1.67ghz Powerbook G4 won't turn on?

B

BaddestArvai

macrumors regular
I recently got a PowerBook that needed a new LCD because it is cracked. It came with no ram, no battery, and no power cable. I was able to get a power cable and ordered some ram. I put the ram in and tried turning it on but nothing happens. The light on the charger is green so doesn't that mean that the board is good? Do I need a battery in the system for it to start? Also, I do have the right ram. I tried swapping slots and still nothing. Any help would be appreciated!
 
I had the same thing happen to me. Turns out I had the wrong power supply. Make sure it is the 65W version and not the 45W version.
 
iamMacPerson said:
I had the same thing happen to me. Turns out I had the wrong power supply. Make sure it is the 65W version and not the 45W version.
Click to expand...

How can I tell? It doesn't really say 45w or 65w

-edit-

Oh wow, it was on the other side! And you were right, it is a 45W power supply! Now I gotta buy another one! Anyone want to buy the 45w? lol.
 
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A 45W PSU should be still enough to run the PB (maybe nor reliable under heavy load) it just won't be able to charge a battery while the PB is running.

Since you have swapped the screen which required you to strip down the PB rather deep I would also recheck wether you connected all those flimsy "cables" properly.


Had some rather weird issues, which in the end turned out to be just the plug leading from the mobo to the BT/WLAN module having only partial contact.
 
Bug-Creator said:
A 45W PSU should be still enough to run the PB (maybe nor reliable under heavy load) it just won't be able to charge a battery while the PB is running.

Since you have swapped the screen which required you to strip down the PB rather deep I would also recheck wether you connected all those flimsy "cables" properly.


Had some rather weird issues, which in the end turned out to be just the plug leading from the mobo to the BT/WLAN module having only partial contact.
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I never replaced the screen. All I got was the power supply and the ram.
 
O.k. still most likely something else wrong with that PB if the 45W PSU won't even bring it to powerup.

IMO it's not a wise move to throw more money at a still unknown problem.

May I ask what exact modell the PB is and what you paid for the wreck ?

Cos working units can be had for 100 (5.6) to 200 (5.9) Euro around here.
 
Bug-Creator said:
O.k. still most likely something else wrong with that PB if the 45W PSU won't even bring it to powerup.

IMO it's not a wise move to throw more money at a still unknown problem.

May I ask what exact modell the PB is and what you paid for the wreck ?

Cos working units can be had for 100 (5.6) to 200 (5.9) Euro around here.
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The DC in board on mine is really finicky. It does sometimes make a solid connection, but doing anything power intensive kills it. For mine, the 45W wouldn't do a thing except have the light ring light up green.

Worth noting that you don't need the battery to fire the machine up.
 
Bug-Creator said:
O.k. still most likely something else wrong with that PB if the 45W PSU won't even bring it to powerup.

IMO it's not a wise move to throw more money at a still unknown problem.

May I ask what exact modell the PB is and what you paid for the wreck ?

Cos working units can be had for 100 (5.6) to 200 (5.9) Euro around here.
Click to expand...

I only paid $25 USD for it off of my local craigslist, which is pretty cheap. It came with an updated 160GB Western Digital HDD. It is the last edition 15" PowerBook G4 (A1138) with the High Resolution display and the Super Drive. So basically the best model PowerBook released. I did buy a new power supply, and it should be here by Wednesday. If that doesn't work I may just abandon it and buy one used somewhere. I really only bought it because this is my favorite model PowerBook and I wanted to get it running again. So I thought I would give it a try.
 
BaddestArvai said:
So basically the best model PowerBook released.
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Nah, that would be the 1.67Ghz 17" Dual Layer Superdrive, High Definition PowerBook G4, A1139. Which I just happen to own. :D

Kidding…you've got the last and best 15" PowerBook. I'm just partial to the 17s. :)
 
So I finally got the charger for the laptop and it powered on! It turns on but it still won't boot. It's giving me an error with a beep, and the latch button blinks twice. Anybody know the issue?
 
BaddestArvai said:
So I finally got the charger for the laptop and it powered on! It turns on but it still won't boot. It's giving me an error with a beep, and the latch button blinks twice. Anybody know the issue?
Click to expand...

Did you double check the ram and stuff to make sure it was seated? Another possibility would to be trying the SMU reset, this has worked wonders with one of my 2.7GHz G5s not wanting to turn on.
 
gavinstubbs09 said:
Did you double check the ram and stuff to make sure it was seated? Another possibility would to be trying the SMU reset, this has worked wonders with one of my 2.7GHz G5s not wanting to turn on.
Click to expand...

It turns out its the ram. One beep means no ram. That confused me. There is ram in it. Then I swapped them out, and I get the same thing. Then, I put one in, then it beeped 3 times, meaning "no good banks". So what should I do now? The ram is 1GB PC2-4200 ram. But if it wasn't compatible ram, it would have beeped twice. Uhg....
 
BaddestArvai said:
It turns out its the ram. One beep means no ram. That confused me. There is ram in it. Then I swapped them out, and I get the same thing. Then, I put one in, then it beeped 3 times, meaning "no good banks". So what should I do now? The ram is 1GB PC2-4200 ram. But if it wasn't compatible ram, it would have beeped twice. Uhg....
Click to expand...

Try it in the top slot. The DLHR models shouldn't be affected by the dead RAM slot problem the older models were but there is a possibility.
 
iamMacPerson said:
Try it in the top slot. The DLHR models shouldn't be affected by the dead RAM slot problem the older models were but there is a possibility.
Click to expand...

So here is what is happening with the ram:

One stick in either slot = 3 Beeps "no good banks"

Both sticks in both slots = 1 Beep "no ram installed"
 
BaddestArvai said:
So here is what is happening with the ram:

One stick in either slot = 3 Beeps "no good banks"

Both sticks in both slots = 1 Beep "no ram installed"
Click to expand...

Sounds like the RAM slots are dead. It could also be the RAM. Do you have another machine you can test the RAM in?
 
Here is the ram I bought off of eBay.

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1395979996.212332.jpg
 
Try this...each time you try a different ram stick option and it doesn't boot....hold the power button down for several seconds until it completely turns off (repeat for each ram option)
 
tom vilsack said:
Try this...each time you try a different ram stick option and it doesn't boot....hold the power button down for several seconds until it completely turns off (repeat for each ram option)
Click to expand...

I tried it and it didn't work. Is anybody willing to ship me an OEM ram stick to see what happens? Doesn't matter what the size, just something. I would be very greatfull!
 
So the ram I got from California works! The system boots to a corrupted version of Leopard, that won't load anything but the mouse. I will try to re-install the os tomorrow.

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1396769077.310588.jpg
 
So the OS is not broken! I realized that it was booting in dual screen mode. I was able to log in to the "kid" profile because the password was so easy. Unfortunately it has barely any access to anything. Also, it only is registering 1GB of ram.

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1396803726.243952.jpg
ImageUploadedByTapatalk1396803753.727296.jpg
 
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