Powerbook G4 not turning on AT ALL.

Here's what the Service Manual says for my G4 12" PB.

The computer will not power on

1. Make sure that power adapter connector is fully inserted.

2. Remove any connected peripherals.

3. Try known-good power outlet.

4. Try known-good power adapter and power cord.

5. Remove battery.

6. Press Caps Lock key to see if light on key comes on. If it does, hold power button

down for six seconds to shut down the computer and restart.

7. Reset the power manager by pressing the key combination Control-Option-Shiftpower.

Warning: Make sure you do not hold down the "fn" key when resetting the

power manager.

8. Remove any additional RAM

9. Remove AirPort Card.

10. Try known-good DC board.

11. Verify power button is connected properly to logic board, if power button is not

functioning correctly or damaged, replace the top case.

12. Replace logic board.

 Cheers, Tom 😉

OK, first we need to identify your PowerBook a little better. You can do two things to help us in that regard. Look at the bottom case where somewhere the A### number will appear, such as A1025, for instance. Go to this link and enter the A number into the search field. That will narrow things down a little bit.

Now, you can then narrow things down by taking the battery out and finding the configuration label inside the battery compartment. One of the things on that label is the serial number of the computer. You can then input that serial number into the search field at this link to get more detailed build information.

That being said, if your PowerBook is actually a 15 inch model (where the case is about 13-1/2 inches wide) then you should definitely be using a 65 Watt power adapter, like this one.

Really, the only starting point on troubleshooting this type of problem is trying a known good power adapter first to see if the problem is the older power adapter or the DC-in (with audio on aluminum models) board is the culprit.

The problem could also be a failed battery, though the usual symptom there is that the battery seems to charge, shows four green LEDs, but doesn't last very long.

There is more specific information which depends on model of PowerBook, so we will await your update.

Similar situation - my power book went black & couldn't start; your information above with links was excellent! Learned alot & solved my problem. Thank you!

judATL wrote:

Similar situation - my power book went black & couldn't start; your information above with links was excellent! Learned alot & solved my problem. Thank you!

Good to hear that. You might share a little more on what you did so that others might use your experiences.

After reading you link about the power adapter I tried changing the power cord (using a new one) to the adapter and Powerbook started back up. Guess the power cord was tired out.

There are many pictures inside that machine at the iFixit pages for repairing that model, and maybe the DC-in/sound board sequence might provide a reference. So help me, though, I cannot imagine a more convoluted repair process for replacing that board, as it certainly dwarfs the disembowelment required to replace a Titanium model's display.

Hello Jawz27! The same thing happened to my Powerbook. What you need is a new logic board, the way that i could tell that you needed a new one was because the light on your charger wasn't turning on. I got this reference from my Powerbook G4 15" Service book. Here is the link to the Powerbook G4 service manual. http://www.macbook-fr.com/IMG/pdf/pbg4_15_fw800.pdf

You may notice that the service manual is for a different kind of powerbook, but the powerbooks are basically the same.

Billy,

Did you notice that this post is now over three years old? Not much chance the OP still has the same computer.

With recent changes to the forum software--few were useful--old posts are not getting properly archived and locked so we all have to watch the dates closely. Thanks for wanting to help but a quick date check will save you some keystrokes!

AJ

hi Tom

thank you very much for the checklist: i thought our olde 2004 Powerbook G4 had had enough of being our print server but no, step 7. got it up and running again.

thanks again

david