Apple iBook: Absturz des defekten Motherboards - Schraubzwinge hilft - Druck aufs Book

Danish Complaint Case may have Global Consequences for Apple

In a specific complaint case, the Consumer Complaints Board in Denmark now has evidence of a hidden, original design defect in Apple's iBook G4.  This can have serious consequences for the computer manufacturer, which has so far denied the existence of this defect.  Thousands of users all over the world have tried to get Apple to acknowledge the fault and agree to take back the computers.

Users of iBook G4 find that the power goes off in the computer and the screen goes blank after just over one year's use.  But when they contact Apple to have the fault repaired or to return the computer, Apple rejects the complaint on the grounds that there is no question of a design fault, and that the 12 months' guarantee has expired anyway.

Really a design fault

The Consumer Complaints Board now has documentation showing that there really is a design fault. In April 2007, the Consumer Complaints Board decided therefore that Danish consumers must be able to return computers with this fault to Apple. Apple Computer International has already settled a number of cases in Denmark on the basis of the investigation report.

The question now is whether Apple is going to go on denying that there is a design fault in the same type of computer in the world outside Denmark's borders.

Investigation background:

A clamp or cardboard shims are needed to start the computer

The Consumer Complaints Board of the National Consumer Agency in Denmark regularly received complaints from Danish users that Apple's iBook G4 goes blank after just over a year's use.  During the processing of the complaints, the Board discovered that iBook users worldwide had experienced the same problem and that Apple had rejected their claims with the same argument.  This led to iBook G4 users themselves inventing various creative methods of starting the computers again.  Amongst other things, some users had found a solution by attaching a clamp to one part of their computer (see picture) while others had taken the computer slightly apart and nudged cardboard shims in place in order to make it reboot.

This made the Consumer Complaints Board suspect that the problem was a design fault with which the computer was born.  So the Consumer Complaints Board sent one of the faulty computers to Delta, an independent electronics laboratory, to have it examined.

Solder joint had broken

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.

"It is a bit like a person dying a little bit every time he breathes because the cells break down.  In the same way, the computer dies a little every time you turn it on and off", says Frederik Boesgaard Navne, the Consumer Complaints Board lawyer who has been dealing with these cases.

When the computer had been turned on and off a sufficient number of times, the solder joint broke completely loose, resulting in a blank screen.  Pressing the two components together with a clamp or with cardboard shims re-established the connection, so the computer started again.

Investigation - the facts

The independent electronics laboratory, Delta, has the laboratory facilities and expertise needed to carry out complicated investigations and analyses of advanced electronics.  They examined a defective iBook G4 by taking it apart and removing the logic board.  This was then analysed and examined by means of visual inspection, stereo microscopy, scanning acoustic microscopy and X-ray microscopy of suspected components.  Individual components under suspicion were cut out of the logic board and embedded in epoxy for subsequent micro-sectioning.  A few solder joints were further examined after micro-sectioning, in which the inner structure of these soldering positions becomes visible by microscopy.

The investigation and pictures of the inside of the computer and the defect can be seen on www.forbrug.dk .

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