Failing iBooks and Apple repairs

So newish iBooks have been failing aplenty, according to MacFixIt.

As we've been reporting for the past few days, iBook G4s -- produced within the past two years -- are suffering logic board failures similar to the failures that plagued earlier iBook G3 models (for which Apple offers a replacement program).

Common symptoms include problems starting up (not booting, blank screen on startup, etc.) , issues with the display (flickering or other strange behavior) that can sometimes be resolved by attaching an external monitor, erratic trackpad movement and/or frequent freezes.

A friend of mine has had exactly this happen to his iBook. Apple duly agreed to pick it up (which they did on Tuesday), repair it and send it back to him (which they did yesterday). Here's his report of what happened next:

Started it up. Wouldn't start up properly. Would get the blue screen and just stay there. Then after resetting the PMU etc, it wouldn't even do that. Instead, on startup I would get the screen of death telling me to restart. When starting off CD it wouldn't acknowledge that there was a hard drive there to install to. I have had to take it to a local Apple service provider to be fixed - at Apple's expense. What a pain in the arse.

Apple, have you considered testing your work before you send back your repairs?

Technorati Tags: iBooks, logic boards, repairs