I was given an iBook

[leeland]

My mother in law gave me a "laptop" that was used at her school that no one wanted...they were giving them away apparently...

So I take a look and it appears to be an ibook G3...2 USB ports, firewire...

I have NEVER used a Mac so I am clueless on how to operate it....

I charged the battery and turned it on today and sometimes the screen comes on and sometimes the screen doesn't come on...


Everything else appears to work on this thing...the only thing that came with the ibook is a power cord.


When I had it working it ran pretty friggin slow...and I can't tell what speed the processor or anything else on it because I don't know the menu's ect...


When I had it up and the screen on it appeared the only way I could get it working was to basically crank the "F" out of the screen and push it all the way back to the detent....

Otherwise the screen appeared to go into some sort of sleep mode.



Cliffs

1. Was given a ibook by mother in law
2. Don't know mac menu's ect, can't figure out how to tell what hardware it has on it (proc, RAM, wireless...ect)

3. Want to possibly reformat the drive to get a clean install...
4. Have some sort of issue with it "turning on"
5. Can't figure out how to keep the screen on (questioning if it is technically broke)


If anyone can give me some advice or recommendations I would appreciate it...

I really would like to format the drive if I can get my hands on the same version of the OS but I am not sure how you check what OS is installed...

I Googled a couple of things but I couldn't find anything for a Mac Retard Noob like myself...



Thanks in advance,
Lee

 

[Parasitic]

It's probably a loose hinge or something funny with the LCD cable that makes the screen go in and out. That's not a problem unique to Macs...most laptops can experience that problem, I believe.

Did you try clicking on the Apple icon on the upper left corner then choose "About This Mac"?

 

[leeland]

I would give that a try if I could get the screen to come back on...

I found something about resetting the PMU?

But I can't find the exact steps for this model....the only identifiable markings on it is it is a model A1005.

 

[sourceninja]

According to google that means its between 600 and 900mhz ibook (PPC)

 

[leeland]

Originally posted by: sourceninja
According to google that means its between 600 and 900mhz ibook (PPC)

I agree with you there...I was curious which one


This pretty much describes my problem to a T

Link

 

[Kipper]

Model number and/or serial is usually on a sticker inside the walls of the battery bay.

 

[umrigar]

early iBook G3 often have a "reed switch" problem with the display.

 

[0roo0roo]

there are good switcher books out there for new xp to mac users. bookstore..buy one. there are plenty of switchers these days so its quite useful.