Mac Friends - Help!

[i_heart_to_____]

Dear People Who Know About Computers,

Any thoughts on this?  I have an ibook G4 from 2005 and I just started getting the infamous black "You need to restart your compute.  Hold down the power button for several seconds or press the 'restart' button" message.  (It comes up as a semi-transparent black box; the message is in several languages, it was

Comments

[eqe]

That behavior indicates that there's probably some kind of electronics problem -- either motherboard or memory. Memory is easy to try a replacement for, but alas I don't have any DDR modules handy. Your laptop is probably either one of these or one of these, and generally you can install a faster module than needed, so a PC2700 module should work in either case. (Do verify on the serial number, though.)

[eqe]

Oh, it could also just be overheating. You can use a can of compressed air to blow gunk out of the vents and see if that improves things. I *do* have a spare one of those, if you want to pick it up in the mission. :)

[i_heart_to_____]

thank you so much! So a PC2700 is memory that I can buy? (Sorry, I am totally lame when it comes to this stuff.) Should I buy direct from the apple store, or is there a cheaper or easier way?
Thank you thank you thank you!

[eqe]

Yes, you can buy one -- but you should verify which iBook you have and buy the right one for your Mac (either PC2100 or PC2700). If you have a friend with a spare DDR module, though, it's a pretty easy test to swap 'em out for a week and see if that makes the problem go away. Alas all my DDR memory is in use right now. :(

Don't buy memory from Apple unless money is no object. You can get it way cheaper at MemoryX or at Sweet Memory in downtown SF at Mission and 1st or at Central Computer at Howard and 4th.

[i_heart_to_____]

Awesome! So many thanks.

[eqe]

BTW, you need a SODIMM (laptop memory) rather than a DIMM (desktop/server memory).