Powerbook Constantly Freezes

Can you expand on the nature of the freezing?

When it happens, is the mouse pointer still moveable? Does the clock on the task bar stop updating? Does the Caps Lock key still light up if you press it? If you press the power button, does the 'do you want to shut down?' message appear on the screen? Any other observations?

I got the same think on my powerbook 17 1,33GHz

The logic board was changed, and when I got it back to home, it freeze after 2 hours working. Sometimes it freeze after 2 days. And when it freeze I am not able to restart it. I need to wait the logic board become colder.

Diagnostic logic board need to be changed again.

When it happens, no mouse move, no CPU activity no core dump. Just the PowerPC halted

just curious - but I had the same problem until I git rid of my iogear bluetooth mouse...now I have no problems. Are you using any non-apple periphreals?

You can try erasing your hard drive (after backing up your important data, of course) and then reintalling from your original discs. You could also remove any third party RAM and see if you still get freezes. Short of those things solving the problem, I would let Apple sort it out given that this is a new PB. But before you hand it over, do make sure you have backed up your important files.

I forget to says that when it happens:

- disk has been formatted with ZEROES
- 10.3.9 was installed from scratch
- no device, no third party software

A clean system !

Suspect a defective welding on the board or a bad component which fails when heat is up

Powerbook 17 Mac OS X (10.3.9)

try reseting the PRAM, and type in "reset-all" in Open Firmware (hold down APPLE OPTION O AND F KEYS) and type that in when you get the prompt. If that doesn't work try reseting the PMU (look it up on apple's site) because it varries from model to model

hope this works...keep us posted
alex

Phil, hi.

I have found that the memory stick of 1G from Kingston is the reason why my computer is doing just the same as yours. I have formated the disk several times and I have run verifications and reparis also and nothing seems to stop the arbitrary freezing and the Kernel Panics.

Now I'm running with the 512 Kb stick that came with the machine and so far so good. I even could watch an entire episode of the Lord of the Rings and nothing disturbed me.

I whish you well

Duilio

Xthomasx,

Hi, as I wrote to Phil, I was experiencing the same situation and non of the technicians could do a thing for me, not even the several manouvers with first aid and formating of the hard disk. For me the problem lies in the memory stick. I don't know if this is the case but I worked for me.

take care

Duilio

Because my PB (SuperDrive with 1.5 GB RAM) was bought from MacMall, a US catalog/internet seller, with the additional 1GB Kingston RAM (533MHZ DDR2 200-PIN SODIMM) installed for the deal (pay for installation only, rebate the $179 for the RAM), I was wondering whether your Kingston RAM was from the same or similar source (installed by the seller).

It might be that it is not being handled or seated properly. Or it could be that it is subject to vibration from being moved in transit.

My PB started freezing and the sound was like a broken record twice this past week. It has been in use for only a month. Nothing (trackpad, USB mouse, keyboard) worked. It had to be shut down by holding down the power button for several seconds.

Also, does your PB stay ON overnight, or do you shut down each evening?

iMac (flat panel,Panther), 15" Al PB G4 (hi-res,Tiger) Mac OS X (10.3.9) 1.67GHZ Dual-layer

Hi,

I have exactly the same problem.
• RAM, Board and HD all have been replaced.
• No peripherals except Mighty Mouse.
• Crashes with no peripherals connected.
• Crashes on AC or battery
• No sus software or extensions.
• 8 System reinstalls including clean installs, new HD erased and new clean install - still crashed within an hour of that.

Apple refuses to offer any tech help because I took it back to the reseller for repairs.

Reseller says it's back to square one: RAM, HD, Board, and that there's no guarentee that any or all of the new parts wont also be faulty. It's just a matter of replace, replace, replace until it stops crashing - where does it end?

sure wish i had read this before i bought a new powerbook g4. mine had the freeze problem right out of the box. new. does apple care? not. apparently they have handed off quality control to customers. hours on the phone. restarts. reboots. no reinstall because it won't read the backup discs. 5 days to get replacement discs (after an assurance of 2 days). still won't read. okay, they'll send a box so i can return it. should arrive tomorrow. well, technically, "tomorrow" means 5 days from now, as i find out in subsequent calls to apple. has anyone gotten apple to actually replace a lemon?

Roger,

did you have any 3rd party RAM installed on your PBook - or more than one module?

As per my last note I'm now testing RAM and with only one module in the bottom slot my machine seems to be working OK. Still need to run it for a few more days to be completely sure.

The 3rd party 512 module works OK in the bottom slot by itself and I'm now doing the same with the 3rd party 1 Gig. So far so good by themselves, but feeze city when both are together.

It's looking like it could be chip incompatibility or a faulty upper slot. Will test both slots with two identical 1 Gig modules together. Since both of my motherboards had exactly the same symptoms, if the problem then returns it'll be a faulty upper slot and since we all have the same problem - it could be a recall issue.

I hope it's just the RAM, but the fact that we all have the same symptoms leads me to suspect the socket.

Will keep you posted.

Regards,

Peter C

I am also having the same problems. I have a 15" 1.67 Ghz G4 Powerbook, and it randomly chooses to come to a screaching halt every now and then. I have noticed that it started doing this when I installed some third party RAM from Crucial. I'm going to try running it without the RAM for a few days and see what happens.

Update on RAM testing

Hi again,

Neither the 1 Gig nor the 512 module crashed the machine in the lower slot when by itself. Together it was splatsville. Both are the same brand of 3rd party RAM - but the chips on the 1 Gig were Samsung and on the other ??? Therein may lie the incompatibility problem.

I've been running on two IDENTICAL 1 Gig 3rd party RAM modules for two days without a hitch. Admittedly not as heavy usage as normal, but still things feel stable.

An Apple term perhaps but the machine seems happier if you get my drift. It may be subjective but things seem to move along a bit more nicely with the extra RAM space. My workflow tends to hum now - like I said, if you get my drift.

Hopefully this problem is just RAM chip incompatibility - even from the same RAM company the chip manufacturers for two modules can be different.

See if eliminating this helps any of you other folks and post the result.

Will keep you posted on how I go.

Regards,


Peter C

This is my first post 🙂
I am having the same problem. Random freezes, sometimes connected to internet, sometimes not connected to anything. It can happen in any application at any time. I am a PC convert and really trying to love my new powerbook... it really is a wonderful thing but I can do without this random freezing. The freezing stops everything... no buttons do anything the only cure it to hold the powerbutton down for a few seconds and then reboot. I have done all the memory tests etc.. no joy there. After looking at the posts on this discussion board it seems fruitless contacting Apple... I must say I think it's sad... I was running XP and found it very stable compared to this.
It's a beautiful O/S and I like everything about it's design but it's very unreliable, so is there likely to be a fix or do we just put up with it? I can't believe Apple don't know about it... in fact I saw a dead link on a discussion board earlier... does this mean 'they' know and have shut up shop? I checked on the 17" board and the same discussion is there but longer...
Anyone any more ideas?

15" Powerbook 2G ram



Mac OS X (10.4.4)

Mac OS X (10.4.4)