[Nobody]

My iBook puked on me today.

White iBook 600 (12" screen & dual USB/FireWire)
OS 10.2
AirPort Card
392 MB memory (256 from RamJet.com)
Computer is not quite 2 years old.

Was running along, normally running Chimera, browsing the web. The computer hard-froze right in the middle of things. <CMD><OPT><ESC> had no effect. The only thing that would work was <CMD><CTRL><Power Button> to shut the computer down.

When I tried to restart, the screen was black. No-Nothing. The backlight wasn't even lit.

Tried <CMD><OPT>"P"-"R" (P-RAM reset)
Tried resetting the PMU. (Take battery & AC out... Press PMU button for 5 sec... Wait 5 min & re-battery.)

No effect on anything.

I could restart the computer, let it sit for a while and then it would SEEM to boot up normally but no screen (not even backlight). I could press <Power Button> and then <Return> and the computer would SEEM to shut down normally.

I thought the video card took a dump on me so I plugged it in to a VGA monitor, using the "dongle" when I got home from work.

Now, the screen lights up but the computer won't boot. It will go through the Grey Apple screen with the little "pinwheel" for about 1/2 minute and then the screen goes grey. Nothing happens after that.

Reset PMU again.

This time I put the OS X install disk in and booted from that. ("C" at boot up time.) Same results. The same goes for the OS 9 install disk that came with the computer.

I tried the Hardware Test disk that came with the computer. I had to reboot and press <Option> to get to the boot disk screen to make this work. It will get about 1/2 to 3/4 through the test and the screen goes all "plaid". It will either freeze up at that point or it will jump into open firmware. The command "reset all" reboots the computer, only to repeat one of the sequences above.

I have since taken the Airport card out of the computer and removed the extended RAM. Repeating the above steps yields much the same result.

Called Apple Tech Support and they ran me through much the same steps to the same results. We even booted the computer up by pressing <CMD> "S" for Single User mode. This actually dumped me into what seemed like the UNIX kernel (or whatever you call it.)
I could even give it the command "fsck". It would go through it's checks and then do nothing.

I got through with Tech Support, wrote down my case number and I'm now deciding if I want to send it in for repair. It's going to cost me about 350 clams so I'll have to think about that for a day or so. If I can find a local repair shop that I like the looks of, maybe I'll see what they have to say. Otherwise I'll have to send it in.

So... Does anybody have any last thoughts before I break down and send the computer to Apple for major surgery? images/icons/wink.gif