My iBook G4 struggles to turn on, why?

Question

My iBook G4 struggles to turn on, why?

I recently got this thing. It started at OS X 10.5.1 and I updated it to OS X 10.5.8 almost immediately. It was running like a dream last night (I have had it less than 24 hours) and then I shut it down for the night and left it to charge. This morning when I tried to turn it on, pressing the power normally did nothing. I held down the power and it made this loud BEEEEP and then the ready light flashed a few times. Still nothing. I repeated doing this about 4 times before it got to where it is now, up and running. Is there a reason for this? Is it the updated system? I barely put ANYTHING on the hard-drive memory wise, I just have a few pictures on here as of now and some small video files, not even full movies. That's it. Is it defective? Should I be contacting the seller over this? Or is it something I've done to it?

iMac, iOS 5.0.1

Posted on Jan 29, 2013 7:22 AM

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Answer 1

dalstott

Level 4

2,639 points

Jan 30, 2013 12:25 PM in response to PlayingHisFlute

How many times does it beep? There is likely a RAM problem.

The power on self-test resides in the ROM of the computer. This test runs whenever the computer is turned 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 may call your Apple Authorized Service Provider for additional troubleshooting assistance.

1 beep = no RAM installed

2 beeps = incompatible RAM types

3 beeps = no good banks

4 beeps = no good boot images in the boot ROM (and/or bad sys config block)

5 beeps = processor is not usable

In addition to the beeps, on some computers the power LED will flash a corresponding number of times plus one. The LED will repeat the sequence after approximately a 5-second pause. The tones are only played once.

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Answer 2

Feb 1, 2013 12:48 AM in response to PlayingHisFlute

Hello,

There could be any number of reasons why your iBook done that. It could be something a simple as a loose or faulty memory module installed under your keyboard. What I suggest you try doing is resetting the PMU should this happen again. If you continue to experience this problem, then I would run he Apple hardware test just to get some diagnostics on this fault.

Best of luck

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Answer 3

Feb 9, 2013 6:16 PM in response to PlayingHisFlute

try takeing out the battery and putting it back in and all ibooks will beep if you hold the power button too long i hope i helped

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