Blue screen/reboot beep-beep/nothing...

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Level 1

84 points

Blue screen/reboot beep-beep/nothing...

I was moving my PBG4 17incher and suddendly got a blue screen as if it was shutting down. When nothing else happened I forced shutdown by holding down the power button. Upon restart I got the regular bootup chime then a beep beep and nothing aside from a flashing latch button light.

What might have happened? Can I reboot using an install DVD?

Thanks! I need help!
Dan in Tokyo

iMac15/PBG417/iPod40, Mac OS X (10.4.5)

Posted on Feb 22, 2006 10:54 PM

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Answer 1

PB PM

Level 4

2,480 points

Feb 22, 2006 11:26 PM in response to TokyoDan

Two beeps at boot are a sign that there is a problem with RAM. Check to make sure the RAM is seated correctly in your PB. In the future, try posting in the Powerbook G4 section.

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Answer 2

Feb 25, 2006 1:03 PM in response to TokyoDan

Dan:

Here's the Apple link to what PB PM described:

You might run your Apple Hardware Test Disk to see if anything is reported.

You might also reset the PMU and then try rebooting.

Gary

1GHz DP G4 Quicksilver 2002, 400MHz B&W rev.2 G3, Mac SE30 Mac OS X (10.4.2) 5G iPod, Epson 2200 & R300 & LW Select 360 Printers, Epson 3200 Scanner

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Answer 3

Apr 27, 2006 3:26 AM in response to TokyoDan

Not sure if this applies to your Book but Apple Tech Article sez:

The power-on self-test resides in the ROM of the computer. Only computers that are based on the ROM-in-RAM (New World) technology, such as the iMac, Power Macintosh G3 (Blue and White), Power Mac G4 (PCI Graphics), PowerBook (FireWire) and PowerBook G3 Series (Bronze keyboard) will generate these beeps. This test runs whenever the computer is powered on after being fully shut down (the power-on self-test does not run if the computer is only restarted).

If a fault is detected during the test, you will not hear a normal startup chime. Instead, the system will beep as explained below. If you experience one of these beeps, you should call your Apple-authorized service provider for additional troubleshooting assistance.

1 beep = No RAM installed/detected
2 beeps = Incompatible RAM type installed (for example, EDO)
3 beeps = No RAM banks passed memory testing
4 beeps = Bad checksum for the remainder of the boot ROM
5 beeps = Bad checksum for the ROM boot block<<<

HTH

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