iBook G4 loses date, time, wifi password

[RedTomato]

I have an almost perfectly working iBook G4, 1.33ghz, 1.5GB RAM, running Leopard 10.5.8. Battery is Apple original, not too bad, lasts for around 30-45 minutes on a full charge.

Problem is when the G4 is powered down for more than a few minutes, it forgets the date, time, and wifi settings. Resets the date to 1970.

What can I do to get it to remember date, time, and wifi settings?

Thanks

 

[macdatadrive]

I have an almost perfectly working iBook G4, 1.33ghz, 1.5GB RAM, running Leopard 10.5.8. Battery is Apple original, not too bad, lasts for around 30-45 minutes on a full charge.

Problem is when the G4 is powered down for more than a few minutes, it forgets the date, time, and wifi settings. Resets the date to 1970.

What can I do to get it to remember date, time, and wifi settings?

Thanks

It's the pram battery.

 

[92WardSenatorFE]

It's the pram battery.

iBook's actually do not have PRAM batteries. All this information is kept active on your laptop through the main battery. They have a little capacitor that the battery is supposed to charge and keep your iBook's settings while the battery is removed (however it doesn't last long).

This could be a symptom that your main battery is going out.

 

[Jethryn Freyman]

My eMac does that, started when I turned on Filevault. but after turning it off and several OS reinstalls, it persists. In my case I'm betting it's the PRAM battery.

 

[RedTomato]

Ward Senator is right. iBook G4s don't have a PRAM battery. I thought it was the CMOS battery like on PCs (I've replaced several of these) but nope, iBooks don't have them.

My iBook has behaved like this for some time, so I don't think the battery is on the way out. The current battery is from another iBook (same model) which behaved perfectly before dying from a logic board fault.

Still not sure what to do.

 

[92WardSenatorFE]

Ward Senator is right. iBook G4s don't have a PRAM battery. I thought it was the CMOS battery like on PCs (I've replaced several of these) but nope, iBooks don't have them.

My iBook has behaved like this for some time, so I don't think the battery is on the way out. The current battery is from another iBook (same model) which behaved perfectly before dying from a logic board fault.

Still not sure what to do.

Do you have another battery to test it with? Also, does this happen when the iBook is unplugged or plugged in? Also do you have any idea the stats of your battery? (i.e., load cycles, current battery life, etc... from a program like coconutbattery)

To me, it sounds like the battery is either not making contact to the backup capacitors, or the battery could be starting to show symptoms of failing (even if its still in a working state).