G4 Powerbook Logic Board

K

kitch

Registered
Im shattered.

My g4 1.67 powerbook I bought in sydney 12 months and 2 weeks ago started to fail about 2 weeks ago. The screen would 'pixel out' and windows would be become impossible to read till the screen would 'wash out'. Then it would come back fine for a few hours.

I have kept this much loved laptop in absolute perfect mint condition on my desk with a desk fan.

When i took this into an apple service centre I was told I would need to replace the logic board....

They quoted me A$ 1510 about US$1200.... its 20 days outside its one year warranty......

Can anyone give me any feedback :(
 
Yeah, that hurts! I empathize. You might find that having your "baby" repaired at a good, reliable, independent Mac shop will save you a nice amount of cash over what Apple charges for repairs. Apple does tend to charge a lot more than independents do for fixing Macs. Anyway, getting second and third opinions never hurt.
Too late for you, sadly, but it's folly, I think, for one to not purchase AppleCare's extended warranty before the one year warranty runs out. That's especially so for 'Books, which are generally more prone to problems than desktop Macs, since notebooks have miniaturized components and everything's jammed into a tighter space.
 
Wow, man. That really, really sucks. I have a couple of ideas that may or may not help. Just some thoughts.

Looking at that price, that is pretty expensive, but there are alternatives to Apple. Depending on your tech savvy (or perhaps you have some mates who know something about Macs) you could:

1. Scour ebay/craigslist for a new logic board
2. check www.ifixit.com--they have parts, including logic boards.
3. Check with www.techrestore.com--they do mail in repairs, but maybe North America only...
4. Look for somewhere in OZ that does repairs--but make sure that it is a an AASC certified joint, nowhere sketchy.
5. Ebay your book as parts/salvage, and put what you get for it towards a new Macbook or Pro.
6. Just eat the cost.
7. Chuck it out the window and pretend it never existed.

I was awful close to number 7, but decided to try my luck and fixed it myself. I had to repair some bits and pieces in my powerbook, and I have been in there before, its not that bad. The ifixit manuals are fantastic with high res. photos and will walk you through step by step, but like I said, it is not the easiest thing to do.

Yes, all these suggestions do suck, but it really is the best I can think of.
Good luck and may the gray screen of start up goodness return to your book soon!
 
Thanks for the feedback and kind words.

I was so stressed at not having my laptop for work for 5 days... and then being told it was going to cost $1500 for new board... I really didnt sleep last night!

I spoke with apple customer services in sydney this morning.

I Took a deep breath and calmy went about explaining my problem and how the book was out of warranty 21 days and how the problem started 22 days ago and took me this long to get it sorted.

They were really cool, listened, went away came back and SAID THEY WOULD REPLACE THE BOARD under warranty!!!

IT MADE MY FXCKING WEEK!!!

restorted all my apple faith... and made me feel like I won $1500.

I will always take an extended warranty from now on. lesson learnt!

Cheers!

Kitch!
 
Oh solid! Thats fantastic.

I guess that if you are nice to them they will work with you. I have heard this before, although never really dealt with it. That's awesome. (But really, they SHOULD fix it, I think. Being that close to warranty, I think it's pretty much an insult if they dont.) When I blew out my Powerbook earlier this year, it was years out of warranty, (Rev A 12 inch 867) so I knew it wasnt even worth asking. Apple wanted close to 80000 yen to fix it, (about 650 US), and the computer itself is old enough to the point where it isnt cost effective to fix it. The insomnia is definitely well understood, too. I lucked out with a new logic board from a used Mac dealer in Tokyo, and fixed it myself. Good on ya for getting Apple to clean up after themselves, and AppleCare does prove its worth!
 
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