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All replies
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Helpful answers
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Apr 20, 2014 2:40 PM in response to danjones1by K Shaffer,After that long without any activity, the main battery would be dead
and beyond holding a charge; so a replacement is recommended.
Also, certain models of the PowerBook require a secondary small
battery on logic board commonly called a 'clock' or 'pram' battery.
This likely has also failed, and would require skilled replacement.
You would need to better identify the PowerBook model.
You could probably order these parts from OWC macsales or another
company with inventory of parts for older & obsolete Mac portables.
And a http://iFixit.com repair guide may be helpful to see how it's built.
Further testing & troubleshooting may be required by a trained tech
who has PPC product knowledge and repair experience, to be sure.
There are other parts that could have failed, such as DC-in Board.
There are resets to try such as Power Management Unit (PMU)
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1431 and About NVRAM & PRAM
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379
However certain aspects of the resets rely on the ability to start the unit.
So troubleshooting can only go so far, without a charged good battery
and known good power adapter; and AC power to run tests. Do you
still have the original software install-restore DVD set it came with?
Good luck & happy computing!
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Apr 20, 2014 2:53 PM in response to K Shafferby danjones1,Would the powerbook boot without the battery in? I've also noticed the charger port on back isn't straight and looks loose and not aligned properly. Could this be preventing it to charge also?
Yes, it comes with an os9 disk I believe :)
Thank you
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Apr 20, 2014 4:47 PM in response to danjones1by K Shaffer,The 'charger port' is where the DC-in Board is located, behind that port.
To fix the port implies replacement of the port on small circuit behind it.
Does the power adapter DC plug have an illuminated end that changes
color from yellow to green, etc? If that has it, and that is working it does
indicate power; however do not expect the dead battery to charge up.
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/apple_laptop/batteries/PowerBook_G4_15_Ti
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/powerbook-ibook-macbook/
The computer may start without the battery in, if it could start up at all.
Some users leave the battery in there, and then let the computer set
and try to charge for maybe 10 hours. This is to see if there can be
enough power stored to get around the failed backup or clock battery.
(To try the PRAM reset, according to instruction, may help. Could be
the original hard disk drive may also be shot. It could be froze up.)
After doing some backward research, your PowerBook G4 model is the
first build-model G4 series PowerBook. It also has a pram/clock battery
on the logic board, that if dead, may disallow the computer from startup
even if the main power cell is good and has a charge. The old battery is
very unlikely to sustain any viable charge capability after so many years.
PowerBook G4 info - http://mactracker.ca free database download spec
{The part number for the backup battery is 922-4361 -- this is a tiny cell
on the logic board, and requires a tedious take-apart to access it... and
it may be possible to disconnect this battery, to get the PB to start.}
The system software you have hopefully is the correct original disc set
since they are hard or almost impossible to buy, they are series specific.
You could get and run as new as Tiger OS X 10.4.11, w/ 1024MB RAM.
Original OS Mac OS 9.1 Later OS Mac OS 9.1 and Mac OS X 10.1.1 (5M45) Maximum OS Mac OS X 10.4.11 Hardware Test AHT (PowerBook) 1.1, 1.2, 1.2.1, 1.2.2, 1.2.3 Maximum Memory 1.0 GB Memory Slots 2 - PC-100 3.3V 144-pin SO-DIMM System Battery 50 Wh Lithium Ion (M8244G/A) Battery Life Up to 5 hours Backup Battery 922-4361 Power Adapter PB G4 Power Adapter (M8243**/A) {specs cited from http://mactracker.ca database}
Original system discs usually include an Apple Hardware Test.
So that should be among the artifacts you have with it.
You may have to look around for a backup clock battery
and someone to install it; there are online sources for
parts, such as powerbookmedic, wegenermedia, OWC.
The computer is old enough to hope some Apple Specialist
or independent repairer with experience in older Macs is
within your area, or consider mailing it away to one.
Part of the process now, to troubleshoot why it won't work
invites various partial repair & parts replacement to test it.
Perhaps that may end up also needing a new hard drive.
If so, that requires an Ultra ATA/66 (ATA-5) compatible HD.
•PowerBook G4 Titanium (Mercury) Repair Guide: iFixit.com
http://www.ifixit.com/Device/PowerBook_G4_Titanium_Mercury
Information on parts, placement, and access are in the guide.
However these are tedious and unskilled unfamilar efforts to
attempt a repair could cause additional damages & so as to
make the original issue(s) harder to diagnose & further repair.
Not sure how much any of this helps...
Good luck & happy computing!
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Apr 20, 2014 5:04 PM in response to K Shafferby K Shaffer,PS:
I've found the dc board is not necessarily a separate part
in your specific model; these things were built differently
as time went on.
As I've read more, above timed about, so I'm adding here
suggestions on PowerBook not powering up:
http://www.ifixit.com/Answers/View/687/No+power
The 'backup battery' should be in the area of this PMU unit,
http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/PowerBook+G4+Titanium+Mercury+PMU+Replacement/66
{At some point, you may find it easier to get a great deal
on later model, clean, MacBook 13-inch from 2009/2010!}
Hopefully you can make it work...
Good luck
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Apr 21, 2014 5:26 AM in response to K Shafferby danjones1,Hi,
"Does the power adapter DC plug have an illuminated end that changes
color from yellow to green, etc? If that has it, and that is working it does
indicate power; however do not expect the dead battery to charge up." - When I plug the charger in, no light comes on it at all.
Thank you so much for all this help I really do appreciate it. If everything else fails, would there be any way to remove the hard drive and transfer things from it, or even boot it from my other mac becuase I have a hard drive docking station that allows me to plug in old hard drives etc.
Once again, thank you so much! I've been blown away by the support and help you've given me! I'm going to try and do everything that you've said, so thank you so so much!
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Apr 21, 2014 12:25 PM in response to danjones1by K Shaffer,Given the older ATA/IDE would not be compatible inside many new external enclosures since they are SATA and the older ATA is also known as PATA (parallel ATA, vs Serial ATA) you may need to get a Universal USB Hard Drive Adapter that plugs into a bare HDD and gives it power, and only wires attach, so it has a power supply of its own and wires to hook up the bare hard drive to a computer with USB connection. I believe macsales.com has one, but most computer stores should have something like it, rather generic and if you ask to be sure, (or see it written) the product should be able to connect to ATA/IDE drives.
This should make the old drive appear as an external hard disk,
as a temporary connection to see if you can get files off of there.
{Not sure what kind of luck you'd have if you took that old of a Mac
to an Apple Store (with appointment) and talk to a Genius, where
available. That'd be a free discussion, and if they did attempt a
diagnostic, in the US & Canada, the effort is said to be 'free.'}
Hopefully you can get one to work, if nothing else.
