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Apple iBook G4 Design Flaw Proven
empaler writes "Apple has long denied service on iBook G4s whose screens went black after just over one year of use, denying that there was any error. But now, the Danish National Consumer Agency has released a report proving that the error is due to a design flaw. So far, the only news site picking this up is The Register (unless you understand Danish). The Danish Consumer Complaints Board says that Apple needs to get a grip and acknowledge this error in the rest of the world. The NCA also has some photos from the report (explanations in Danish, but easily comprehensible from context)."
It is a feature. Next thing you know people will say the Ipod Batteries dying after a year is a design flaw too.
~
A link to photos? From a main story?
Riiiight. Anyone got a mirror?
Push that button in the upper right corner of the keyboard, the one with the circle and a vertical line -- then the screen lights up again, and you get the happy Mac face.
If they build this product then it is unlikely it would have any structural design flaws.
Open Letter To Steve Jobs: Please Build The Missing Mac
Reflow the solder. Simple.
Incidentally, with the introduction of RoHS-compliant lead-free solder, you will see this more and more. Consumer-grade lead-free is so crappy that it's almost impossible to make a single working board without at least some reflow work. Oddly enough, military- and medical-grade equipment are exempt from needing lead-free solder. Wonder why?
"After regular complaints, the National Consumer Agency in Denmark sent a suspect iMac G4 to Delta, an independent electronics laboratory to have it examined."
So what is it? An iBook or iMac?
I like microcars
My G3 ibook did the exact same thing, and it was also a logic board failure. Apple has had lousy QA for several years now, and as someone who actually LIKES Apple products it's extremely frustrating.
My little iBook has been singing along for over a year with _no problems_. This is clearly just another attempt at spreadi ww W()(())()*** 111||||ww
Apple is based in a socialist country that most of us call California. I fail to see your point.
Le français vous intéresse?
although it may be a manufacturing fault. It's a solder joint which has broken. Were these computers built with RoHS mandated lead-free solder? There is a lot of concern across the entire electronics industry that the changes required by RoHS will lead to reduced reliability.
This is ONE computer. Is this failure present on others with similar symptoms, or are their other faults modes which can cause the same problem?
"National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
I have a problem with my dårlig lodning, I think it's all skruetvinge.
English is not this
I guess my first reaction to this was "iBooks? Who has only had a new iBook for a year? Is that even possible?", but admittedly I dunno...
1) E-mail Steve Jobs
2) Get new iBook + all your data hand-transferred
3) ??????
4) Profit!
Peace sells, but who's buying?
Can anyone identify where on the logic board the photographed chip/connection is located? Also, can anyone confirm that the connection shown at the center of the photo showing the chip, which would be the bottom right most connection on the chip from that perspective, is the one in need of repair? This doesnt seem completely evident from the zoomed in photos of the joint/trace. My roommates have a number of iBooks that have suffered what is likely this fault, and I would love to get them working again.
I recently saw an iBook G3 lose its video for the second time. The first time, it was covered under Apple's silent recall or whatever you want to call it. Now that the "updated, improved, and fixed" logic board has broken (in the same manner), there is no warranty (silent or otherwise) left.
The video chip is a ball-grid-array chip and requires special equipment to properly reseat. The chip in the linked article is one that could be reseated by a hobbyist--I'm not sure if that one is specific to iBook G4s, or if other chips (besides the video chip) frequently become unseated.
Sent from my iPhone
Wow, those are some hardcore blinders you've got on. That's really impressive.
I support Macs for a living and haven't encountered this one. My own iBook G4 is about three years old now without any failures, but that's just one.
Is there a place where we can see some numbers on how widespread these failures are?
I have a coworker who was just changing the hard drive in an ibook G4.
I thought he was replacing the motherboard or cpu - he had it totally torn down. So, from a design standpoint - I'd call that a flaw.
http://www.sterpin.net/uk/ddibookg4uk.htm
He says tho, they are much better about accessibility now.
Guess the Danes better drop a polite e-mail to Steve, and maybe he'll just drop off a new computer.
Just send that note to sjobs@apple.com
Three Squirrels
where this component is located. Comments here talk about using a C-Clamp (which is also shown in the Danish photos) as a workaround to the problem. A quick bit of searching produces this site, which shows that the chip is nowhere near the power button, as you claim. In fact, it appears that the power button mounted to a small, completely separate PC board, in accordance with good design practice.
"National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
The part met the design target of 1 year of survival. This ensures no defects within the warranty period. It did so economically with no extra expense and no extra survival time. These parts meet spec! This is a feature, not a defect!
I have been hanging around the automotive industry to long ... Does it show?
With the lead free solder and halogen free IC packaging materials, this kind of faults are happening everywhere, in all brand. Welcome to a brave new not so well tested electronic world.
BTW, anyone knows any regulation of lead for the fishing weight or the bullet? they are everywhere.
There is a spark in every single flame bait point.
About the same thing happened to my Powerbook, and it still hasn't been fixed. Apple refuses to fix it, because it was dropped about a year ago, and if there is any physical damage at all (so much as a dent), the warranty is void. Since they will only do complete and total repairs, it would cost $1200 to fix.
So, my question: Does this also happen with Powerbooks? And if so, is it something I could easily fix by cracking it open and soldering something? Any step by step instructions on how to do so?
Don't thank God, thank a doctor!
With product cycle getting shorter all the time, is it any surprise that products are no longer designed for durability? How else could companies compelled upgrades required to produce 'record breaking' revenue quarter after quarter?
ELOI, ELOI, LAMA SABACHTHANI!?
"On a mac, when it's time to upgrade, just pick it up, throw it away, and go buy another one. Now that's convenience."
Where's the HaHa tag we normally see on stories in which a big corporation makes a mistake? Oh, that is only for Microsoft products you say? I see...
In Soviet California, Apple soldiers you!
If you put your iBook in a vice clamp it will break! Quick, alert every media outlet!
Screen went black after 14 months (ie. just outside the warranty period). Apple quoted £300 ($500) to fix it, which was almost as much as the thing is worth. For various reasons I didn't pursue this further (work bought me a laptop at the same time, was very busy, etc.) but really I should have gone to the small claims court - any judge would have told Apple where to get off.
The good news is it looks easy to fix. Does anyone know of where this joint is -- the article only shows a very small part of the mobo, and it's in Danish ...
Rich.
libguestfs - tools for accessing and modifying virtual machine disk images
I don't think apple is doing any RoHS stuff yet otherwise greenpeace would not be all over them for trashing the planet.
is more a matter of material specification rather than design.
Many component manufacturers have been, over the past several years, replacing existing components with RoHS compliant ones in advance of the actual date on which compliance was required. Manufacturers have similarly been changing over to RoHS compliant components and assembly processes (i.e. lead free solder) in advance of the actual requirement.
In the case at hand, it appears to be an issue with a solder joint failing on a single chip. Might that be a RoHS compliant chip which Apple was forced to use because the vendor had eliminated the non-RoHS version? Might a change from the traditional tin-lead lead ("leed," not "led") plating to achieve RoHS compliance on that chip be the root cause? Was Apple perhaps already using lead-free solder at the time these were being made?
"National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
And on the other hand, there are anti-mac people that are excited about this sort of news. That's stupid, too.
But really, the anti-MS and anti-PC and anti-Mac stuff gets really old after a while. Macs have problems, PCs have problems, MS software has problems; I have to say that with this particular instance, Apple supporters seem much more worried about admitting that there is a problem than PC supporters or MS users.
Modding something flamebait for pointing out an inconsistency in how problems with company X are accepted is... hmmm. Silly.
Perhaps people here are not acquainted with the product engineering process.
.. the less said the better.
Engineers take *every* component of a product into account during design, including the types of solder to be used and the methods of soldering to be employed.
Indeed, they may select higher quality solder in order to reduce the requirements and hence the cost of other parts, or they may specify lower quality solder in the knowledge that the rest of the components on their bill of materials can still be assembled to spec and will still work together reliably for the normal lifetime of the product.
In this particular case, either Apple engineers did not consider the effect of their design on the solder joint in question (it should probably have been a far more substantial joint), or they did not specify the right type of solder given the requirements of their design, or else the subcontractors who made the unit used a type of solder different to that specified by Apple. (In the latter case this would be an Apple testing/QA problem, since you *ALWAYS* check what your subcontractors are doing, no exception. If you value your brand name, that is.)
So whichever way you look at it, this is entirely Apple's fault. Design and/or testing engineers get paid for doing a good design and/or testing job, and in this case they haven't. Get the message to them, and they'll fix it --- engineers are always happy to fix problems, on principle.
As for Steve Jobs and Apple Customer Services
There's a problem. Get it fixed.
"The question of whether machines can think is no more interesting than [] whether submarines can swim" - Dijkstra
Only to idiots, are orders laws.
-- Henning von Tresckow
Earlier this year I bought a iBook G4 (dual usb) for my father and the screen was dead. After going into the Apple Store they fixed for free and had it mailed back within three days. Maybe I am just a special case but I was under the impression that it was a service that they offered for all of that model (dual usb).
If i still had mod points, you would be modded up !
Which proves slashdot's moderation system workd well. Ignorant and stupid posts should ALWAYS be modded either troll or flamebait, since there's no "-1, retard" mod.
Now please mod this one offtopic.
Reminds me of the E4OD transmission in my motorhome...it seems like they can be summed up as, "They're a great transmission, until they break."
Photos are down, so I can't confirm this is the same item in question, but a few months ago someone with the same problem [video failing due to the solder-ball seating] - had a remarkable fix.. BURN IT WITH FIRE - and it worked again!
e te-ibook-logic-board-repair
http://geektechnique.org/projectlab/726/diy-obsol
Count one more iBook G4 here going on 3.5 years without any major issues. :knock: :knock:
:p
Think I just tempted fate and my darling iBook gets the crabs tomorrow
Perhaps you should read this.
I've seen this exact problem with a floormate's ibook. She had had it "repaired" more than once, and it still failed soon afterward. She came to me when the screen died on her while she was writing a paper.
I plugged it into my CRT, allowing her to email the document to herself and work on it elsewhere.
Nice to see reliability from a "premium" company like Apple. I'd like to see how the ifanboys turn this thread into a Mac circle jerk...
One of these days, I'm going to cut you into little pieces.
I know I myself had 2 G3s fail.
"Slashdot, where telling the truth is overrated but lying is insightful."
The investigation showed solder joints between two components had broken, so a current could no longer pass through them. The breakage was found to occur because the joints loosen slightly every time the computer is turned on and off.
So they burned out the restarting coil? They should know that's not covered under Apple's warranty.
Shhhhhuuuussssshhh, keep quiet!
Don't you know your not allowed to criticize Apple here. Next you'll be claiming you've found a bug in the Linux kernel!
they're just as good if not better than some of the ones used in my NASA-STD-8739.3 class. Of course that was a through hole class.....
The preceding post was not a Slashvertisement.
You shouldn't have had to take that computer to anyone but Apple to get it fixed. Whether it's a manufacturing or design defect, it's still a defect on Apple's side and therefore it's Apple's problem to fix. Did you take your computer to a microwave/TV technician because Apple denied you the repair you deserved or were you referred to this unsuccessful technician by Apple? More importantly, why would you choose to business with Apple again after having to handle a problem like this outside warranty repair (or with unsuccessful warranty work)?
Digital Citizen
I have a G4 ibook, i demand to be compensated, i demand a new macbook/pro replacement immediately. What ? Well yes my G4 is working fine.. that is not the point...
"When they invent bitch slaps that can go through a monitor you better f'ing duck" --deft (253558)
Yes, you do fail to see my point.
I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
There are a number of people who have had luck re-flowing the BGA mount video controller on an Apple iBook. I have also found links to this being accomplished with a tea candle in the past.
3 2/diy-ibook-dual-usb-logic-board/
http://forums.macnn.com/66/ibook-and-macbook/2102
Those willing to give up freedom for the sake of short term security, deserve neither freedom nor security.
If Apple wishes to market devices in the EU, it needs to abide by it's laws and if it can't make reliable products that way, than it shouldn't be in business there.
RoHS may be a bad idea as you suggest, but that doesn't relieve Apple of its fundamental responsibilities.
So you should just expect if you buy an iBook that you will have to replace it shortly after a year. Just like when you bought an iPod and had to have the battery replaced after a year...
Now if Apple would only acknowledge that the lower RAM slot is defective on models purchased before 2006 and after 2007. My computer's SN is BARELY outside the range for Apple's extended repair program, but with exact same symptom: Lower RAM slot died.
Of course this was Dell coprorate support, home user support is generallly junk.
iMac PPC G5 computers had a high rate of video failure from a certain group of capacitors failing. I have swapped out dozens of iMac G5 motherboards.
Companies also tend to drag their feet about admitting these problems. From a tech's perspective with thousands of Dells, Gateways and Apples on campus you can see some patterns pretty damn clearly, getting a company to admit it is something else.
It happens with every mass manufactured brand of computers. Denying that any certain company has these problems is silly.
I hope all computer companies get called out on this more often. Especialy on laptops, they are difficult to design and build well.
Das machine is nicht fur gerfingerpoken und mittengrabben. Ist easy schnappen der Springengwerk, blowenfusen und poppencorken mit Spitzensparken. Ist nicht fur gewerken by das Dummkopfen. Das rubbernecken Sightseeren keepen Hands in das Pockets, relaxen und watchen das Blinkenlights...
Long live the Speaker Bracelet
Rolo D. Monkey
Just ask them!
Sweet baby Jesus.... The drive on my Dell XPS is held in by four screws; undo those and the drive slides out the side.
You're doing it wrong--http://youredoingitwrong.mee.nu
From TFA: "It is a bit like a person dying a little bit every time he breathes because the cells break down," C.C.B. lawyer Frederik Navne waxed poetically. "In the same way, the computer dies a little every time you turn it on and off."
No worries here, I never turn my machine off! So, by this analogy, my machine can hold its breath forever and thus has no worries about death by pulmonary necrosis.
I also had one of the flawed G3 iBooks. The worst part was how many people recommended the machines, on the basis of how well built they were, even when they were getting theirs repaired just as regularly as mine.
If someone speaks highly of Apple's quality, but they do so whether or not the quality is good, then it doesn't really give me any information. Therefore, I tend to regard customer reviews with a fair amount of skepticism. If there's a pattern of downplaying problems, then even Consumer Reports and similar are suspect.
G3 iBooks are great... except the logic boards die on a regular basis.
G4 iBooks are great... except the solder joints keep breaking.
MacBooks are great... except that for that overheating under load thing.
I'd be fine with paying extra for quality. What I'm not fine with is paying extra for what Apple sells.
I rarely criticize things I don't care about.
...and it was so expensive to fix, I bought another (used) iBook. With Applecare. And of course, this machine had a similar (if not exactly the same) problem about eight months after I got it. Thank God for Applecare.
ShortFormBlog: Writing a little. Saying a lot.
Apple replaced it for free dickhead. THATS why I got new ones.
"Slashdot, where telling the truth is overrated but lying is insightful."
The lab report (in english) can be found here
This would be a non issue if these folks would have purchased Applecare. However, people for some reason don't ever want to protect their investments beyond what they're given at the start.
The Kingdom of Norway is NOT a socialist country. Being one of the founding members of NATO, the UN and the OECD. It's a social-democratic multi-party democracy where healthcare, schools and universities are free of charge. Where the government saves for your pension (but not exclusively), generous welfare/unemployment benefits and maternity leave is paid. Where the government wants broadband in every home - at affordable prices. Where the Consumer Ombudsman looks out for the consumers, hehe. I'm very proud of my country as you can tell :)
Okay, Deternal, I see you are from Denmark - and we can discuss the level of "socialism" in Scandinavia and Europe. But the term "Socialism" in the US and the way Americans use it - just does not apply to Europe today. They don't understand that social-democracy is not the Soviet "socialism" they used to scare their population with back during the Cold War.
Secondly I'd like to point out that the US has had "socialist" policies like welfare and work programs since the 1930s and the "New Deal". They just don't like talking about where those ideas came from ideologically
I think you have totally misunderstood the Norwegian economy - and especially the Norwegian oil money. We actually save all of the surplus income in a pension fund invested abroad (to not create inflation at home). That fund is now the worlds largest fund after the California state workers pension fund. In other words we don't use the oil money now - we are saving them.
And just to make it perfectly clear - Norway is not a part of the EU - and never will be.(Insert -1 Flamebait here).
I have an old Toshiba Satellite Pro 4600 that originally came with Windows 98. It then ran Windows 2000 and now runs Windows XP. Can an iBook of the same era even run OS. =)~
I've been out of a laptop since less than a year after I bought it. Apple refused to fix my G4 iBook after sending it to them twice. It's now more than two years old (maybe three?). If they fix the one I have it is old technology and pretty much useless to me now anyway. Are they required to refund my purchase? Or replace it with modern comparable equipment? Even a fully functioning G4 iBook is pretty crappy by today's standards.
No sig for you. YOU GET NO SIG!
Last year I purchased a G3 ibook on Ebay. The logic board went out 2 weeks after I received the computer. Apple agreed to repair the G3 free of charge. After 3 weeks they told me that a certain part would not be available for another 2 months, so customer service wanted to know if I would accept a brand new G4 ibook instead (free of charge). Needless to say, I accepted their offer. Though I've heard a few horror stories about Apple's customer service, my experience has made me an Apple customer for life.
We love Apple for their design flaws, don't we!!
The SE/30 featured an shielding cardboard that was coated with metal on the bottom; the motherboards pins would at time poke through, and if the machine was sitting vertically for a while, suddenly it could go - blam - and stop working and go into some type of hangup or crash. For two models, I could repeatedly get them going by shaking the machines upside down, but neither Apple, nor Apple dealers, acknowledged the issue. It may be that having parts installed - and having people disassemble and reassemble parts of the Mac - may have played a role.
All of the compact Macs featured floppy disk drives that, over a working period over more than 6 hours, would reliably and predictably cause floppy disk errors. So I'd start using a new OS floppy after 5 hours, and things would be o.k., or not do it and consistently get crashes from 7 hours on upwards. They had built in a bright CRT, and obviously, shielding was some issue there. Nevertheless, this was an obvious design flaw.
Or the iPod mini. The iPod mini featured some weird shielding problem whereas crackling noise would occur. It would disappear as soon as the components that are stuffed together (battery, main board, micro disk) were pulled from each other - then, no crackling noise would occur even when mechanically straining the 3.5mm jack. Another design problem where capacitor- and shielding-related issues determined the outcome.
Or, take the Powerbook G4 Aluminium "Narcolepsy" model Apple built and sold! A design flaw classic. Not admitted by Apple, ever. I guess they switched to Intel partly because there were so MANY of these sold, that switching to Intel may have been the only way to give the Powerbook G4 owners a good reason to buy a new Apple laptop rather than attempting to force Apple to fix their old one. Maybe one day, we will hear the insider story of that botched up piece of hardware?
Also, there were a number of Powermac G5 computers that all had severe logic board problems that I laid hands on - two of them DOA (Dead On Arrival), and on another one I just got it repaired for the cheap sum of around 800 dollars.
So, I think if anything is newsworthy it'd be publishing that Apple actually managed to assemble some parts without design problem. That'd be what Slashdot may want to focus on, not that Apple "yet again" was shown to have screwed up something we all knew they couldn't get right to begin with.
Anyone believe that they can get the iPhone right, at all?
Only they are called 'warranties' and they are optional. Over in the socialist countries the government tells you how it's going to be and you pay higher prices + VAT + other taxes to get the 'protections'. Don't be fooled, it's isn't 'free'.
And to get an example of what happens to these socialist countries when people DO immigrate to them and in general take Sweden as an example. The native population is losing its identity for foreign immigrants, many being Muslims. The political correctness there is astonishing and any sense of national identity is immediately condemned as racism. Sweden went from a powerful and prosperous nation in the mid-20th century to have a sluggish economy as the workhorses left for more favorable tax conditions. Even the Swedish revenue collection agency itself outsources to cheaper countries because its own taxes are much higher. Now in Sweden the tax burden exceeds 50% of the GDP.
Disclaimer: Both myself and one of my coworkers are IPC-610D certified inspectors of electronics. For those of you who aren't in the know, IPC-610 is the industry standard that dictates how all electronics assemblies are supposed to be put together. I spend considerable time inspecting fine pitch surface mount devices. I am also the manager of the assembly department at my company, where we make class-2 commercial grade electronics.
To say that I spend a lot of time looking at soldered joints is an understatement.
So, what's the problem here?
The Danish government is just as culpable as Apple is on this one.
The solder used in this joint is obviously (to me at least) a lead-free solder. (Lead free solders are exceptionally grainy and dull in appearance compared to leaded solder that is smooth and shiny.) The switch to lead-free solders was mandated to occur last year on July 1st by the European Union. Any electronics shipping into EU member nations must comply with this new standard, which is called RoHS, or "Reduction of Hazardous Substances". (Look it up in Wikipedia.)
Due to complexities in maintaining parallel manufacturing lines, most companies simply switched to the Lead-free solder for their entire product line. (As did my company). This means that most all new electronics you by are going to have lead-free solder holding them together.
So, why is this a problem? Plasticity.
Leaded solder alloys (SnPb 60/30) are extremely ductile. This means that they will flex a considerable amount before fracture occurs. With electronics that experience heat cycles, or any kind of motion at all, this is an extremely beneficial trait to have. Lead-Free solders on the other hand (like the most common SAC305 SnAu3%Cu0.5%) are incredibly brittle. What is obviously happening here is that the heat cycling from the laptop turning on and off is stressing this solder joint, and causing the joint to fail. Had this been leaded solder, I can almost guarantee that this problem wouldn't exist.
So what does this mean? Exactly what the electronics industry has feared. The EU made a dip$#!t move. Industry experts believe that the average lifespan of an electronic device has been significantly diminished. Down to an average consumer product lifespan of 5 years. There have been early reports of serious quality problems, including SWATCH having over 10,000 watches fail within a month of shipping. You can expect to see a drastic shortening of the lifespan of your electronic goodies. This is just the beginning people. If you see a device that is labeled as RoHS compliant, do not buy it if you expect to use it for more than a few years.
a more relevant analogy would be "you sound like a person who attaches the CPU fan with twist ties."
Which I did once.
Still solid as a rock to this day. Computer was crap so we didn't care, it was a few friends making a frankenstein setup from spare parts, but the fan's on tighter than one would expect and runs just fine.
I remember sigs. Oh, a simpler time!
Its 52 screws. It took me nearly 5 hours to upgrade my drive. You must take the entire computer apart to get to the hard drive. I was not impressed by the process. If the hard drive dies, I'll probably just buy a new computer rather than go through that again. I'm not as comfortable working on laptops, but I've swapped drives on many Dell laptops which only take a few minutes at most. I'm not counting OS installation in that time.
MidnightBSD: The BSD for Everyone
What do you know about electronics manufacturing? 1. "Higher Quality Solder" There is no such thing as "higher quality Solder". There are two industry recognized solder alloys out there. SnPb 60/40 and SAC305. SAC305 is used on RoHS compliant assemblies, and is mandated by the EU. From the photos, it is obvious to me that this solder was SAC305. (Yes, I can tell. From the side-cuts, you can see that the solder is very grainy and dull. This is the hallmark of lead-free solders.) Again, due to the idiotic RoHS legislation, manufacturers are REQUIRED to use a lead-free alternative, among which the SAC305 is the best. (The proverbial winner of the special-Olympics.) 2. "A far more substantial joint". The solder joint in the photos EXCEEDED IPC610-D Standards for even Class 3 medical devices. This is a SURFACE MOUNT DEVICE, and as such, there is no other way that you can get a more "substantial" joint, unless you went to a TH DIP package, if it was even available, and if you could even fit it into the design. 3. "Right type of solder" See number 1. 4. So no, it is NOT entirely Apple's fault. I'd bet $100 that if this chip were removed, and a new one were installed with SnPb solder, then it would not fail. Period. But since Apple isn't allowed to use the right solder, this happened. Have you ever designed something? Can you say that you tested EVERY POSSIBLE point of failure? No, didn't think so. It's because it's impossible to do. There is a problem, and it's the knee-jerk reaction of the EU to blindly ban the one substance that has been fully responsible for allowing the computer revolution to occur. Way to go!
So... an engineer is told to design a ship. He's told that the material to be used is wood, but designs it as if it were to be made of steel (because that's the right material!). The ship fails. How is it not the engineer's fault for not designing the system to the intended specifications? If the specs said that a non-lead solder was to be used, then the board should have been designed so that it would not fail with a non-lead solder.
Maybe they swapped out the solder after the design was finalized and it's not the designing engineer's fault. But you can't blame the failure on the solder (unless it was not the correct composition). It's not as if this lead-free solder is some mysterious substance. Someone, somewhere along the line, failed in the design of this system.
If you want a vision of the future, imagine a youtube comments section scrolling - forever.
Posting as AC because this is totally off-topic, but, what is the .ece format that the second link in the article (the first one in Danish), is in? I'm curious as to exactly what it is, having never seen it before.
The economy is always important in election campaigns obviously but the Norwegian political scene is dominated by moderate forces that want to make sure we don't waste the wealth we have been fortunate enough to find on just our contemporaries. The oil wealth is seen as the rightful inheritance of the future generations (arvesølvet) - not something just today's generation should enjoy the benefits of.
The political parties differ on what percentage of the surplus we might use today - if any at all. Some extreme suggestions from the extreme right Fremskrittspartiet, eq. the Danish Folkepartiet, have been to invest all of it today in education and infrastructure. It might sound like a good idea but the consequences would be terrible for our economy - and very short lived just like the Dutch "disease" .
The two greatest parties with a majority of the vote oppose increasing the pressure on a very "hot" economy with low unemployment, high spending/borrowing and low interest rates. The Conservative Party wanted to spend less than anyone else, and the same goes for Labour.
Yes, we have had wonderful weather in the Greater Oslo area lately :)
And we experience the exact same problems you do with immigrants - the second generation born in the country are the most productive and integrated.
Today Norway has a good 3-5% immigrants in our vast country - but small homogenic population. You consider Mexico and Latin America your closest poor neighbours - in Europe we have Africa, the Middle East and Asia next door! The greatest groups of foreigners in Norway are Pakistanis, Turks, Iraqi Kurds and North Africans and Somalis! See any connection with their origins and certain wars by the way?
Just today it was featured on the news that last year saw record immigration from our poorer European cousins - and our borders are closed for open immigration from outside the European Union. The most wealthy country in Europe and ranked #1 by the UN (as the place to live) is bound to attract quite a few people!
You are welcome to move back ;)
Since you still don't understand the issue, let me give you some remedial education about design and production engineering.
Competent designers don't make designs that work reliably only when lead-based solder is available, and that fail when the product has to be RoHS-compliant. What you've just described is the height of design incompetence at Apple.
And if you think that RoHS is so bad, why didn't Apple campaign very vocally against the environmentalists in Europe? Too scared that it would impact on the shiny Apple image and EU sales, huh? Well now it's coming back to haunt you, and you're using the EU as an excuse for shoddy design and dreadful quality control. What a crappy company you work for.
Just knuckle down and do your job properly next time. It's what you're paid to do.
Getting only a little more serious -- is there any alternative to the old fashioned wave soldering manufacturing process? Is there some combination of materials that could be laser or maser welded rather than soldered? What if we went copper-to-copper instead of aluminium-to-copper-via-solder? A micro-mechanical solution (spring clips) would have appeal if the right alloys -- conductive, non-corrosive, springy -- could be adapted. I doubt that anything we can lay our hands on today could do it, would take a lot of research, but then a newer, greener world would by definition be different, and we'll have to come up with some new thoughts. Maybe Wm & Melinda Gates could fund a few grants, pay some of that fortune back into the industry at the bedrock.
Do not mock my vision of impractical footwear
Five hours? I used the guide available here: http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Mac/iBook-G4-12-Inch/H ard-Drive-Replacement/83/14
It took me about 45 minutes. I'd never taken apart a laptop in my life.
While I respect you low UID, engineers do not take into account the type of solder to be used (for most products), this is something in practice manufacturers do (except in this transition period of leaded to lead free which requires higher processing temperatures). A manufacturer isn't about to empty out the solder bath of his wave soldering machine to tweak the silver content unless you have a dedicated line to the product.
The biggest problem to hit the industry is ROHS (requiring among other things lead free solder) and tin whisker growth. Nobody in the industry fully understands why yet, but what happens is fine micron size whiskers start randomly growing out of plated legs of components and can grow long enough to make short circuits. It is something to do with surface tension and extrusion, but it still has people puzzled.
So if the problem was tin whiskers, then I disagree its all Apples fault.
46137
I push the power button perhaps once a month, maybe even less.
I can not find in any of the source articles any mention whether the defective laptops are owned by people who mash the power button on a daily basis, or whether they're regular users like me, and just let the computer handle its own power management?
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Don't like it? Respond with words, not karma.
Cable ties can also work surprisingly well if you have strong enough ties and one of these mechanical cable tie binders. It's amazing how well designs that should never be done, such as these, can work...
USE HOT GRITS WITH STATUE OF NATALIE PORTMAN (NAKED AND PETRIFIED)
OK, this is pretty not-cool for me, since I'm typing this on my iBook G4 14" 1.42GHz that's just over a year old now, with no AppleCare. But there's something I'm not entirely clear about. Is this a defect that affects ALL iBook G4s out there, or is it confined to certain models/runs/sizes? I mean, "iBook G4" describes ten different models of iBook produced from 2003 to 2005. This one is the last model they made before moving to the MacBook line. Was this defect fixed by the time this model was manufactured or should I still be worried? Also, does anyone have a clue what the actual defect rates are?
I'm not just wondering for myself either. I know a business and some individuals who also own iBook G4s, and I'm sort of becoming the local Mac guru, so people come to me for advice about Macs. I need to know what to tell them when they come to me with a problem or ask me whether there is any reason not to purchase a used iBook G4 (actually they're still being sold as new too!). I did some analysis of the whole PPC/Intel relationship recently and came to the conclusion that used G4 and later PPC machines can actually be a smart investment (or smart to hold onto) as long as the user has no need for doing high-end graphics or gaming, or for doing the main thing that Intel Macs are much better at: Running Windows apps at native speed in virtualization software like Parallels Desktop, or in Boot Camp.
The Intel machines are definitely faster, but due to the magic of Mac OS X and Universal Binary applications a typical G4/G5 PPC Mac will be highly functional for years to come, with official support from Apple for Leopard and probably at least one version of OS X after that. Many Universal applications will perform just as well on a PPC Mac as on Intel. For people who just do email/web/office documents a PPC Mac is going to be a lot cheaper and work fantastically well for years. But, depending on the outcome of this situation I may have to amend my conclusion with a "stay away from iBook G4s," which would really be unfortunate because they are great machines.
So, anyone have pointers to more references on this? Discussions, news reports, accounts from users who encountered the problem and tried to get it fixed, action centers where people are or will be following up on this Danish report, where to find out about the progress of getting Apple US to acknowledge this issue and what they're going to do about it, how to use this report as leverage to get a defective iBook fixed, anything like that. I'm sure I'm not the only person you will be helping.
For others here are some sites that I already know of off the top of my head where some information is likely to show up (no links, just write 'em down and check them out sometime):
MacRumors.com, AppleInsider.com, other Apple/Mac rumor sites.
LowEndMac.com
MacNN.com, other Apple/Mac news sites.
Fortunately due to the stability of Mac OS X and an actually usable (reliable) sleep mode, I very rarely shut down or turn on my iBook. When I go around town I just put it to sleep. I've probably only used the power button two or three dozen times in the whole year that I've owned the machine. Still worried though.
I am the technical lead at a school district with about 400 iBook G4 1.2ghz laptops deployed as a one to one program in our middle school. We have a self-servicing agreement and do our own repairs to ensure good uptime. This is the second year of the program. Last school year (2005-20060, we had 90 or so motherboard (applespeak == logic boards) fail. This year (2006-2007) so far 195 logic board failures. This is a huge problem in terms of support and uptime. Glad to know it is not merely student abuse that is responsible. Many, at least half of our failures are "dark screen with startup tone" or "no tone, no screen, fans blasting". But plainly this is a major issue for Apple as a company, especially in their education sector where hundreds of thousands of iBooks are issued to students. I'm a true blue Apple fan, but this is some heartily deserved egg in the face.
I don't know why this seems so hard to accept.
I don't know why it's so hard for you to accept that this really isn't so hard for people to accept. Everyone here is perfectly aware that Apple has hardware problems from time to time, if only because if a dozen people have a flakey Apple product, it makes the rounds on Slashdot. Other OEM's have far more quality issues than Apple, and you never hear about them unless it's something fantastic like exploding batteries.
Modding something flamebait for pointing out an inconsistency in how problems with company X are accepted is... hmmm. Silly.
No, you get modded flamebait for being an idiot and a jackass.
The investigation showed that a solder joint between two components had broken, so that current could no longer pass through them. It also showed that the breakage occurs because the solder joint loosens slightly every time the computer is turned on and off. So, they're asserting that a bad solder joint is the problem? I suppose that this could be a manufacturing defect, but a "design flaw"?
Clear, Dark Skies