my iBook is a zombie (follow-up)
I'm getting ready to possibly send my new
iBook G4 back to Apple; the box is here, and I'm just waiting for an opportune
time later this week.
As reported previously, I've been having issues where the laptop will not wake up about 40-70% of the time if it is not connected to a power source. Instead, it becomes a zombie, where the Caps Lock and Num Lock keys light up, but the computer will do nothing else no matter what I do.
I first thought it had to do with the Screen Spanning Doctor open firmware hack, but that is no longer tenable, since it's happened several times after disabling the SSD hack. Sometimes, I don't get the black screen of death; instead, the iBook wakes up just fine, I have about 10 seconds where I can resume working, then the cursor disappears and the computer ceases to accept any input, even command-tab, etc.
Of great concern, just five days ago after one of these episodes, the iBook wouldn't start back up at all, period. I tried everything, but nothing would do it. I called Apple Support (who notified me that after 90 days, it's $49.95 just to speak with them even though my iBook is covered for one year---they never enforced that before, so I guess things are tightening up) and it's not clear if it's a logic board issue, a power management issue, or whatever. Finally, they had me reset the PMU yet again using the shift-ctrl-option-power keys and surprisingly, that did the trick. The AppleCare technician was nice (the first person I spoke with couldn't get past the custom script they use asking me to do a lot of troubleshooting I'd already done), but cautioned me that they might not be able to replicate the issue themselves, making me intially unsure whether or not to send the unit in.
I went ahead and asked for the return box, just in case. Today, the iBook did a great job at a presentation at the National Institutes of Mental Health for an HIV risk reduction CME program I'm working on with a lot of good people at MedCases, and worked fine on the R2 train back home. But then once home, the iBook (again, unplugged) became a zombie. After a restart, it behaved itself for a few seconds after the finder loaded and I could open Safari, then the cursor disappeared, and I had to restart again.
I also updated to 10.4.3 last night, but that obviously has not fixed the issue.
What I find interesting is that a lot of users coming to this blog are finding it using a search string that involves something along the lines of "black+screen+death+ibook." They wouldn't be typing this into their search engines if it weren't an issue for them as well. Which gets me thinking...is this a more widespread issue among iBook users? There are some posts (here's more) in this vein on the Apple discussion forums for powerbooks as well, and no one seems to have any definitive answer.
Interestingly, the extended Apple Hardware Test that comes on the Tiger CD finds no issues with the logic board or with the installed RAM (for the record, DDR PC2700 • CL=2.5 • UNBUFFERED • NON-ECC • DDR333 • 2.5V • 64Meg x 64 from Crucial)
Here's what I've tried to date, without success:
* Removed Screen Spanning Doctor (again, the evidence would seem to clearly exonerate SSD)
* Reset open firmware
* Reset the PMU
* Archived and installed 10.4.2
* Repaired permissions
* Ran AppleJack to clear all caches and perform other maintenance
* Called AppleCare without any clear idea if this is a hardware vs software.
Here are some theories, all unproven, based on my and other's experiences:
* Logic board issues
* Bad RAM (the AppleCare technician doubted this was the issue, since there are no other RAM-related issues, and the DIMM is a Crucial PC-2700 that is suggested for this model, but I might remove the extra 512 MB just to see, since some have reported these exact symptoms possibly in association with bad RAM)
* Errors involving the lookupd daemon
* Corrupted PMU
* Issues involving caches
Personally, I think it's just bad karma, but it's annoying in that this is unpredictable but has some predictive features:
* The iBook is unplugged from an AC power source and any other cables
* It's been awaken at least once previously without being connected to anything
I'm probably sending it back but am still debating it (mainly because with my luck, Apple won't be able to replicate the issue). I suspect, based on how many people are coming to my blog specifically looking for issues relating to their iBooks not waking from sleep, as well as some posts on Apple's discussion boards, that I am hardly alone...
ADDENDUM: After removing the RAM, the screen of death recurred, but just once. So it is may not be the RAM; I'm waiting for more data. One thing I did not do (because I idiotically assumed this was not an OS issue for a variety of apparently sound reasons) was to see if this issue would still happen if I logged in as the root user (bypassing my /Users folder). I finally did just that, as a last resort, and no problems whatsoever. Now, it may be karma, but I'm going to see if it happens consistently now that I'm back in my own profile. So far, after multiple sleep-wake cycles, it has not been an issue, so it may be the RAM after all. It's not an easy issue to examine, unfortunately, and I wonder if many of those who have reported similar issues may, in fact, just be victims of bad RAM. Or good RAM that just isn't, for whatever reason, well-liked by OS X. The RAM checks out just fine with an extended hardware test on the Tiger CD, so I'm stumped. I want to see if this happens one or two more times before deciding whether it's safe to replace the RAM card.
As reported previously, I've been having issues where the laptop will not wake up about 40-70% of the time if it is not connected to a power source. Instead, it becomes a zombie, where the Caps Lock and Num Lock keys light up, but the computer will do nothing else no matter what I do.
I first thought it had to do with the Screen Spanning Doctor open firmware hack, but that is no longer tenable, since it's happened several times after disabling the SSD hack. Sometimes, I don't get the black screen of death; instead, the iBook wakes up just fine, I have about 10 seconds where I can resume working, then the cursor disappears and the computer ceases to accept any input, even command-tab, etc.
Of great concern, just five days ago after one of these episodes, the iBook wouldn't start back up at all, period. I tried everything, but nothing would do it. I called Apple Support (who notified me that after 90 days, it's $49.95 just to speak with them even though my iBook is covered for one year---they never enforced that before, so I guess things are tightening up) and it's not clear if it's a logic board issue, a power management issue, or whatever. Finally, they had me reset the PMU yet again using the shift-ctrl-option-power keys and surprisingly, that did the trick. The AppleCare technician was nice (the first person I spoke with couldn't get past the custom script they use asking me to do a lot of troubleshooting I'd already done), but cautioned me that they might not be able to replicate the issue themselves, making me intially unsure whether or not to send the unit in.
I went ahead and asked for the return box, just in case. Today, the iBook did a great job at a presentation at the National Institutes of Mental Health for an HIV risk reduction CME program I'm working on with a lot of good people at MedCases, and worked fine on the R2 train back home. But then once home, the iBook (again, unplugged) became a zombie. After a restart, it behaved itself for a few seconds after the finder loaded and I could open Safari, then the cursor disappeared, and I had to restart again.
I also updated to 10.4.3 last night, but that obviously has not fixed the issue.
What I find interesting is that a lot of users coming to this blog are finding it using a search string that involves something along the lines of "black+screen+death+ibook." They wouldn't be typing this into their search engines if it weren't an issue for them as well. Which gets me thinking...is this a more widespread issue among iBook users? There are some posts (here's more) in this vein on the Apple discussion forums for powerbooks as well, and no one seems to have any definitive answer.
Interestingly, the extended Apple Hardware Test that comes on the Tiger CD finds no issues with the logic board or with the installed RAM (for the record, DDR PC2700 • CL=2.5 • UNBUFFERED • NON-ECC • DDR333 • 2.5V • 64Meg x 64 from Crucial)
Here's what I've tried to date, without success:
* Removed Screen Spanning Doctor (again, the evidence would seem to clearly exonerate SSD)
* Reset open firmware
* Reset the PMU
* Archived and installed 10.4.2
* Repaired permissions
* Ran AppleJack to clear all caches and perform other maintenance
* Called AppleCare without any clear idea if this is a hardware vs software.
Here are some theories, all unproven, based on my and other's experiences:
* Logic board issues
* Bad RAM (the AppleCare technician doubted this was the issue, since there are no other RAM-related issues, and the DIMM is a Crucial PC-2700 that is suggested for this model, but I might remove the extra 512 MB just to see, since some have reported these exact symptoms possibly in association with bad RAM)
* Errors involving the lookupd daemon
* Corrupted PMU
* Issues involving caches
Personally, I think it's just bad karma, but it's annoying in that this is unpredictable but has some predictive features:
* The iBook is unplugged from an AC power source and any other cables
* It's been awaken at least once previously without being connected to anything
I'm probably sending it back but am still debating it (mainly because with my luck, Apple won't be able to replicate the issue). I suspect, based on how many people are coming to my blog specifically looking for issues relating to their iBooks not waking from sleep, as well as some posts on Apple's discussion boards, that I am hardly alone...
ADDENDUM: After removing the RAM, the screen of death recurred, but just once. So it is may not be the RAM; I'm waiting for more data. One thing I did not do (because I idiotically assumed this was not an OS issue for a variety of apparently sound reasons) was to see if this issue would still happen if I logged in as the root user (bypassing my /Users folder). I finally did just that, as a last resort, and no problems whatsoever. Now, it may be karma, but I'm going to see if it happens consistently now that I'm back in my own profile. So far, after multiple sleep-wake cycles, it has not been an issue, so it may be the RAM after all. It's not an easy issue to examine, unfortunately, and I wonder if many of those who have reported similar issues may, in fact, just be victims of bad RAM. Or good RAM that just isn't, for whatever reason, well-liked by OS X. The RAM checks out just fine with an extended hardware test on the Tiger CD, so I'm stumped. I want to see if this happens one or two more times before deciding whether it's safe to replace the RAM card.
Posted: Tue - November 1, 2005 at 09:29 PM
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