I'm currently using a PowerBook G4, and having a minor problem. Every once in a while, while I'm surfing the internet or something, the screen goes completely black (screensaver mode or whatever it's called) and I lose the connection to any IM program or anything I'm in. I've checked the System Preferences and there is no reason for it to be doing this. Any ideas?
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Help! (PowerBook G4 screen goes black)
- Thread starter Sathos
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So let me get this straight, you're still typing/mouse clicking/scrolling or whatever and the screen still goes black. It's not out of battery and it's not happening automatically after a few minutes, right?
mad jew said:
Exactly. It's plugged in and the battery is at 99%, and it happens at random intervals. Is there any setting I've overlooked that would cause it to do this?
Does the screen just go black or is it more like the PB just completely shuts off?
If the screen goes black it is probably a connection problem to the screen.
In any event, I think this will require a call to Apple to fix.
If the screen goes black it is probably a connection problem to the screen.
In any event, I think this will require a call to Apple to fix.
Sorry for going over this again but it's very early in the morning over here so I'm not yet fully with it. If I leave my iBook for a few minutes (adjustable time) the screen will dim (or put itself to sleep). The screen is actually still on and if I look really closely, I can still make out the desktop. This is easier when there is something white displaying.
So, is the screen completely black or can you make out a very dim desktop? Open a finder window with a white background to check.
Sorry, I know I'm not being very helpful but it's best to work out what the exact problem is before giving advice.
So, is the screen completely black or can you make out a very dim desktop? Open a finder window with a white background to check.
Sorry, I know I'm not being very helpful but it's best to work out what the exact problem is before giving advice.
mad jew said:Sorry for going over this again but it's very early in the morning over here so I'm not yet fully with it. If I leave my iBook for a few minutes (adjustable time) the screen will dim (or put itself to sleep). The screen is actually still on and if I look really closely, I can still make out the desktop. This is easier when there is something white displaying.
So, is the screen completely black or can you make out a very dim desktop? Open a finder window with a white background to check.
Sorry, I know I'm not being very helpful but it's best to work out what the exact problem is before giving advice.
The screen is completely black. I know that when I leave the PowerBook for a few minutes, it will dim, and then a few more minutes it will go into a 'full screensaver mode' or something, with the screen completely black. This is normal, I assume. However, recently it is going into this completely black mode while I am using the computer. I've tried clicking the screen constantly and it still happens. After it does happen, clicking a couple of times will bring it back to normal, but as I am constantly having to reopen whatever I was doing at the time (IM, internet, etc), it does get a little annoying. It used to be that I could restart the computer and I would have no problems for a day or two, but today it seems to be happening every 10 minutes to half an hour.
Yenko, if that's the sign, what should it be set to in order to prevent this?
Sathos said:
Set to "Never".
Remember too, that there are two different settings: one with battery power and the other with power adapter. If you're running on battery only it will sleep sooner unless you make the changes. If your drives are set to "sleep" this will have some effect when you "wake" the machine up because the drives have to spool up first.
Okay, well start by resetting the PMU and then if that doesn't work, take it one step further and try resetting the PRAM/NVRAM.
yenko said:Set to "Never".
Remember too, that there are two different settings: one with battery power and the other with power adapter. If you're running on battery only it will sleep sooner unless you make the changes. If your drives are set to "sleep" this will have some effect when you "wake" the machine up because the drives have to spool up first.
Thank you for the help, yenko! Since the last post in this thread, the screen has not gone black once.
I just typed "Powebook G4 Screen Goes Black Randomly" because i've been having this problem too, and this thread came up...so this might be my best chance at fixing this problem.
This just happened to me tonight...my sleep settings are set to "never sleep" and it still does this. Any help would be appreciated as to what is going on with my computer.
This just happened to me tonight...my sleep settings are set to "never sleep" and it still does this. Any help would be appreciated as to what is going on with my computer.