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I have a flashing orange light on the power cable of my Powerbook G4 and it will not start up. nothing happens when I press the power button. Any ideas?

I have a flashing orange light on the power cable of my Powerbook G4 and it will not start up. Nothing happens when I press the power button. Any ideas?

PowerBook, Mac OS X (10.4.11)

Posted on Jan 20, 2016 3:16 PM

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8 replies

Jan 20, 2016 4:07 PM in response to philip2311

I have not ever seen an amber light on my power adapter plug, probably because my PowerBook is an older model. If you can post your specific PowerBook G4 model, someone else reading this topic may have info about what it means.


This web site may have a repair guide for PRAM battery, depending on the specific PowerBook model


https://www.ifixit.com/Device/PowerBook

Jan 20, 2016 4:43 PM in response to philip2311

"amber" means "charging"

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dominic23 Jan 28, 2013 4:14 PM
Re: My adapter plug light is orange - won't stay green to charge the battery. What is the cause? in response to diane928 Helpful

If the MagSafe connector shows amber light, it means charging.


When battery is fully charged, it will show green light.


If you option click the battery icon in the menu bar, it will show the status Charging / Charged.


Best.

=====

emphasis is mine - I have one and can verify this...


HOWEVER


if the little wires near the plug are becoming broken (I had this happen to MagSafe #1), the amber light will blink when you wiggle it

Apple Portables: Troubleshooting MagSafe adapters - Apple Support

Jan 21, 2016 12:14 AM in response to philip2311

• Mac notebooks: Troubleshooting power adapters with a barrel-type connector - Apple Support

• PowerPC-Based Mac notebooks: Identifying the right power adapter and power cord--US - Apple Support


This should cover the basics of the older powerPC G3 and G4 portable computer power adapters.

{Some aftermarket replacement power adapters with barrel-type connector have no LEDs in plug.}


Some previous discussions elsewhere suggested to replace the power adapter if it flashed yellow.

Or at least try a known-good one. These are harder to get, the original kind; & not a clone. The

OWC macsales.com site had some that do not have a lighted DC power end. (I was given one.)


My G4 PowerBook 12-inch 1.5GHz model has the amber light when charging. Same as iBook G4

12-inch 1.33 (mid 2005) as they share the same power adapter and charging technologies. If main

battery is known good and the charger is good, another aspect of failure to charge could be a bad

DC-in Board, inside the computer. {Some late models such as iBook G4 use capacitor, not PRAM

or clock battery. Those batteries are harder to find suitable replacement as time goes on.}


Good luck in this matter! 🙂

Jan 21, 2016 9:58 AM in response to philip2311

K Shaffer makes an excellent observation about the DC-in or "power" board. It does not have to fail as a component to cause big problems.


Does the light revert to a solid glow if you gentle apply upward pressure to the plug's barrel? in addition to the chargers' cords taking a beating, the Powerbook G3/G4 internal power-in board was also notorious for, due to the flexing caused by the cable, working loose from its solder joints with the logic board. That unpleasant characteristic was probably what inspired the MagSafe connector in later Mac notebooks. This is much easier to fix in the G3 series than the G4s but is potentially repairable, even as a temporary workabout to allow getting all the files off the computer.

Upward pressure in the plug makes the loose solder regain contact, so if flashing changes to solid when you apply pressure, you may have your diagnosis.

Jan 21, 2016 4:42 PM in response to Allan Jones

Thanks Allan and all the other suggestions. Here is some additional info requested in earlier posts:


Model: 15" Powerbook G4 1.67GHz. Year 2005.

The battery is fully charged - 5 green lights illuminate when I press the button on the battery.

This has the barrel type plug on the charger (not a MagSafe) - There is no change to the flashing/flickering amber light when I apply upward pressure to the plug's barrel, as Allan suggested.

The light flashes amber immediately when I plug it in, i.e. before I have plugged it into the AC outlet. Continues to flash after I have turned on the AC power.

When the powerbook was working normally, the plug light would glow a constant orange when charging and turn green when fully charged.


As mentioned before, there is no reaction/start up when I press the power button. I did note when the powerbook was working two days ago that when I powered up, the date and time needed to be reset. My question is: If the PRAM battery is completely flat will that stop the laptop from starting up?


Thanks again for everyone's help.

Jan 21, 2016 5:04 PM in response to philip2311

philip2311 wrote:


Thanks Allan and all the other suggestions. Here is some additional info requested in earlier posts:


Model: 15" Powerbook G4 1.67GHz. Year 2005.

The battery is fully charged - 5 green lights illuminate when I press the button on the battery.

This has the barrel type plug on the charger (not a MagSafe) - There is no change to the flashing/flickering amber light when I apply upward pressure to the plug's barrel, as Allan suggested.

The light flashes amber immediately when I plug it in, i.e. before I have plugged it into the AC outlet. Continues to flash after I have turned on the AC power.

When the powerbook was working normally, the plug light would glow a constant orange when charging and turn green when fully charged.

into

As mentioned before, there is no reaction/start up when I press the power button. I did note when the powerbook was working two days ago that when I powered up, the date and time needed to be reset. My question is: If the PRAM battery is completely flat will that stop the laptop from starting up?


Thanks again for everyone's help.

I am curious as to your "flow" of actions... normally, the AC Adapter would remain plugged (or be plugged) into the AC outlet - THEN one would plug in the barrel to the Mac. Curious to try this sometime, I am.

This is what one would expect - exactly.


Date/Time requiring reset is definitely PRAM battery. As has been stated (maybe in another thread?), some PBs need a live PRAM battery to startup (or disconnected from the logic board)


You haven't told us which PB you actually have (I think, I just 'scanned the thread') - I have replace the PRAM battery on my Powerbook G3 Pismo ( for your convenience from above > https://www.ifixit.com/Device/PowerBook )

I have a flashing orange light on the power cable of my Powerbook G4 and it will not start up. nothing happens when I press the power button. Any ideas?

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