problem. In fact the powerbooks from this era are a great design, the 15 inch Aluminium G4 powerbook is one of my all time favourite macs – I still have one.

The original 2003 ibook G4′s (800/933/1Ghz) have the fault.

The “Early 2004″ (1Ghz) models up until Oct 2004 have the same motherboard.

The 60G (1.2Ghz) “Early 2004″ model and all the “Late 2004″ model ibooks (1.2Ghz/1.33Ghz) and Mid 2005 (1.33 and 1.42Ghz) have  different logic board (built in airport extreme)-  but they still have the fault – even models with the new logic boards are affected!

What is the fault?

One of the chips heats up and cools down each time the computer is turned on and off, so that eventually a small stress crack appears on one of the pins. When the computer heats up and parts expand, the crack opens up and the power does not get through. This means the display goes blank and the computer freezes. If you press the plastic case of the ibook in just the right place, it can put enough pressure on the chip so that the pin makes contact and the computer will power up again. In fact, here’s a crude DIY repair method involving a shim where you open the laptop and put a piece of rubber on top of the chip to press it down

The repair!

You need a fine tipped soldering iron to heat up the top few pins of the chip one by one and resolder them to the logic board. Press the chip down while you apply a very clean and fine soldering iron tip to each pin.

Don’t attempt this one unless you have had some soldering experience – or you are ready to say goodbye to your G4 ibook if something goes wrong!
Here are some pictures:

 

The G4 ibook with the bottom case off. The offending chip is circled.

Here is a closeup of where I have soldered the legs of the chip. You can see the base of the top pins are shinier and a little fatter from the new soldering. I soldered the top 3 or 4 pins on each side, but it’s only the top 2 pins that the fault occurs with as they are the main power pins. I applied a little more solder to the joint as well, that’s why it looks a bit lumpy.

TYou don’t need to apply any new solder to the chip. Just apple some solder to your soldering iron to clean it. Then wipe the iron clean on a rag. Then gently touch the iron to the legs of the chip for about 3 seconds each leg to melt the solder down onto the joints again.

Here is a close-up of the chip you are soldering.  Solder the end with the little circle on it. Solder the top 2 legs on each side.

STOPPING THE FAULT FRM OCCURRING
 

As pointed out in the discussions below, once your ibook is fixed,  or if your G4 iBook has not yet developed the fault,.

It turns your fans on earlier and lowers the internal temp of you ibook. You can set the temperature lower so that your fan turns on a little sooner to keep the iBook cooler.

If you repair your iBook be sure go make a post below. So far there have been lots of successes and no failures at all!

Fix Error 3194 from iTunes during iPhone restore

 

If you run into Error 3194 within iTunes when you are trying to restore your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, you can fix it by temporarily blocking Apple’s firmware signing services. Error 3194 seems to be triggered when unsigned firmware is used, often during an iOS downgrade or even during some restores. Here’s how to resolve the error:

Fix Error 3194

The fix is the same regardless of what operating system you are using:

    -Quit iTunes
    -Locate your hosts file, in Mac OS X this is /etc/hosts and in Windows this is c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts
    -Open the hosts file with Administrator privileges
   - Add the following lines to the very bottom of the hosts file:
    74.208.105.171 gs.apple.com
   - Connect your iPhone to the computer
  - Launch iTunes
   - Put the iPhone/iPad/iPod into DFU mode by turning the phone off and then holding down the sleep and power button for 10 seconds, then release the power button but hold onto the home button until iTunes tells you that the device is now in recover mode
    -Use the iTunes Restore feature as usual with the iOS device

How to Use a VGA iPad Adapter to Play a Slide Show

The Photos app included with all Apple iPads is a great way to browse through digital images stored on the touchscreen tablet and display picture slideshows of your favorite digital memories. If you want to connect your iPad to a TV or computer monitor with a VGA input, you can connect the two using the iPad VGA adapter and VGA cable (sold separately from the iPad) and view your slideshow on both the iPad and the larger screen in just a few quick steps.

Step 1

Power on the iPad by pressing the "Power" button. Tap the "Photos" app to open it. Preview icons of all digital images stored on the iPad appear.

Step 2

Connect the iPad VGA adapter to the iPad at the connector port underneath the iPad's "Home" button. Connect one end of the VGA cable to the iPad's VGA adapter. Connect the other end of the VGA cable to your TV or computer monitor's VGA input port. Turn on the TV or computer monitor and set it to display input from the VGA port.

Step 3

Tap the "Slideshow" button in the upper-right-hand corner of the iPad screen. The Slideshow Options menu appears with the default settings. By default, the "Play Music" setting is set to "On" and the "Transition" setting is set to "Dissolve." Touch the Slideshow Options menu to make changes if, for example, you'd prefer to play the slideshow without music or if you'd prefer to change how the images will transition from one to the next.

Step 4

Tap the "Start Slideshow" button. The slideshow begins to display the iPad's photos on both the iPad screen and the TV or computer monitor.

How to Disable a Built-In VGA Card on an MSI

If you have or plan to install a new graphics card onto your MSI brand motherboard, you may need to disable the integrated graphics adapter to ensure proper functionality. While many of the MSI boards will automatically disable the onboard adapter after you have installed a graphics card, others may require you to disable the onboard card for the BIOS to read your new graphics card's firmware. In cases where you're unable to disable integrated graphics on the MSI motherboard, you can disable the adapter in Windows Device Manager.

Disable in BIOS

Step 1

Turn on your computer. Repeatedly press the key indicated next to "Enter Setup" to access the BIOS. The BIOS on most MSI motherboards is accessible by pressing the "Delete" key.

Step 2

Use the "Arrow" keys to select "Integrated Peripherals." Look for "Onboard VGA," "Onboard Graphics Controller" or other similar text. Use the "Arrow" keys to highlight the option and then use the "Page Up" key to select "Disabled." Press the "F10" key to save and exit. Continue to the next step if you don't see a setting similar to these.

Step 3

Press the "ESC" key once. This takes you back to the main BIOS screen. Use the "Arrow" keys to select "Advanced Chipset Features." Look for "VGA Share Memory," "Shared Graphics Memory," or other similar text. Use the "Arrow" keys to highlight the option and then use the "Page Up" key to select "Disabled." Press the "F10" key to save and exit. If you don't see any options similar to these, you can still disable the onboard graphics card in Windows Device Manager.

Disable in Windows Device Manager

Step 1

Press the "Windows" and "R" keys simultaneously. The Run dialog subsequently opens.

Step 2

Type "Devmgmt.msc" in the "Run" dialog and press "Enter." The Windows Device Manager is subsequently displayed.

Step 3

Double-click "Display Adapters" and right-click your onboard VGA.

Step 4

Click "Disable" and click "Yes" to confirm. The onboard VGA is now disabled.

.NET Framework Error

Framework errors generally fall into two types:

    1-After applying an update
    2-When launching any Office application

  A framework error normally means one or more components of Office have not been updated correctly and are now out of synch with other bits.

If you receive a framework error after applying an update, try the following steps. Test after each step to see if problem is fixed.

    Move the Microsoft User Data folder from Documents to the desktop. Let Entourage create a new blank one. If the problems go away, you can copy needed files from the removed MUD folder. Your mail is stored in the Office xxxx Identities folder. Verify permissions on folders.
    Re-apply recent Office updates.
    Download the combo updater from Apple and run it again rather than using Software Update. Doing so overwrites potentially problem-causing files.

If you are still having problems.....

Use "Remove Office" to remove files. "Remove Office" is an application found in the Microsoft Office Additional Tools folder. "Remove Office" removes both preference files and custom templates, so you should make a backup copy of the preferences and templates in another location on the machine before running the removal tool. You'll also need your CD key when you re-install.

    -Install from CD
    -Restart and Repair Permissions
    -Apply All updaters (After your computer restarts, use AutoUpdate to check for updates, and then download and install the Updates or download standalone updaters from Mactopia)
    Restart and Repair Permissions

Notes:

Eject your Time Machine drive to speed up the installer looking for volumes with Office installed. During the install process if it appears to stall with a spinning rainbow, give it some time, then some more time and lastly even more time. It will eventually come out of the apparant crash and finish.

Using "Remove Office" does not delete your Microsoft User Data folder that contains your email messages. Remove Office does not remove any documents or personal settings you have saved. However, there are rare cases after running an installer where data goes missing. Making a backup is always advised when updating software. The folder you need to backup is your Microsoft User Data folder located in Documents.

YOUR USER FOLDER/Documents/Microsoft User Data


Archive and Install Basics:

1) Insert the Mac OS X Install Disc and double-click the Install Mac OS X icon.

2) Follow the onscreen instructions. In the pane where you select the destination disk, select your current Mac OS X disk (in most cases, it will be the only one available).

3) Click Options. If you want to save your existing files, users, and network settings, select “Archive and Install,” and then select “Preserve Users and Network Settings.” If you want to erase everything on your computer and reinstall Mac OS X, select “Erase and Install.” You can’t recover erased data.

4) Click Continue.

5) Click Customize to select which parts of Mac OS X you’d like to install, or click Install to perform a basic installation (recommended).

Once the install has finished, your system will be at whatever level the disk you have is. So if your Install DVD/CD disk is 10.5.0, that's what version of OS will be on your Mac. You will need to download the appropriate Combo Updater from Apple's site to restore the system to a higher version. After you run the combo, allow Software Update to download and install any additional updates.

Lastly, in rare cases, some users have had to do an "Erase & Install" of their system files.

How to Check the Health of your Hard Drive

Hard disk failure is possibly the worst thing that can happen to your computer and it often occurs without giving any warning signs.

Test Your Hard Drive for Impending Problems

hard diskYou may however run certain tests on your computer beforehand to get an idea about the current condition of your hard disk. This should in turn help you decide whether a replacement drive is necessary or not.

Step 1: Check your hard disk for errors

All recent versions of Windows include a utility called Chkdsk.exe that can check your hard disk for any bad sectors.

You may either run Chkdsk from the command line (see details) or launch Windows Explorer, right click the drive that you wish to examine and choose Properties. Switch to the Tools tab and click the “Check Now” button under Error checking. Select “Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors” to perform a thorough disk check.

Step 2: Understand the sounds of your disk

Do you sometimes hear strange sounds coming out of the CPU box? Well, if the hard drive is making those sounds, it could be an alarming situation and your best bet would be that you turn off the computer before any further damage is done to the disk.

But how do you distinguish between sounds coming from a hard disk with noise that’s made by the fans or the power supply? Here's a useful page where you can listen to recorded sounds of various hard drives that have lead to a crash. If your disk is making a similar sound, get a replacement quickly.

Step 3: Catch errors before they happen

Disk Checkup is a free hard disk monitoring utility that displays tons of diagnostic data about your disk. While the level of detail it provides may easily confuse even tech-savvy users, just ignore the numbers and keep the utility running in the background.

It monitors your disk’s temperature, read and write error rate, etc. and will alert you when the values of any of these parameters approach dangerous levels. These may be signs of an impending disk failure. Disk Checkup is free for personal use.

Step 4: Thoroughly test your Hard Disk

SeaTools is free diagnostic tool that can completely test your hard drive regardless of the OS installed on it. The tool is provided by Seagate but it works with non-Seagate  disk drives as well.

To get started, you need to download the ISO image of SeaTools for DOS and create a bootable CD. Now boot the computer with the CD in the drive, accept the license agreement and run a long test (the full scan). If any defects are found, a list will be offered at the end or after aborting the disk scan.

Other computer vendors /disk manufactures including Samsung, Hitachi, Toshiba (Fujitsu), Western Digital, Lenovo, Dell, etc.  too offer diagnostic tools that work only with their own brand of hard drives. If you are having frequent computer problems (like system hangs or fails to boot up), you may run these tools to confirm if the problems are hard drive related.

Important: While these tools can help you diagnose your hard drive's health, they are still no good substitute for regular backups.

How to Troubleshoot a Stop 0xC0000218 Error Message

A Stop 0xc0000218 error message means that a necessary registry hive file could not be loaded. This error message can occur if the file is corrupt or missing. To resolve this issue, you can reinstall the operating system and restore the registry files from a backup. The registry files may have been corrupted because of hard disk corruption or some other hardware problem.

This error message can also occur if the driver has corrupted the registry data while loading into memory, or the memory where the registry is loading has a parity error. In the latter case, turn off the external cache and check the memory chips. 

To resolve this issue, follow these steps:
 
-Start your computer by running the Recovery Console, run the chkdsk /p command on the drive, and then restart your computer. -Test to determine whether the issue is resolved. If the issue is resolved, do not complete the remaining steps. If the issue is not resolved, go to step 2.
 -When Windows loads, press SPACE BAR when the "Load Last Known Good" message appears.
    Complete a parallel installation, and restore the registry files from a tape backup. To do so:
       - Reinstall Windows in a separate folder.
       - Restore the damaged registry hive from backup. This procedure is specific to the backup application that you used to make a backup. Consult the documentation of your backup application or consult the vendor if you need assistance. Typically, this procedure requires you to restore a system state backup to an alternate location, and then copy the appropriate registry files to the %SYSTEMROOT%\System32\config folder of the damaged operating system.
        If you do not have a tape backup, include the backup of network servers and production workstations.
    NOTE: If Windows is stored on a FAT partition, you can restore the files by using another computer and by copying the registry hive files to the %SYSTEMROOT%\System32\Config subfolder.
If the Stop error message was caused by a hardware problem (for example, bad sectors on the hard drive), the drive may require a low-level format, repartition, reformat, and a restore of the entire system from a tape backup to clear up the problem. Although this would be the most drastic case, if the Stop error message was caused by a physically bad sector, the sector must be relocated with a low-level format.