martynfromdartington

Q: Powerbook G4 A1138. Wont do anything, just vibrate

Hi everyone. Im desperate for some help please.... I have a Powerbook G4 A1138. Its recently had the screen bezel removed and the hard drive upgraded. But will no longer turn on, when i plug it in i get a gentle vibration and nothing else. The powerbutton changes nothing at all, it wont turn on and the battery light dont flash or light. This machine means alot to me and i really need it back up and running, but of course not much money! Please help.

PowerBook, Mac OS X (10.6.4), A1138

Posted on May 11, 2011 1:39 AM

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Q: Powerbook G4 A1138. Wont do anything, just vibrate

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  • by iRomel,

    iRomel iRomel May 15, 2011 10:16 PM in response to martynfromdartington
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 15, 2011 10:16 PM in response to martynfromdartington

    If there is a slight vibration it could mean that it is trying to read your HDD. Have you heard the "bong" sound?

  • by martynfromdartington,

    martynfromdartington martynfromdartington May 16, 2011 10:02 AM in response to iRomel
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 16, 2011 10:02 AM in response to iRomel

    Hi thanks for your reply. No there no noise at all or lights. The very second i turn the plug on at the mains this vibrations starts, it effects the entire laptop. I dont even need to press the power button for it to start, which now the power button does nothing at all, i have checked to make sure the ribbon is connected to the board.

  • by Criggie,

    Criggie Criggie Nov 27, 2011 4:05 PM in response to martynfromdartington
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 27, 2011 4:05 PM in response to martynfromdartington

    Theres only a couple of sources of vibration inside a laptop, and they're the moving parts.

     

    So that's a rotating hard drive, cooling fans, and optical drives.

     

    Eject any CDs using a paperclip, perhaps disconnect the hard drive completely.

     

    Is it possible there's something interfering with the cooling fan?  Or a blade is broken off?

    I'd be going back to whoever did the HDD upgrade and get assistance.

  • by BGreg,

    BGreg BGreg Nov 27, 2011 7:02 PM in response to martynfromdartington
    Level 6 (17,522 points)
    Nov 27, 2011 7:02 PM in response to martynfromdartington

    Some housekeeping first ... it would help to let people know which Powerbook you have. Not everyone knows that the A1138 is a 1.67Ghz Hi-res Powebook.  Also, you can't have OS X 10.6.4 installed on your Powerbook, as the highest PowerPC system is 10.5 Leopard. Perhaps you have 10.5.4?

     

    Now, on to your problem. When you plug it in, you get a gentle vibration? Pushing the on switch does nothing? I have to agree with Criggie, return it to whoever (or you) did the hard drive/bezel  work.  When working on the hard drive, it's not unusual to not completely hook up the keyboard to logic board cable, or the hard drive cable connection at the logic board. A keyboard to logic board cable issue would prevent the 'on' power button from working. But the vibration when you plug it the power adapter is odd ... can you at least localize where the vibration is coming from?