external monitor for screen dead ibook?

November 10, 2005 10:06 AM

The screen on my white ibook G3 has gone dead. Nothing but black. Apple says it's the logic board and will fix it. I'm wondering if there is any way to use an external monitor (like our powerbook G4) so we can get into it and save some files before we ship it off...

We've tried using an Apple VGA Display Adapter to connect to a different monitor without luck. Someone told me a firewire cable between the two laptops will do what I want, I just need to hit some key combo when starting up the broken ibook. Anyone know about this? Thanks much.

posted by rough to computers & internet (15 comments total)

Hold the "T" key down when booting up the broken iBook, and plug it into the good computer with a firewire cable. It should show up on the desktop like any otrher firewire disk. After you copy your files, just eject the mounted firewire disk, then hit the power key on the iBook to turn it off.

Good luck!
posted by sluggo at 10:09 AM on November 10, 2005

Why not remove the hard drive from the laptop before you ship it to Apple?
posted by odinsdream at 10:26 AM on November 10, 2005

I think that would void the warranty.
posted by tepidmonkey at 10:32 AM on November 10, 2005

Unless the broken logic board is a recall issue.
posted by tepidmonkey at 10:32 AM on November 10, 2005

The screen of my sister's laptop (a PC) died a while back. A repair shop examined it and said it would cost almost a new computer to fix. Since she didn't have much to lose, we opened it and refitted all the screen-related cables, and since then it works fine. Unless it's a warranty job, it might be worth poking inside if you trust your abilities. I don't think the repairmen do a lot of troubleshooting, but switch the board pretty much by routine.
posted by springload at 10:35 AM on November 10, 2005

Sluggo's correct. Same thing happened to mine, and Apple fixed it for nothing; only took about a week for it to be shipped to Amsterdam (from Glasgow), get fixed and returned. Works fine now.
posted by Len at 10:41 AM on November 10, 2005

If you need more info on what Sluggo's referring to, it's called "Target Disk Mode". Every time my iBook's logic board dies, this method works perfectly.

You know it's a design defect, right?
posted by nakedcodemonkey at 10:46 AM on November 10, 2005

Removing the disk would void the warranty? I had to send my DELL in for some work a month ago and they told me to remove the disk before sending it in. I know it's a different company and all, but if I were you, rough, I'd call Apple and inquire about the disk removal (even if the firewire trick works). You don't want some tech wiping all of your settings because he was careless.
posted by oddman at 10:54 AM on November 10, 2005

Removing the HD on an ibook is an extremely tricky process (21+ screws of varying degrees of tininess, and also requires a specialty tool called a spudger, if memory serves) - much trickier than on a Dell. I don't know if it would void the warranty, but it is definitely a huge PITA, and not fun at all.
posted by sluggo at 11:49 AM on November 10, 2005

Thanks, sluggo & all! You've saved me endless pain and frustration (not to mention the 200 bucks the guy at my local computer store was going to charge to back up the HD). Firewire works like a charm. So, um... where do I send the check?
posted by rough at 12:26 PM on November 10, 2005

AskMe thread re: my logic board's death
posted by matteo at 12:46 PM on November 10, 2005

I think the target disk mode is a really cool idea, and it's great that Apple had the foresight to design a system that could function even though the logic board is toasted.

It's just a shame they couldn't design a system that didn't toast the logic board. Of course, if they'd done that, I wouldn't be able to laugh my arse off when people say "every time my logic board dies" like it's normal.
posted by The Monkey at 3:05 PM on November 10, 2005

the "logic board" isnt really "toasted". what happened is that they put the graphics chip on a part of the board where it tends to get flexed, and eventually the solder balls holding the chip to the printed circuit board break, hence the loss of video but all other functions are otherwise okay.
posted by joeblough at 4:32 PM on November 10, 2005

When this happened to my G3 I scp'd all the files off that I needed before sending in because it was just the display that was borked, and I had sshd turned on.
posted by angry modem at 5:58 PM on November 10, 2005

AskMe thread re: my logic board's death
posted by matteo at 12:46 PM PST on November 10 [!]

Not the same issue.
posted by angry modem at 5:59 PM on November 10, 2005