User profile for user: fredthefish
fredthefish Author
User level: Level 1
4 points

Powerbook won't boot. Caps Lock Light and NumLock Light on. No other sounds

I'm posting a problem I'm having with my powerbook in the hope someone can give me advice as to what the problem could be. Or how i can fix it.

I have a PB G4 12" (1.33) running OS 10.4.11. All of sudden one day the laptop would not boot. I have tried the PMU reset, taking out the memory, plugging in an external firewire drive, etc but nothing works.

The laptop just won't boot, but I know power is being transmitted as the CapsLock light works, as does the NumLock (which is oddly activated by pressing F5).

Any suggestions/ideas on what the issue can be? Is it a dead mainboard/logic board? Or DCtoDC board?

Any suggestions/help would be greatly appreciated.

Powerbook G4 12", Mac OS X (10.4.11)

Posted on Apr 24, 2008 5:52 PM

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11 replies
User profile for user: fredthefish
fredthefish Author
User level: Level 1
4 points

Apr 26, 2008 5:06 PM in response to Reflow

i have not tried an external monitor yet as i do not have a dvi adapter handy. however i do not think that will work either as there does not seem to be any activity from the hard drive.

even when i plug in a firewire drive and boot in target mode nothing happens. although the ext firewire drive does power up so that means that the firewire port is getting power.

any idea what could be wrong? is it possible that it is in some sort of sleep mode? i wouldnt think so (as i have completely drained the batter and done the pram resets)... but at this point i am at a complete loss as to why it would just stop working one day.

all i did before this happened was install the usual mac updates (including a safari update). but it worked fine one reboot after the updates. but not after that (i think 8 hours or so). does anyone else have similar issues?

can one open the logic board and try to fix it without buying a new board (ie could it be a loose connection?) what usually causes a dead logic board?

any help or suggestions are truly appreciated. i dont want to spend $300+ on parts if i dont have to.
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User profile for user: MacieHeartsMac
MacieHeartsMac
User level: Level 1
0 points

May 2, 2008 7:29 AM in response to fredthefish

I've got a 12" Pbook G4 doing the same thing. It started by booting into Open Firmware with a floating point error. (See http://www.applefritter.com/node/6813). I have also lost the ability to boot into target mode or boot from an external drive. The only solutions I've read so far are resetting NVRAM and PMU. After doing both, I lost my display (went black).

I hooked it up to an external display via DVI adapter. The display re-appeared on the Pbook (weird!) and took me back to OF - this time without the floating point error. It recommends either the <mac-boot> or <shut-down> command. <mac-boot> takes me to the non-booting page with a Finder icon, flashing folder and question mark. Not looking good.

The only thing I know to try at this point is to physically remove the HD and slave it to another PowerBook to see if I can access any of the data. Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Macie
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User profile for user: Merged Content 1
Merged Content 1
User level: Level 6
11,068 points

May 22, 2008 12:05 PM in response to MacieHeartsMac

I too am having this problem on an older G4 MBP.

The unit was left unpowered for a long time and the battery is dead.

Strangely, when connected to power:

The unit will not turn on (black screen)
If I press F5 - the Num Lock light comes on (num lock is F6)


Any advise out there other than replace the battery and hope that's it? I'm guessing that won't do it as the unit will not power with the battery removed and connected to power.

Thanks...
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User profile for user: .251
.251
User level: Level 1
0 points

Jun 10, 2008 10:23 AM in response to bhmc

I'm having similar issues on a 12" PowerBook running 10.4.x. The black screen/caps lock/num lock behavior started a few days ago. Aside from the troubleshooting attempts previously posted, nothing else has had much of an effect. I did note that if one attempts to reset the PMU while the system in "on" (i.e. the caps lock LED can be toggled), the system turns "off" (neither the caps lock or num lock LEDs toggle).

Has anyone made any progress with this?
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User profile for user: You Got Pwnd
You Got Pwnd
User level: Level 1
30 points

Jul 13, 2008 5:58 PM in response to fredthefish

I have the exact same problem/symptoms, although I have gotten it to power up again.

*2 MONTHS AGO*
The first time it happened was after I installed some software update. I did 3 things:

1. Let it sit for 2 days.
2. Replace the Ram
3. Pressed shift control+optionpower button and it started up!

*2 DAYS LATER*

In two days, I successfully powered off/on the machine twice. It crashed when I closed the lid.

1. I replaced the ram with the old chip
2. did the power reset and it started up.

*THE NEXT DAY*
It went down again. I got it to power up a few weeks later, but it just died after put it in sleep mode.

But I can say this:
1. The Caps lock and num lock light come on.
2. The machine shuts down to the *shift control+optionpower button* command
3. I can hear the hard drive spinning. (I'll sample the sound if anyone wants to hear it)
4) The power supply light changes from Orange to Green when I try to start it up.
5) It WILL eat your disk, so don't even try.
6) There are more of us out there [ Link]
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User profile for user: You Got Pwnd
You Got Pwnd
User level: Level 1
30 points

Jul 14, 2008 12:01 AM in response to fredthefish

I found many others with the same issues.
Maybe we can read through their stories and find a solution???

http://www.pinoymac.org/forum/showthread.php?t=18510
http://forums.macosxhints.com/showthread.php?t=65275
http://www.maclife.com/forums/topic/74915
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=64020
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=110684
http://www.applefritter.com/node/18912
http://www.macintouch.com/readerreports/powerbookg4/topic2813.html#d06nov2006
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=7589764
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=733150&tstart=626
http://macosx.com/tech-support/mac/powerbook-g4-boot-problem/334350.html
http://lists.debian.org/debian-powerpc/2002/01/msg00288.html
http://www.pinoymac.org/forum/showthread.php?t=15844
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Powerbook won't boot. Caps Lock Light and NumLock Light on. No other sounds

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