ibook g4 from hell !

[laxicababe15]

Alright so, I was recently given a broken ibook G4(late 2004 generation) as a project. The thing was in 50 pieces, didn't have an LCD, keyboard or battery. So i buy all of those things,install everything correctly and now.. it's not booting. i have the os 10.3 installation cds, i've tried to boot with them (pressing option or C) but it freezes after the apple appears and the window comes up that should allow me to choose how to boot. i've taken out the ram and/or hard drive and the laptop with make the chime, and either start up and freeze at the desktop, or instead of showing the apple, it will show the old mac sign and a question mark or a big circle with a line through it. I'm wondering what's broken. would booting the laptop with the newer version ( os 10.4) work ? or is the logic board shot ? hard drive? i'm lost here, the thing isn't under warranty so i can't call apply and i'm very stubborn and won't give up with this ! please help !!:raphael:

[Buzz]

Based on what you've posted, I'd say the issue lies with the either the OS, CD, Hard Drive, or Logic board.

Testing... first the CD should boot up if the logic board is working correctly and you are using good, retail, OS CDs. Burned copies of OS CDs/DVD or OEM OS CD/DVD that shipped with another Mac may not work properly. From what you describe, I'd strongly suspect you are not using a retail OS CD/DVD. The kernal panics (grey screen telling you to restart) is a VERY telling symptom of trying to boot a Mac from a CD that was not designed to work with that Mac. OEM CD/DVDs are very system specific.

If you can not boot the Mac from a retail OS CD (OS 9.2+ should work, including 10.4) then I'd suspect the logic board. However, the Mac is designed to tell you what's wrong with hardware when you boot up.

A breaking glass sound = bad logic board, long sustained beeb = no RAM/no harddrive. If you are hearing the standard chime, then hardware has passed the startup tests.

[laxicababe15]

okay guys, so i've zapped the ram, checked the hard drive with that little disc check, it cleared it.. and then.. the laptop boots ! it turns on, doesn't freeze, im playing around with it, looking in itunes, and bam! after like ten minutes of peaceful working mac time, the thing freezes. i think that by taking it apart again and zapping things i resolved some problems.. maybe there's nothing too serious anymore, but do you guys think maybe the girl that owned this laptop put too much crap on it so it's just overloaded and that's why it freezes after ten minutes ? anyway of fixing this without booting from OS? because i know that you need to boot from the specific disc your laptop came with.. and since the laptop isn't mine, and the person that owned it before me is a moron, i don't have the original.. can i go to best buy and buy os 10.4? would that work.. maybe? i'm lost.. and broke.. so any way i can fix this without buying a logic board.. i'm open to any options !! thank you !

[Buzz]

Doesn't sound like you need a logic board.

Check to see if the hard drive is full. If it is.. clear some stuff off of it after backing it up.

If it's not full. you may have a bad drive.

[laxicababe15]

okay guys so.. i ran out and bought 10.4
1) the laptop does this thing where it will only get me to the main screen like 1 out of every 10 times i turn it on.. and now when it boots up correctly, and shows me my desktop and i'm able to play around with itunes and everything, the touchpad and keyboard don't work. so i've hooked up a USB mouse, i don't have a usb keyboard.
2) so i turn it on a bunch of times, finally get it to the screen, click on the OS X installation icon on the desktop, click restart, and it asked for my admin. password, which i of course don't know because the laptop wasn't mine, and even if i knew it, keyboard's not working (even though it's brand new and is hooked in correctly, and has worked before) so i just click enter without entering a password, and it freezes!!!! AH!:curse:
3) i'm going to beat this thing with a hammer. what the heck is going on?!:cry2:
4) is there anyway i can start the installation process without logging in and without having to completely boot the computer where it shows my desktop ( i've tried holding C and holding option and resetting the ram)
**oh oh oh and i started up the computer last time and deleted the girls ENTIRE music folder, so there's a lot of space now.
5) oh.. just wondering, not an issue.. but i have a dell on windows XP, what would happen if i installed OS X 10.4 in it ? i'm not going to, i like XP, just a thought.

[Buzz]

You can't install OSX on a PC laptop.

You need to address the issue of the keyboard not working at all. If the keyboard isn't working holding down the C key on boot will obviously do nothing.

I don't really understand why you're going through all this for an obviously broken system. it would have been easier and cheaper to just spend a couple hundred dollars on a used ibook that was working.

[laxicababe15]

i'm just doing this as a project, i hate macs and i already have two PCs. I find out if i get into my #1 college in like a week, and i've adopted the completely hopeless laptop project as a way to keep my mind busy.