Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Apple Techs help...Powerbook G4 crashing every day

Z

Zeke

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 5, 2002
507
1
Greenville, SC
So for a long time I've been having stability (freezes and kernel panics every day) issues with my newish 15" PB 1.25. Finally, I decided (because I had to make sure this wasn't the issue) to format and reinstall the system. As I expected it still is having the same problem. The hardware test shows everything is ok. This is the same test Apple techs do right? So if I take this in are they just going to say it's fine? I don't have Applecare yet so I can't call Apple to get them to let me send it in. Has anyone seen this kind of issue where panics and freezes happen very often yet hardware test says it's fine? Please help.

Thanks,
Zeke
 
Zeke said:
So for a long time I've been having stability (freezes and kernel panics every day) issues with my newish 15" PB 1.25. Finally, I decided (because I had to make sure this wasn't the issue) to format and reinstall the system. As I expected it still is having the same problem. The hardware test shows everything is ok. This is the same test Apple techs do right? So if I take this in are they just going to say it's fine? I don't have Applecare yet so I can't call Apple to get them to let me send it in. Has anyone seen this kind of issue where panics and freezes happen very often yet hardware test says it's fine? Please help.

Thanks,
Zeke
Click to expand...

1) check RAM.
2) check airport extreme card.

if those two don't fix this, then it's a hardware problem - call apple. you have one year warranty though you may be out of the 90 day free phone support. so you may be asked to give credit card number but apple won't charge you as long as the problem is hardware related.
 
Zeke said:
So for a long time I've been having stability (freezes and kernel panics every day) issues with my newish 15" PB 1.25. Finally, I decided (because I had to make sure this wasn't the issue) to format and reinstall the system. As I expected it still is having the same problem. The hardware test shows everything is ok. This is the same test Apple techs do right? So if I take this in are they just going to say it's fine? I don't have Applecare yet so I can't call Apple to get them to let me send it in. Has anyone seen this kind of issue where panics and freezes happen very often yet hardware test says it's fine? Please help.

Thanks,
Zeke
Click to expand...
I had this EXACT problem with my 17" iMac shortly after I got it. I brought it into my local Apple Store; the folks at the Genius Bar reset the Power Management Unit (PMU) and asked me to test the iMac. After fixing the date (it got reset to Jan 1, 1970), all was well again. I had no more random freezes/kernel panics. I would investigate this possibility. By the way, resetting the PMU requires opening the computer, which I wouldn't recommend doing yourself (especially with a PowerBook).
 
can you be more specific? are you getting messages as well, or do you get the black screen kernal panic, or an odd power message telling you to reboot. if so it could be logic board issues.

we had a g4 desktop that ran fine, but would crash for no apparent reason, not software or process related. the software diagnosis tool showed everything was fine. turned out to be a faulty logic board - once it was replaced worked like a charm.

more details, and i'm sure someone in the forum can help you out.
 
So how do I check the RAM and airport extreme card without the hardware test since it says everything is fine. I had aftermarket RAM in but switched it back to the Apple RAM to see if that was the issue a few weeks ago to no avail. Is resetting the PMU worth doing...according to the Apple doc it says this is only an issue if you have freezing on sleep related issues and charging. My freezes usually happen during intensive tasks (multitasking with iTunes streaming) so I have always thought it was RAM because I had bad RAM when I first got the computer and it acted the same way. It'd be nice if apple's hardware test worked...
 
As for more specificity,

I get kernel panics where the screen darkens and I get the multiple language you must restart most of the time. Although sometimes I get a system freeze similar to ones from pre-OS X where nothing worked. No mouse movement or anything. Thanks in advance.
 
Zeke said:
So how do I check the RAM and airport extreme card without the hardware test since it says everything is fine. I had aftermarket RAM in but switched it back to the Apple RAM to see if that was the issue a few weeks ago to no avail. Is resetting the PMU worth doing...according to the Apple doc it says this is only an issue if you have freezing on sleep related issues and charging. My freezes usually happen during intensive tasks (multitasking with iTunes streaming) so I have always thought it was RAM because I had bad RAM when I first got the computer and it acted the same way. It'd be nice if apple's hardware test worked...
Click to expand...

airport card - just make sure it's seated well and the cable is snuggly connected. you may want to try taking it out altogether to see if it's culprit.

RAMs - if you have two modules, test one at a time and see if kernel panics can be attributed to one or the other. if they are both bad, then you will have to borry one from someone, though i imagine the original shipped by apple should be quite good... third party RAMs are always suspect. but it sounds like you've tested this already...

do you have any external devices? unplug those one at a time and see if you can find the bad one.

from everything you've written, i'd suspect airport card. but if that's not the culprit, i'd call apple...

is there an apple store near your place?

good luck.
 
How do you check the airport card on the 15". I didn't even know there was a card. I thought it was built in. No external devices...no apple store...

Thanks

jxyama said:
airport card - just make sure it's seated well and the cable is snuggly connected. you may want to try taking it out altogether to see if it's culprit.

RAMs - if you have two modules, test one at a time and see if kernel panics can be attributed to one or the other. if they are both bad, then you will have to borry one from someone, though i imagine the original shipped by apple should be quite good... third party RAMs are always suspect. but it sounds like you've tested this already...

do you have any external devices? unplug those one at a time and see if you can find the bad one.

from everything you've written, i'd suspect airport card. but if that's not the culprit, i'd call apple...

is there an apple store near your place?

good luck.
Click to expand...
 
Zeke said:
As for more specificity,

I get kernel panics where the screen darkens and I get the multiple language you must restart most of the time. Although sometimes I get a system freeze similar to ones from pre-OS X where nothing worked. No mouse movement or anything. Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

yep, that's the error that was happening on our g4 desktop. exactly. i'd go through all the tips people have provided here, and if none work ask your friendly neighbourhood apple dealer to take a look at the motherboard.
 
Zeke said:
So for a long time I've been having stability (freezes and kernel panics every day) issues with my newish 15" PB 1.25. Finally, I decided (because I had to make sure this wasn't the issue) to format and reinstall the system. As I expected it still is having the same problem. The hardware test shows everything is ok. This is the same test Apple techs do right? So if I take this in are they just going to say it's fine? I don't have Applecare yet so I can't call Apple to get them to let me send it in. Has anyone seen this kind of issue where panics and freezes happen very often yet hardware test says it's fine? Please help.

Thanks,
Zeke
Click to expand...

If it's new, call AppleCare (it comes for one year w/ a new computer, 3 months free phone support). Sounds like a LEMON PowerBook.
 
Try to take off the extra RAM

I have an iBook G4 and it was exactly the same thing. I even was wondering what the heck is that "Rock solid" thing they all tell about. I've ran the Hardware Test CD that came within my system and it said the memory (and everything else as well) were fine. Twice. The system indicated 640MB and the memory looked alright so far. I wasn't totally convinced, so I took off the extra RAM (512MB) and voilá, no more problems at all. To tell you the truth I'm running slower right now, with 256MB (original), but it is ROCK SOLID, for sure. Not a single freeze after more than a week. Pretty good for a system that used to crash many times during a common day of work. I'm willing to buy another 512MB memory stick (hope I'll be lucky next time).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back