15" PB dead when I woke up this morning...

[worldwearyeyes]

I left it running last night so it could complete downloading two Christmas bonus episodes of the BBC version of The Office. When I woke up this morning, it was dead. It was plugged in all night, and the AC adapter light was orange, when it obviously should've been green. I tried unplugging, taking out the battery, resetting the PMU.

Any clues here? I did add 512mb of RAM about 2 weeks ago (the stick was straight out of another PB, so it was a good brand)...I don't know if that would have anything to do with it...it's had no problems since I installed it.

I guess I'll take it to the genius bar tonight, but I thought I'd try here for answers first.

cheers...

 

[crazydreaming]

My roomate has an older 15" Powerbook where sometimes he has problems waking from sleep. He'll have to hold down the power button for a long time to restart it.

Only time I've had a hard time starting my computer was once when I was on an airplane. It just wouldn't start. I don't know how many times I pushed/held the power button before it finally turned on. Maybe try hitting the power button some more?

Take it to the genious bar... I gotta get mine in for some problems I've been having. I wish there was an easier way to get support after the 90 days phone support runs up.

 

[worldwearyeyes]

The PB is only about 2 months old. The "sleep" light isn't on either. I think it might be a battery problem because 1) the orange charging light still has not turned to green after 10 hours plugged in and 2) when I push the button on the battery, only 1 light quickly flashes on and off...seems to me that the battery isn't taking a charge.

who knows...

 

[jadekitty24]

It's totally dead? No start-up sound, no hard-drive whirring? A while back I had the same situation with my iBook, I'd press the power button and I'm guessing I just didn't wait long enough. The volume must have been on mute so that explains the lack of start-up sound. I just didn't wait long enough and I kept hitting the power button, further screwing things up. I gave up, went to take a shower, came back and it was running. Slowly, I might add, but it started. That's probably not the problem but I thought I'd throw it out there. Good luck with that...it's sad when a Mac dies.

 

[crazydreaming]

The PB is only about 2 months old. The "sleep" light isn't on either. I think it might be a battery problem because 1) the orange charging light still has not turned to green after 10 hours plugged in and 2) when I push the button on the battery, only 1 light quickly flashes on and off...seems to me that the battery isn't taking a charge.

who knows...

hmmm.. Maybe try removing the battery? Also unplug any devices plugged in.. just a thought.

 

[worldwearyeyes]

hmmm.. Maybe try removing the battery? Also unplug any devices plugged in.. just a thought.

yeah, tried it.

 

[munckee]

Sounds like your power adapter might be toast which led to a dead battery. When my last adapter died, it would still light up orange when plugged into my ibook, although it was brighter than when it was correctly charging.

 

[crazydreaming]

Sounds like your power adapter might be toast which led to a dead battery. When my last adapter died, it would still light up orange when plugged into my ibook, although it was brighter than when it was correctly charging.

Sounds logical, however I blew my power adapter a few months ago and when I plugged it into my PB I would not get any light.

 

[munckee]

Sounds logical, however I blew my power adapter a few months ago and when I plugged it into my PB I would not get any light.

Um. OK

Clearly we had different experiences with a broken power adaptor. As mentioned above, mine still lit up. Perhaps his is having the same problem.

 

[26139]

Woke up and it was DEAD?

I bet it was Professor Plum in the Study with the Wrench.

 

[California]

Hold down the control and apple keys the same time you push the on button.

 

[generik]

Try a different power brick?

 

[worldwearyeyes]

Try a different power brick?

Nothin....the "genius" is sending it off to get fixed...he had no idea. thanks for the insights, folks.

 

[kretzy]

Take it as a sign to get a MBP.

 

[mmmcheese]

Maybe your computer doesn't like that show and killed itself rather than help you download it.

Either that, or you haven't sacrificed enough virgins to the computer gods.

 

[50thVert]

Yup, just get a MBP.

 

[worldwearyeyes]

Take it as a sign to get a MBP.

not cool! hey, maybe apople will just replace it with a MBP after days of not being able to fix it!

wishful thinking...

 

[sushi]

I left it running last night so it could complete downloading two Christmas bonus episodes of the BBC version of The Office. When I woke up this morning, it was dead. It was plugged in all night, and the AC adapter light was orange, when it obviously should've been green. I tried unplugging, taking out the battery, resetting the PMU.

Any clues here? I did add 512mb of RAM about 2 weeks ago (the stick was straight out of another PB, so it was a good brand)...I don't know if that would have anything to do with it...it's had no problems since I installed it.

I guess I'll take it to the genius bar tonight, but I thought I'd try here for answers first.

cheers...

One of my memory slots just went bad over last weekend. The one nearest the motherboard.

My indicator was that Word crashed and screwed up my permissions. I had pages and pages of permission changes when running Disk Utility.

I assumed a software issue, backed up everything, reinstalled the system and software. Since I had been running Panther, I decided to go ahead an install Tiger. Checked the permissions. All ok.

Then I launched Word. Same thing happened. Word died. Tried to launch again and it would not. Checked permissions, many changes.

I checked About This Mac to see what version of Tiger was installed and noticed 512MB RAM showing vice the 1GB. Checked out my memory. Both okay. Just the bottom slot is bad. So now I am running with 512MB in the top slot with the bottom one empty.

Apple Care is still good so it should be a free fix.

Guess I better do it soon as I want a G4 MB since I run Classic alot.

...of course I would not turn down a faster G4 version than what I have.