I have an iBook G3, 14.1" 32 MB Video RAM. I tried to turn it on today, but it turned on, beeped, and then shut down. I have tried placing a shim in above the video card, but that did not work. I have not tried re flowing the solder, but that is a next step. Does anybody have any other ideas to get this machine to work?
Thank you!
The power management unit needs to be reset. The pram battery is IN THE BATTERY, I believe.
My iBook displayed the same symptoms when I first tried to start it up.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1431#faq5
There is usually a tiny red (or white) button, on the side, near the ports. There are procedures for doing this -- use Google to find it. I believe it is PMU Reset. This needs to be done with the battery removed. Also after resetting, and with the battery removed, try starting it up!
I couldn't boot my dual-USB 600MHz iBook G3 for hours, until doing this. Also, my battery was very bad (held about 2 minutes charge), and I had to do this PMU procedure again, after leaving the laptop for a week (unpowered). I now have a battery that holds about 70% power, and it goes first time every time.
You could also reset the PRAM and NVRAM as well, to be sure
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379
Hope this helps.
Thanks for the response! Unfortunately, the computer will still not power up. Is there anything else I can try, besides reflowing the GPU?
Unfortunately, the computer will still not power up
So what did you actually try, and what happened ? Never heard of reflowing solder on a G3 iBook, would they ever get that hot to cause the cracks you refer to ?
Most likely is still the dead or nearly dead PRAM battery, like previously advised, remove the battery, leave the iBook on charge for 48 hours and then try a startup. What happens? power gets to what before it shuts down ? do you get a startup chime ?
The solder connections on a dual USB G3 were not the most sound, so over time they can start to break, resulting in iBook graphics issues that eventually can cause the entire computer to malfuntion if not fixed.
I do not get a startup chime, as the computer briefly spins up the disks, but then shuts down before it can get farther into the boot process.
I have attempted to place a shim over the graphics card, to apply more pressure, but because that yields no effect, I do not believe that is the problem. I have also reset the PMU and PRAM, but that has not worked, yet.
I will try leaving the computer be for 48 hours, then try a power up, to see if that fixes the issue.
The graphics issue does not power-down the computer (running, but with black screen).
Is the charger orange, or RED? Red can indicate a DC charging issue (maybe also motherboard based)
See here for beep-tone deciphering:
http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?s=afe5b2cfa6a67c30126e6f3dc34...
You could always remove the airport card, remove and reseat ONE stick of RAM, and try restarting again?
Best of luck!
oops, it appears that one ram chip is soldered in... don't remove THAT ONE 
Try the previously mentioned no-battery startup with no airport card/extra RAM.
Ok. Thanks! I'll try these and see what happens.
Here is exactly what is happening:
"Without a rest it won't even power up, pressing the power button does nothing. No sounds, no spinning, no drive sounds. There is a green light and the battery has a full charge.
With a rest, when I hit the power button it fires up. The drive spins, producing normal sounds, and then the screen comes up. It checks the disk, then it goes from that the desktop and items come up like normal. The "reset date" dialogue come up. It works like normal, but not for long as at some point it dies just like if it were to lose power. The screen goes black and it makes a ping noise. The drive is not running, and the computer is completely silent. Then, when you try to press the power button, nothing happens unless you leave it for a few hours."
Thanks for the detailed response, this gives everyone a lot more to work with. Good news that it can start up and run normally, even if just for a while. Next time it's up and running, can you jump into Startup Disk control panel / system pref and choose the boot disk - obvious I know, but the PRAM needs to know which disk and if you keep it on mains power it won't forget at the next boot. You may want to also st date and time, but it's not that important.
First impressions of what you're seeing are, maybe cooked RAM, or an overheating CPU or other component. Again, if you start up, can you do the "About This Mac" and see how much RAM is being reported, does it tie in with what you expect the RAM to be ? If not, open the System Profiler and check the size of the sticks reported, even the one soldered to the board.
Anyone else got ideas ?
Forget the rest of this comment, here is the fix, follow the links!!!
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/1999466?start=0&tstart=0
I would also check the fan/airflow. Without cooling, it will overheat pretty quickly. As an example, I booted a P4 PC with no heatsink/fan recently, and it overheated BEFORE THE BIOS WAS FINISHED!!!
I know there was a solder/cracking problem in a corner of the machine, which could be fixed with some folded card. Let me check up on that.
Also, are these issues with the battery installed, or with no battery? Try with no battery, and see if your mileage varies.
Also, see here re: Faulty DC-in board -> http://forums.macrumors.com/archive/index.php/t-118284.html
http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Installing-iBook-G3-12-Inch-DC-In-Board/134/1
PS. It sounds like you need a new battery. Try and avoid NewerTech, as I bought a $160 battery from them, charged it twice, only held 33% after that. No amount of resets or fiddling would fix it. Eventually (after only about 6 charges) it only held 10% of capacity. I promptly threw it in the bin.
If you look about, you can still find original Apple batteries, still shrink-wrapped (on eBay etc.)
Make sure you get the correct battery for your size iBook (I got the 14" by mistake).
Here is a video of the same issue, except fixed with HDD replacement!
I got it back working. I let it rest overnight, and then I tried resetting the PMU, but holding it for a while, until it beeped 4 times. Then, it powered on and has been working since.
It works fine with a battery, and the battery still holds a 2-3 hour charge.
Thank you very much for all your help!
That is fantastic news. I was secretly hoping you failed, and could send me your power adaptor, but you are probably not using 240V AC 
My adaptor is a bit "fiddly" to get working. Have to spin the connector around to get a solid connection.
12" G3 iBooks FTW!!!! Mine is a 600MHz btw. I found a 700MHz (broken) and considered doing a case swap, but destroyed the 700 in the process. I got a darn good battery out of it tho, considering both my other batteries were broken.
Woohoo !! Thanks for perservering with it.
