A few issues with a PBG4

[MacCubed]

I'll just add that trying to integrate Tiger into a domain is a real PITA as well.

You have to turn off digital signing because Tiger doesn't support that. Passwords have to be in clear text and there are some arcane SMB commands I ultimately ended up running at system startup just to make copy operations as quick as I could. Ultimately, this forced an install of DAVE to our Macs just to integrate with the server.

Mail in Tiger does not support Exchange either. Luckily for us, at the time we had Office 2004, but if I had had to use Mail we'd have been screwed because we had an Exchange server at the time.

Thankfully, I didn't have to mess with settings really when it came to Leopard. Apple has made strides in the past few operating systems in regard to networking, but I still much prefer Leopard and even Panther.

Panther was the absolute most stable version of OS X I've worked with yet. Boring as hell, but totally stable.

In my other G3 thats running Panther, I was upgrading the RAM and bent one of the processor pins on the logic board.

 

[eyoungren]

In my other G3 thats running Panther, I was upgrading the RAM and bent one of the processor pins on the logic board.

Oh man, that sucks!

I have through my own stupidity killed a decent Radeon 9200 by not removing power to the system when removing my 9800 Pro with the molex connector still attached. The frame of that card contacted the 9200 and arcing happened.

I brilliantly once decided to adjust a plastic fan while the system was running. I used a metal screwdriver. Metal beats plastic as far as strength in this situation and off went half a plastic fan blade.

I also wired a fan backwards into my 9800 Pro. Now all that works is the heatsink on that card.

Live and learn.

 

[MacCubed]

Oh man, that sucks!

I have through my own stupidity killed a decent Radeon 9200 by not removing power to the system when removing my 9800 Pro with the molex connector still attached. The frame of that card contacted the 9200 and arcing happened.

I brilliantly once decided to adjust a plastic fan while the system was running. I used a metal screwdriver. Metal beats plastic as far as strength in this situation and off went half a plastic fan blade.

I also wired a fan backwards into my 9800 Pro. Now all that works is the heatsink on that card.

Live and learn.

Same thing happened to me with an Xbox, I was trying to fix it's RROD and I had the fan on, I hit it and while it was spinning, hit the corner of a heatsink and broke a blade

 

[A.Goldberg]

So today I finally decided to clean out my drawer and put my PBG4 back together. I knew there were a few issues with it, and that's why I took it apart in the first place. I'm gonna list the issues below:

1: There is no sound, there used to be a red light coming from the headphones jack and the volume couldn't be adjusted, I got rid of it using a paperclip, then the next day I had the genius idea to plug in headphones and the light came back. I took out the sound board and took off the top of the headphone jack and managed to get the light to go away but now, there isn't sound and the volume is adjustable. I think I need to get a new board but its 60$ on eBay....

2: When I close the lid, the PowerBook goes to sleep, when I open the lid, the desktop shows for one second and then the screen goes black. I have tried resetting the PMU, and PRAM but no luck. I think its the PRAM battery?

3: When I finally get the PB to come on, the network I was connected to was forgotten and I have to again put in the password. PRAM again??

Any help with any of the issues above would be much appreciated! Also, with 2 and 3 if I leave the computer open its fine.

1) Sounds like the digital audio out thinks you're using a DA output. I suspect like others have said your soundboard is in need of replacement.

2) Could also be bent/broking/aging wires in the hinges shorting out the computer when you open/shut the lid. Does this happen 100% of the time? Does it happen if you slightly adjust the screen? A reinstall of the OS might be a good idea to rule out any software related issues. PRAM though is the best place to start considering #3

3) Like others have said, probably the PRAM.

4) Battery - Likely dead from old age. First check the battery status/cycle count in the Apple System Profiler. If looks old, replace it. If that doesn't work, then you can get your hands dirty replacing internal components. I don't remember if the 15" Al has a DC in board.

 

[MacCubed]

1) Sounds like the digital audio out thinks you're using a DA output. I suspect like others have said your soundboard is in need of replacement.

2) Could also be bent/broking/aging wires in the hinges shorting out the computer when you open/shut the lid. Does this happen 100% of the time? Does it happen if you slightly adjust the screen? A reinstall of the OS might be a good idea to rule out any software related issues. PRAM though is the best place to start considering #3

3) Like others have said, probably the PRAM.

4) Battery - Likely dead from old age. First check the battery status/cycle count in the Apple System Profiler. If looks old, replace it. If that doesn't work, then you can get your hands dirty replacing internal components. I don't remember if the 15" Al has a DC in board.

Yeah it has a DC-in board that's also the soundboard. eyoungren found me a DC-in board for just 20$ and there are ones up on eBay for 60$. I'm thinking of ordering that and a new pram and see if that fixes it. And the battery is listed under system profiler as condition: good cycle count:491

 

[MacCubed]

Kinda reviving an old thread, I ordered a whole bunch of parts for the PowerBook, and the battery came today. Turns out, my DC-IN board charges fine, and my old battery was just plain dead. Hopefully the other parts I ordered will finish these issues up! Only thing that I couldn't come across was the PRAM battery. Not too sure if these in the A1138 are rechargable, but if they are I should be able to get it back up and running!

 

[bunnspecial]

I think both of my A1138s as well as my A1139 have dead PRAM batteries. I just try to keep the real battery charged. To me, it's never been a huge deal if the battery does go dead as the clock will reset as soon as you connect to the internet.

 

[MacCubed]

I think both of my A1138s as well as my A1139 have dead PRAM batteries. I just try to keep the real battery charged. To me, it's never been a huge deal if the battery does go dead as the clock will reset as soon as you connect to the internet.

Yeah but mine has issues waking from sleep when the lid is closed

 

[eyoungren]

I think both of my A1138s as well as my A1139 have dead PRAM batteries. I just try to keep the real battery charged. To me, it's never been a huge deal if the battery does go dead as the clock will reset as soon as you connect to the internet.

This is something I have always had an issue with and am now dealing with constantly on my daughter's iBook G4.

Whenever the main battery is dead (as is now permanently the case), the clock resets. That'd be fine if what you indicate is true on the networks I use but invariably because the clock defaults to 1969, Leopard "forgets" both network and network password.

I have to turn off Airport, reset the date (I've just started using the year only as it resets later) and then turn Airport back on before the Mac "remembers" the network and the network password. When I am once again connected I can then trip the check box for automatically updating time and date.

Rinse, lather, repeat for every time my daughter has to put her Mac away or disconnects it from power.

I wonder if perhaps this works for you because you aren't using a wireless connection?

 

[bunnspecial]

I wonder if perhaps this works for you because you aren't using a wireless connection?

I don't think I've ever used a PB on anything but a wireless connnection...or at least it's rare and generally when I'm doing a big download.

I do think you're right, though, about having to "reset" the passwords-I guess I keep the ones I use charged up so haven't had to deal with it in a little while.

I've also been known to make a rough guess about the time(since the 1969 date can mess with some network connections) and usually if the date is right and the time is 30 minutes or so off it will be fine.

 

[MacCubed]

I don't think I've ever used a PB on anything but a wireless connnection...or at least it's rare and generally when I'm doing a big download.

I do think you're right, though, about having to "reset" the passwords-I guess I keep the ones I use charged up so haven't had to deal with it in a little while.

I've also been known to make a rough guess about the time(since the 1969 date can mess with some network connections) and usually if the date is right and the time is 30 minutes or so off it will be fine.

The weird thing about my PowerBokk is that on Leopard, the Network/Sleep issues exist, but on Tiger, they don't. It seems software and hard ware related at the same time if you will

 

[MacCubed]

Well, today the rest of my parts came, the PowerBook's specs are as follows:
PowerPC G4 CPU at 1.67 GHz
2 GB DDR2 SDRAM
128 GB SanDisk mSATA SSD
128 MB VRAM

It's got a brand new DC-IN Board and Battery, so the sound and the charging works now. I guess I can finally use this Mac after it sitting apart in my drawer for over one year! Thanks to everyone here for all of the suggestions! You guys are the best!