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Powerbook g4 17 starts but turns off immediately

Can someone help me in figuring out what is the problem with my laptop. It would make the chime sound boots, but never goes beyond that before it shuts off.


Any help is greatly appreciated.

PowerBook, g4 17 1.6

Posted on Jan 18, 2012 4:31 PM

Reply
9 replies

Jan 19, 2012 7:44 AM in response to Marimar702

More info, please.


Are you connected to a power adapter when trying to boot?


What is the condition of the main battery? (How many green LEDs light when you push the check button on the battery?


When connected to the power adapter, what dolor is showing on the power connection on the machine?


Do you see any flicker of activity from the display before the machine shuts down?


Have you done a PRAM reset?


Have you reset the PMU/SMU on the machine?


Is this a new problem, i.e., was the machine working fine for you before it started this?


Can you boot into Open Firmware?

Jan 19, 2012 11:24 AM in response to old comm guy

It's plugged in when it shuts off. The battery is at full capacity and it holds very well. All the Green LED lights are active when I push the button on the Battery. Plugged in or not it shuts down. It doesn't shut down when I use CMD + S but It doesn't get any further than the dos/cmd prompts.


The Power adapter is after market and it's a 65w adapter for this particular Laptop.


No flicker is displayed on the machine when it shuts down.


I've tried to PRAM reset - I got it work once and I notice an X on the Mac Hard drive simbol in the middle.


I don't know how to PMU/SNU on the machine - Is that the CMD + S?


I'm new with all the technical jargins in MAC and I'm not sure what you mean by boot into Open Firmware? Could you explain?

Jan 19, 2012 10:03 PM in response to Marimar702

Click the link in my original post for instructions on resetting a PowerBook PMU (Power Management Unit) and realize that the method varies over the evolution of the machines, so you need to find the specific method for your model.


Open Firmware is a very basic bit of code which you may invoke at power on and which does not involve the hard drive or operating system. You can do various things in OF and get some boot-time information and settings. What you might try there is a non-volatile RAM (NVRAM) reset, which sets certain parameters to their default settings, which might correct something that has gotten corrupted. To do this, you need to boot with the cmd-option-O-F keys held down until you get a white dumb terminal screen. When you have gotten that far, type the following two instructions:


reset-nvram <return>


reset-all <return>


This will set NVRAM to its default state and then command a restart of the machine. It may help; it won't harm, and it's always worth a try. The PMU reset, however, is definitely something you should try.

Jan 20, 2012 12:02 AM in response to Marimar702

Marimar702 wrote:


Curious..if you know? Doesn't a bad HDD make noises. Mines sounds just fine but what do I know? 🙂


Occasionally you might hear noises from a failing HD, but that is the exception in my experience. If there is directory corruption, for instance, noise is absent, as it is with a completely failed drive. In single-user mode (cmd-S at power up) you can check the root directory condition with the following two Unix commands:


/sbin/mount -uw / <enter>


/sbin/fsck -fy <enter>


The second command will check and attempt to repair the directory structure of the boot volume. This looks much like "Repair Disk" in Disk Utility and will provide much the same running output in the terminal window that you would see in the information window of Disk Utility in the "First Aid" tab. If fsck reports that it has repaired the volume, it is good form to repeat the second command above until it reports the disk is OK and no repairs have been made. You can then try a reboot by using the following command for an elegant reboot:


shutdown -r now <enter>

Jan 21, 2012 8:28 AM in response to Marimar702

Marimar702 wrote:


I tried the first line and I got

LOCALHOST:/ ROOT# DECE 31 19:00:36 lAUNCHED: BIND("THESOCKETY") FILE EXIST


/sbin/fsck -fy The second line : NO SUCH FILE OR DIRECTORY


what do you think?


Maybe we should move back one step and see if you can boot from your install disc. From there, you can bring up Disk Utility before actually starting the installer and take a look at your hard drive using the First Aid tab.

Jan 18, 2016 8:21 AM in response to Marimar702

It is hard for experienced users to understand the severity of your problem, until it happens to them. PMU resets, PRAM, etc., as old comm guy writes, can be done before starting up on an alternate disk -- like your install CD -- but if they don't work, go back to the no-brainer, restart on your install disk.


What you describe is your problem happened to me, and I was able to do an NV-RAM restart, booting cmmd-option-N-V, and it found a big problem with my internal start-up drive. It tried to fix it, logging some of the following:


"checking disk

Invalid node structure

(4. 18459

disk0s3:I/O error.

**/dev/rdisk0s3

** RootFile system

** Checking HFS Plus volume.

** Checking Ex

Rebuilding Catalog B-tree.

Volume precinct could not be repaired. Killing all processes."


And it powered off the computer the same way that happens without the NVRAM reboot. There is nothing I can find to get to first base with this drive, including Disk Utilities (when booting off an install CD). Not even Erasing the disk with Disk Utilities. I'm out of options. The disk is incorrigible to all attempts to access it. I have to replace the internal hard drive, having lost all the data.


Your problem was four years ago, but perhaps this will help others who have the problem, and they can find a way not to lose their drive.

Jan 18, 2016 8:33 AM in response to el7

FYI = ALWAYS start a NEW Question = NEVER resurrect a "Zombie Thread" for a current issue you are having.


Start a new question now, and abandon this thread - would be my advice


BTW, expand your Story using this as a guide...


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Powerbook g4 17 starts but turns off immediately

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