Dead airport extreme card in powerbook?

[Stephanie]

Is it fairly common for airport cards to die? Last year, I gave my parents my old powerbook (1 ghz, 17", aluminum) & this weekend, they've reported that the airport extreme card in it has died.

I have no other details but I am curious as to how common this is. Obviously they're not able to get wireless internet on it - if it's not the airport card, what else could it be (motherboard, etc)?

Thanks