iBook G4 - Volume and Brightness Stopped Working

[SkippyThorson]

First off, yes I posted this in the iBook Forum, but with 1 reply, and no response to move the thread, I posted this one. If anyone can delete the other one, please do.

Up until recently, F1 - F5 have been Brightness and Volume controls, as they have been since I got the thing. I go to use the Volume, and it doesn't work. I then try the Brightness, and it doesn't work. F6 - F12 all work just fine, which leads me to believe that iBook had a brain fart.

My volume balance has always altered itself. Balancing itself out of one speaker left or right as it so chooses. I know it's smart, but now it's just screwing with me. Settings go and change on their own, dock icons have switched, but this one has stumped me. How do I get those hardware function keys back to doing what they're there to do?

Also, I tried it with an App called Rowmote, that lets you control your Mac from your iPhone, with Apple Remote-like control, and the volume won't change using that either. Another symptom is that sometimes it makes clicking sounds, as if it were changing slowly and glitchy (which it did click sometimes anyhow) when using the Volume slider in the menu bar.

No, the options in System Preferences is not checked to use them as FN. Any ideas?

 

[donuttakedonuts]

Do the keys work as FN keys?

 

[SkippyThorson]

Trust me, I've tried, and they don't want to work either way. I am 110% stumped on this one.

 

[BENI]

this sound nasty and a system software problem. I suggest reinstalling your os (whatever your using) and retry.

 

[dmmcintyre3]

Do you have a FW drive that you can install OS X on and boot from that?

 

[SkippyThorson]

Well the thing is, I got the iBook off eBay. It didn't come with anything but a third party charger with a stupid power brick. No cds, manuals, no box, nada. I did however buy a retail version of Leopard off eBay to accompany it, but I wanted to CarbonCopy Tiger onto an external HD which a buddy is temporarily using for their Time Machine.

It's been generally ok up until this week, but until I can get my HD to clone Tiger to (whenever my buddy gets their own HD to clone that) I'm left with this iBook and a Leopard disc. I'd prefer it to actually work in the meanwhile.

 

[donuttakedonuts]

archive and install?

 

[MacHappytjg]

Well the thing is, I got the iBook off eBay. It didn't come with anything but a third party charger with a stupid power brick. No cds, manuals, no box, nada. I did however buy a retail version of Leopard off eBay to accompany it, but I wanted to CarbonCopy Tiger onto an external HD which a buddy is temporarily using for their Time Machine.

It's been generally ok up until this week, but until I can get my HD to clone Tiger to (whenever my buddy gets their own HD to clone that) I'm left with this iBook and a Leopard disc. I'd prefer it to actually work in the meanwhile.

Why would you let a friend borrow your external harddrive thats like me letting my friend borrow some ram or something .

 

[donuttakedonuts]

Why would you let a friend borrow your external harddrive thats like me letting my friend borrow some ram or something .

haha wtf?

 

[MacHappytjg]

haha wtf?

whats so wtf about it i dont usually lend my friends things that, i would need even if im not using it. the only thing i lent out is like a ps3 controller or a game what i have lots of, and if i want it back i get it back i don't wait for them.

 

[SkippyThorson]

Why would you let a friend borrow your external harddrive thats like me letting my friend borrow some ram or something .

Let me change the word friend to Girlfriend. That make sense now? I trust her with my things, and even if they break, then I know it was honestly unintentional and that things break. Worst case scenario, it cost me $60, and I'll buy another, but I'd rather avoid that.

Anyyyyyyhow. I would probably start with an upgrade of the system, and if that doesn't work, definitely an archive and install. It looks like I may just get my HD back on Sunday, so if I can clone Tiger, that would solve my issues more than likely. Like I said, this isn't life altering, I just want things to work when the company tells me that 'they just do'.

Funny thing is, my girlfriends MacBook is the most generally F'd up computer I've ever seen, my buddy's Intel iMac toasted itself, and in both my Macs, Settings just go and change for no apparent reason. Like the locks in my iMac's Preferences unlock across every system launch. Anyway, different topic for a different time.

No one happens to know of any Terminal code that fixes this? I recall a string that fixed the MacBook's iSight giving a blank screen. No magic words?

 

[MacHappytjg]

Let me change the word friend to Girlfriend. That make sense now? I trust her with my things, and even if they break, then I know it was honestly unintentional and that things break. Worst case scenario, it cost me $60, and I'll buy another, but I'd rather avoid that.
Anyyyyyyhow. I would probably start with an upgrade of the system, and if that doesn't work, definitely an archive and install. It looks like I may just get my HD back on Sunday, so if I can clone Tiger, that would solve my issues more than likely. Like I said, this isn't life altering, I just want things to work when the company tells me that 'they just do'.
Funny thing is, my girlfriends MacBook is the most generally F'd up computer I've ever seen, my buddy's Intel iMac toasted itself, and in both my Macs, Settings just go and change for no apparent reason. Like the locks in my iMac's Preferences unlock across every system launch. Anyway, different topic for a different time.
No one happens to know of any Terminal code that fixes this? I recall a string that fixed the MacBook's iSight giving a blank screen. No magic words?

Ok now that you said gf it seems reasonable, and theres probably a terminal fix according to my friend the same junk happened to his mbp, the trackpad and keyboard would stop working so he needed to put stuff in terminal for it to half work, just google around and junk. otherwise try the reformat and install, if something usually goes messed up for me i would do that.

 

[SkippyThorson]

This is the first time I've ever upgraded any Mac - this should be interesting. I'll definitely post about how it goes.

I forgot about the option of calling support. Though out of warranty, the last time I called, they helped me on another iBook issue.

 

[SkippyThorson]

~Bump~

So I took it to the Syracuse Apple Store, where Dave worked on it - he gets credit, yes - and after a few interesting tricks, and ending up booting off another system there, he has determined that it is a software issue, as he shows me they worked under the other system. This preference problem could also be related to the sound balancing right and left on its own. Anyway, an install of Leopard should be just what the doctor ordered.

Now, I have another question...

I have iLife 06 on my iBook. Wiping and reinstalling Leopard will lose that, and I love my iLife 06. It does everything I need, without the bells and whistles and processor need of the newer versions. No, I don't have original CDs, and I'd rather not buy what I already have...

So, cut to the chase, can I just copy iLife back on here, or is that a no? Save it to an external, and put it back on after Leopard is installed. It sounds simple enough. If not, any ideas? Could Apple maybe help?

 

[MacHappytjg]

So I took it to the Syracuse Apple Store, where Dave worked on it - he gets credit, yes - and after a few interesting tricks, and ending up booting off another system there, he has determined that it is a software issue, as he shows me they worked under the other system. This preference problem could also be related to the sound balancing right and left on its own. Anyway, an install of Leopard should be just what the doctor ordered.
Now, I have another question...
I have iLife 06 on my iBook. Wiping and reinstalling Leopard will lose that, and I love my iLife 06. It does everything I need, without the bells and whistles and processor need of the newer versions. No, I don't have original CDs, and I'd rather not buy what I already have...
So, cut to the chase, can I just copy iLife back on here, or is that a no? Save it to an external, and put it back on after Leopard is installed. It sounds simple enough. If not, any ideas? Could Apple maybe help?

ive just copied programs to a flash drive and put them over and seemed to work fine for me, i just had to the otherday cause my hackintosh was being lame, then i gave up fail xp.