rickytitus

Q: Powerbook G4 DEAD???

Hi

 

I have been writing posts and have not been succesfully in knowing what to do.

 

- My PB suddenly got frozed, had to force quit. After that it did not start again and has not started up succesfully

- A couple of times I was able to start it but when it got to the login window it got frozed and stucked again.

- I have resetted PMU, tried booting, everything, Sometiems I heard the chime. I tried using an emergency USB Boot, and it got stucked and frozed while loading.

- While i was opeingn it and looking for the screws I accidentally droped it like 1 foot and landed flat on my table. After that the caps lock light won´t turn on ( I was able to turn it on/off even while it did not start up) the light of the "sleep" light no longer works

 

please help!

PowerBook G4 1.33 GHz PowerPC G4, Mac OS X (10.5.8)

Posted on Sep 13, 2012 2:00 PM

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Q: Powerbook G4 DEAD???

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  • by Knucklesmac,

    Knucklesmac Knucklesmac Sep 13, 2012 2:14 PM in response to rickytitus
    Level 4 (2,225 points)
    Sep 13, 2012 2:14 PM in response to rickytitus

    Hello and welcome to the support community

     

    Are you able to boot your PowerBook from the Mac OS X system disk?

    What Screen size is your PowerBook?

     

    It sounds to me like there could be a problem with the hard drive. If you can boot from a disk, then using the disk utilities you can check the hard drive and run repair. It maybe a simple case of replacing the drive if it has become faulty.

     

    Also it's worth noting, have you made any changes to this PowerBook recently? like RAM upgrade?

    If so it maybe a faulty memory module.

     

    The sleep light could have come detached from the logic board when the unit was dropped. Unless you open the PowerBook up to see, you can't really do much about that.

  • by rickytitus,

    rickytitus rickytitus Sep 13, 2012 7:23 PM in response to Knucklesmac
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 13, 2012 7:23 PM in response to Knucklesmac

    I am not able to boot, login, start up, or anything. No chime sound, no vents, nothing. The HD is fine, I took it out to check it. Ram is fine too.

  • by Knucklesmac,

    Knucklesmac Knucklesmac Sep 14, 2012 3:58 AM in response to rickytitus
    Level 4 (2,225 points)
    Sep 14, 2012 3:58 AM in response to rickytitus

    Hello,

     

    It wont power on at all?

    Then you either have a fault with the logic board or there is a fault in powering the PowerBook.

    Do you get any output from the keyboard when you power it on? for example pressing caps lock lights up the caps key?

  • by hudders32,

    hudders32 hudders32 Sep 16, 2012 4:24 AM in response to rickytitus
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 16, 2012 4:24 AM in response to rickytitus

    Try turning the PowerBook on with only the built in RAM module in it (assuming that you have OS X Tiger 10.4 installed as Leopard has a minimum of 512mb). My girlfriends MacBook has problems turning on and it was due to a RAM issue.If the problem is still there try turning the PowerBook without the battery in (i.e run it off the power adapter).

    The OS software may also be the problem so, if you have the correct disk(s) (either the black Tiger disk or a grey one that says PowerBook on it), slide it in the drive while the PowerBook is on and then turn it off. Then turn the PowerBook back on whilst holding the 'C' key on the internal or an external keyboard (just incase the keyboard broke when it fell). Hold the 'C' key until it boots to the installer of the OS - start holding it from before the chime sounds.

    I had a similar problem with a PowerBook. It froze all the time and a lot of the time didn't turn on. I took it to an Apple store and they told me it was probably the hard drive but I managed to fix it by simply re-installing the OS.

    If none of these work, buy a cheap SATA hard drive (between 20 and 100gb) and install the OS using the internel dvd drive.

    Another more complicated way of forcing the laptop to have its operating sytem reinstalled is by connecting two Macs together (with the PowerBook in question off) using a FireWire cable. Then start the PowerBook whilst holding the 'T' key. It should come up with a yellow FireWire logo on a blue background. You then need to insert the install disk into the Mac that is already on (not the PowerBook) and run in the installer from that computer. however when you come to the part when you need to chose the hard drive, select the one from the PowerBook. I would advise you open the disk utility from the menu bar on the installer screen (I think it's under utilities) and erase the hard drive of the PowerBook. Then proceed to install the OS - make sure you select the PowerBook hard drive to install to.

    As other people have said it may be a logic board fault. If that's the case then I would advise looking for a replacement PowerBook. In some way or another you should be able to get all your files off the PowerBook.

    It also may be the case that it's none of these. Good luck! Please post your findings on here.