PowerBook issues - Battery and Sleep Mode

I have two problems with my PowerBook G4. It's a 1.5 GHz 15 inch model running 10.5.3.

1. This problem gradually got worse - whenever I woke from sleep, it would freeze for 15 seconds to 30 seconds. Now, it's gotten to the point where it won't come out of a constant beachball whenever I open the machine. This is combined with general sluggishness and unresponsiveness during all use of the computer.

2. The battery - sometimes it will randomly die and the machine will go to sleep mode. Sometimes it could be as high as 70% where it shows 70% then in a fraction of a second it goes to zero. The light on the battery shows the same - one second it could be at 4 lights, then one blinking one the next.


I'm not sure if I need a new battery or what is wrong with this machine. I've tried a PRAM reset and various other common things like that.

Thanks Don. Will get a new battery soon.

I solved the Sleeping issue - I formatted and installed a new copy of Leopard. Now it's only a moment before it works.

It's back. I updated to 10.5.4. I was reading the Wikipedia article on the MacBook Pro problems section, and although this is a PowerBook, i am experiencing this issue, except it's just when I wake from sleep:

-A small number of users have experienced issues with an unresponsive GUI, which can only be remedied by a reboot. Symptoms include: The mouse pointer can still be moved, iTunes still does play, and it is possible to log in with SSH.

As a LOLCat would say: HALP