So the iBook appears to be OK without the battery in. Very odd. In fact starting to smell strangely familiar...
Anyway, applecare are collecting it next week, so it looks like I'm going to have to take the fscking VAIO to the Spam Conference. Grumble. I hate this laptop - the keys are so irritating, and the spacebar doesn't work unless you hit it dead centre.
Very very annoyed now. These iBooks seem to have pretty poor QC. I wonder if the powerbooks are better. Damn you apple for giving me the best computer I've ever had but made the hardware so unreliable.