Ibook G4 freezing up & asking for restarts

ok so I'm having issues with my Ibook G4. I'll start it, it'll run fine for a few minutes, and then freeze up to where no matter what I do, nothing happens, and then I restart it only to have the same thing happen again. I'm thinking it's a software issue, cause when I ran the hardware test, no issues showed up. just wondeirng if anyone has been through this before and knows what I can do to fix it thanks for any help in advance guys.

 

Apples Don't Freeze. Only Pcs Do.

 

LOL, good one

but in all seriousness try a format and reload OSX cleanly

 

question on that one, I have the OS discs, but i was told that they'll make the computer worse than the OS that was just installed. I'm really new to all this stuff and was thinking about doing the reload until I heard that. The discs are the plain gray ones that are a 2 disc set.

edit - i just checked and the current OS is 10.5 if that helps

 

update - ok so I reloaded the the OS and am still having the same problem, only now it does it within 1-2 minutes and I can't even get past registration screen where I enter all my information.

 

maybe it is overheating?

try starting in safe mode and see what happens. Instructions here:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1455

 

Did you do the clean install?
My PowerBook G4 used to restart randomly by itself or suddenly experiencing kernel panic (Mac version of blue screen of death). When I tried clean install everything is resolved.
If it's not software issue, then you might need to bring in your computer to apple as freezing up could be caused by many things.

 

ok I started it up in safe mode, and now it can't connect to the internet cause it's saying it can't find my airport i did both the software and hardware tests on it, both said the comp had no issues. I've been trying to figure out how to get the aiport to turn back on so that I can try and do a software update from Apple to see if that helps.

mklasse - I'm not sure what you mean by doing the " clean " install. sorry, I'm a little lost, but trying to find my way

on another note, do any of you guys happen to know if I can just purchase another hard drive, reload Mac OS on it, and use it in this particular laptop?? I only bought this thing to basically use as a netbook since I didn't need all the fancy stuff in the newer versions. a larger GB hard drive doesn't sound like such a bad thing though so I'm willing to upgrade it if you guys think it could possibly help cause I'm running out of ideas here

 

to be a little bit more clear on the aiport problems now, when i go into the airport settings, it says, " NO AIRPORT HARDWARE FOUND " and I know it has it because I was just online on that laptop a few mins ago before i did the safe mode start up.

could the safe mode start up have actually messed with the airport hardware in any way ???

 

ohhhhhh maannnnnn this thing is driving me nuts. ok, I got the airport working again, ran more tests on it and still shows no issues, but it's still freezes and asks for restarts. i've been hearing a lot about having to take out the logic board and resoldering something back on, does anyone have any info on this??? i was told that when i went to the mac forum.

 

Is the harddisk ok?

 

Clean install is wiping out the harddrive and install a fresh copy of MacOS X, but I figured you might have done that
I wish I could help you more, but when it comes to logic board, I'm completely blank.. I hope you can figure out whats wrong with it and fix it.

 

I don't know anything about Macs, but are you still in safe mode? You can't access the internet in safe mode unless you chose safe mode with networking.

 

Ok so safe mode says that the airport card is not found but it does not crash right? You said that is freezes every time after 2 minutes. In safe mode it does not?

If you are running 10.5 safe mode should not disable your airport card.

 

I have a sneaking suspicion of thermal issue on heatsink OR a mainboard issue

 

Now that made me laugh...

 

yes, when the airport wasn't working, I was in safe mode. I just restarted it normally and the airport was working again. I had freaked and thought maybe I fried something. as for the software, after I did the reload of the OS, it now is running on Version 10.4.2. I took out, cleaned, and reseated the ram chip and the memory now reads 1.5gb, which before I did so, it said 512mb so I was a little confused on that one. I'm leaning towards the logic board overheating as well and am currently trying to see if there's another way to find out for sure without tearing it apart. I went to the Mac store here to ask them about it, but when I seen the costs just for them to diagnose the issue, I said screw that. I think $80hr just for them to tell me is a little out of my range.

 

Here is the thing. Let the notebook rest for a few hours and turn it on. Dont touch it (besides entering password and such to complete boot) and time how long it takes to freeze, including boot.
On freeze reboot right away and start the timer again, count the time till reboot.

IF the first and 2nd time is about the same its not a heat issue. The 2nd time the notebook was already hot and should overheat much faster.

 

you have some really good sense in that brain of yours , i'm gonna give this a try and see what happens and will keep you guys updated. I really appreciate the help guys