17" pb dead, any suggestions

[janey]

i was using my powerbook when i unplugged it by accident.
i plugged it back in, and as soon as the plug was in all the way the thing just died on me.
Reset PMU, leave it for a few minutes, removed all the stuff that was connected to it, et cetera...nothing works

any suggestions before i call applecare?

and seeing as how they're only going to repair it (if theyre going to do anything), and i despise my 17", any suggestions for a new laptop? need a portable one for school, im torn between three different laptops -
1) powerbook g4 15", the cheap one
2) powerbook g4 15", full out everything
3) sony vaio x505 (the übersmall one)

 

[wide]

15" maxed out.

 

[sushi]

and seeing as how they're only going to repair it (if theyre going to do anything), and i despise my 17", any suggestions for a new laptop? need a portable one for school, im torn between three different laptops -
1) powerbook g4 15", the cheap one
2) powerbook g4 15", full out everything
3) sony vaio x505 (the übersmall one)

The week before last, I accidentally knocked over an open liter sized water bottle onto my PB15 keyboard. About 1/3 of the bottle came out before I could stop it.

I immediately unplugged my PB, then took out the battery and held the PB upside down to hopefully drain the water. Seem to work well, but then all of a sudden, the cooling fan came on. I was surprised needless to say. So I ended up doing an emergency disassembly of my PB (first time BTW). Anyhow, upon disassembly I found a backup capacitor/battery type device. After I disconnected the device, the cooling fans stopped.

I am thinking that the PB17 may be similar. My suggestion is that you disconnect the power source, remove the battery, then press the power switch a couple of times. Then leave things as they are for 24 hours. Then try again with the battery installed and power applied.

BTW, this has worked for me in the past with numerous models of Mac and PC computers.

and seeing as how they're only going to repair it (if theyre going to do anything), and i despise my 17", any suggestions for a new laptop? need a portable one for school, im torn between three different laptops -
1) powerbook g4 15", the cheap one
2) powerbook g4 15", full out everything
3) sony vaio x505 (the übersmall one)

The Sony Vaio X505 looks nice. However, it is expensive -- especially if you add the peripherals.

I love my PB15 with SD (full out everything as you say). To me, it is a desktop replacement for most things.

The problem with the Viao, is that you must carry additional items to make it truely functional for everyday use. That creates a situation where it is more bulky to carry than a simple PB with everything.

BTW, why don't you like your PB17? I would be interested to hear. I am thinking of getting one.

Thanks!

Sushi

 

[janey]

The Sony Vaio X505 looks nice. However, it is expensive -- especially if you add the peripherals.

I love my PB15 with SD (full out everything as you say). To me, it is a desktop replacement for most things.

The problem with the Viao, is that you must carry additional items to make it truely functional for everyday use. That creates a situation where it is more bulky to carry than a simple PB with everything.

BTW, why don't you like your PB17? I would be interested to hear. I am thinking of getting one.

yeah, the portability of the x505 is what i want
just basic note takign is all i want

and the 17 is just _big_. Its nice, but like..._big_ hehe. Not a great machine to lug to school every day just to take notes and maybe the occasional movie or music during lunch or whatever.

 

[wdlove]

You should definitely try to get your 17" fixed, that way is you really don't like it, then you could sell it on eBay. Purchase the best PB 15" that you can afford. Please don't think about the Sony Vaio, although I was at a Sony Store today, they are impressive to look at. Then I remembered that they run Windows, no way to run OS X on that. Then it looked less appealing.

 

[sushi]

yeah, the portability of the x505 is what i want
just basic note takign is all i want

and the 17 is just _big_. Its nice, but like..._big_ hehe. Not a great machine to lug to school every day just to take notes and maybe the occasional movie or music during lunch or whatever.

You might want to check out the 12 inch iBook. The iBooks are much more durable than the PowerBooks. ...and cheaper. Great for putting in a backpack to lug around.

The 12 inch iBook is $1,100 (regular price). With student discount, it will be less.

With the 12 inch iBook, you get a G4/1Ghz, 256MB RAM & Combo Drive. That is plenty power to take notes, listen to music and watch the occasional movie.

And with the money you save between the 12 inch iBook and PB15 or Viao X505, you could upgrade to a new 12 inch iBook a year from now and still be ahead money wise.

Also, instead of upgrading a year later, you could take the money saved by getting the 12 inch iBook and invest it. Let's call it a $1,000. You are 15. At 65, at 11 percent, you would have over a quarter million which ain't bad.

Sushi

 

[dotnina]

I would go with the 15". I got one not too long ago, I'm surprised at how portable it is ... just get a bag with a good shoulder strap.

Just to clarify, what happened to your Powerbook? You were working and unplugged it and it just died? I'm just wondering because I unplug my Powerbook all the time while it's on...

 

[janey]

You should definitely try to get your 17" fixed, that way is you really don't like it, then you could sell it on eBay. Purchase the best PB 15" that you can afford. Please don't think about the Sony Vaio, although I was at a Sony Store today, they are impressive to look at. Then I remembered that they run Windows, no way to run OS X on that. Then it looked less appealing.

yeah, im going to get it fixed and sell it to josh or somebody.
and if i get the sony vaio the first thing i'd do is install freebsd or linux on it And I really couldn't care about the OS...Windows isnt half bad...

sushi - i have a 12" iBook as well, and I'm not too sure if i like it that much. Small machine...but really unreliable. If i were to keep that machine and use it, I'd really...die. Like even with a fresh install of OS X and 256mb ram the thing takes forever to open apps. I mean SubEthaEdit takes like four bounces to open at best, forget compiling stuff, video playback is choppy, et cetera. Then again it's an 800mhz G3 and G4s are much better, but I dunno...something about the powerbooks make me want to get one

I saved up money for like the past year and a half to get a PowerBook G5, heheh.

and for dotnina: I was using my powerbook, essentially just reading my email when i accidentally pulled the plug out. Thje thing that connects to a computer. Pushed it back in there and it just died. Like turned off and wouldnt turn back on again. Bah.

And this is the bag I'm getting - http://www.crumplerusa.com/products/camerabag/december_quarter.html

 

[vraxtus]

yeah, the portability of the x505 is what i want
just basic note takign is all i want

and the 17 is just _big_. Its nice, but like..._big_ hehe. Not a great machine to lug to school every day just to take notes and maybe the occasional movie or music during lunch or whatever.

What is your major to the point where you need to take notes on a laptop?

I've brought my old iBook to lecture classes 3 times in 3 years... I've found it to be more distracting rather than helpful, and I find that many people are annoyed by laptop note takers...

Pen and paper to me is the way to go... especially since using my comp so much has practically crippled my handwriting.

 

[janey]

What is your major to the point where you need to take notes on a laptop?

I've brought my old iBook to lecture classes 3 times in 3 years... I've found it to be more distracting rather than helpful, and I find that many people are annoyed by laptop note takers...

Pen and paper to me is the way to go... especially since using my comp so much has practically crippled my handwriting.

im in high school
ive been taking notes in classes like history for the past year or so, and i find it very nice (using subethaedit with fellow mac users to take notes).
Um, shrug. The teachers recommend that we bring laptops to take notes if we have one, and its a good suggestion.

 

[vraxtus]

im in high school
ive been taking notes in classes like history for the past year or so, and i find it very nice (using subethaedit with fellow mac users to take notes).
Um, shrug. The teachers recommend that we bring laptops to take notes if we have one, and its a good suggestion.

Wow... even in my private high school (which was $18,000 a year mind you), they never insisted up on that. But I suppose whatever floats your boat.

 

[janey]

Wow... even in my private high school (which was $18,000 a year mind you), they never insisted up on that. But I suppose whatever floats your boat.

well specifically history. but it's worth it, i find it easier to type than to write, and on top of that i type faster than i write, so

but not too many people bring laptops...unfortunately
but some do, and its always fun

 

[vraxtus]

well specifically history. but it's worth it, i find it easier to type than to write, and on top of that i type faster than i write, so

but not too many people bring laptops...unfortunately
but some do, and its always fun

Well, just make sure you can write legibly... one day you may have to pass someone a note, and you may not have your lappy there to fill in for a piece of paper

 

[sushi]

yeah, im going to get it fixed and sell it to josh or somebody. and if i get the sony vaio the first thing i'd do is install freebsd or linux on it And I really couldn't care about the OS...Windows isnt half bad...

I might be interested if you sell it. Let me know a price.

Reference Winders...arg!

sushi - i have a 12" iBook as well, and I'm not too sure if i like it that much. Small machine...but really unreliable. If i were to keep that machine and use it, I'd really...die. Like even with a fresh install of OS X and 256mb ram the thing takes forever to open apps. I mean SubEthaEdit takes like four bounces to open at best, forget compiling stuff, video playback is choppy, et cetera. Then again it's an 800mhz G3 and G4s are much better, but I dunno...something about the powerbooks make me want to get one

Sorry to hear that your iBook is unreliable.

You might want to check out the G4 version of the 12 inch iBook. My old boss had a iBook G4/14. It was very nice -- seemed fairly fast.

Agree with you about the PowerBooks. They do look nice. I love my PB15, but the 12 is so cool. Might be getting one for the wife.

I saved up money for like the past year and a half to get a PowerBook G5

Understand.

Just a thought on the investment front. Time is your biggest enemy. The earlier you start the better.

Sushi

 

[cb911]

what about 12" PowerBook? if you've got a desktop and only need it for ultra-portability...

although since you're probably used to the 17" widescreen now, a teeny 12" screen might be a bit hard for you to work with.

but a 15" maxed out is kind of the best of both worlds. almost a complete desktop replacement. almost.

15" is the smallest i'd go, and i'd never leave the widescreen aspect ratio, once you go widescreen, you can't go back.

 

[dotnina]

I'm impressed that you carry a 17" around school all day ... er, carried.

I'm still amazed that your PB is dead! And you seem to be taking it so well!

It sounds like it might have been a power surge (or something?). I've taken the plug out (from the wall or the PB) NUMEROUS times while using my Powerbook. I guess I'll put a stop to that riiiight now.

 

[5300cs]

...and if i get the sony vaio the first thing i'd do is install freebsd or linux on it And I really couldn't care about the OS...Windows isnt half bad...

Have you ever installed Linux on a VAIO before? I have, on 2, and it was no fun at all VAIOs have proprietary hardware up the wazoo and so a lot of things won't work in Linux (like the scroll wheel, pro-media card reader thingy, etc, etc.) or they'll only work with some (kernel re)compiling.

Toshibas seem to work good with Linux.

If you have on the other hand, well I'll just shut up then

 

[rhpenguin]

The notebook I had before I got my iBook was a Viao and I would never buy another. I had the thing one week and the screen developed a funky red line on it. After a few days (needed it for work so I didnt take it in for service) the thing stopped turning on because the mainboard died. After that, I decided no more Sony and went to my current iBook (which was my first Mac and the HDD went within one week of me owning it too and also a few months later the logic board died and the cdrom also wouldnt stay shut forcing a replacement but Apple was a lot better about it than Sony was about the service.)

At any rate, it sucks your PB died, and I hope you get it straightened out...

 

[Mord]

übergeeks 17" powerbook is working now.


viaos do suck for sever reasons, one ugly as sin, two all that propritey hardware that dosent work with linux, intergrated shared memory graphics cards four, maximum ram it like 256mb in the tiny notebooks and 512 on the normal sized ones and you have to use weird ram bought from sony, imagine the deal with apple ram and imagine it 10x worse, oh and did i mention ugly as sin.

 

[sushi]

übergeeks 17" powerbook is working now.

Good to hear.

What was wrong?

Sushi

 

[janey]

Good to hear.

What was wrong?

damn hector beat me..but i have no idea as to what was wrong.
i was reading the comments people left on my blog, and one told me to zap the pram. i thought that comment was utterly pointless because the computer was like _dead_ and you might as well forget about doing something like that if the computer just sat there like a $2000 paperweight, but i thought heh i've tried everything no harm in trying to zap the pram...
I pressed the power button.
The startup chime never sounded so sweet

So I suppose I'd be using both laptops until after MWSF 2005 or something lol. I had some qualms about buying a PowerBook right before Apple Expo Paris..

I usually take my 12" iBook to school to take notes with. Sometimes (when the iBook is out for repair, its PMSing for lack of a better word or when I particularly want to watch a movie) I'd take my 17" But those days I take the powerbook, its just a PITA.

I wanted to get the 15" because it was between the 12" (too small) and the 17" (too big) . It's really a nice laptop...that thing makes me drool

I've installed Linux on a Sony VAIO desktop if that counts and yeah, now that I think about it maybe its not such a good idea after all, installing linux.

A power surge? every single thing in my room is connected to (not cheap $5) surge protectors and battery backups. not too likely (;

Well, I'm mostly relieved it works now. I was thinking about ways to get my data off of this computer because target disk mode wouldnt work, but now that my pb works all is good again

 

[janey]

Well, just make sure you can write legibly... one day you may have to pass someone a note, and you may not have your lappy there to fill in for a piece of paper

i can write legibly
these were from weeks ago...heheh.

http://applegoddess.org/files/Miscellaneous/DSCN5016.JPG
http://applegoddess.org/files/Miscellaneous/DSCN5017.JPG (offensive word! )

 

[cb911]

he he. well i'm sure everyone can read that 2nd one.

i'd have to say that's not too bad as far as hand writing goes... my brother is shocking, he always types all the time.

i'm just glad to see that you dont' draw little circles to dot your 'i's, and you dont' put large curves in every possible place. i can't stand that...