My Powerbook always ask me to restart - What should i do?

[Francis118]

I encounter problems on my Mac. I am currently using OS X 10.4.11. My system is PowerBook G4 1.33ghz.
When i am doing my work or surfing the internet. There will be a logo pop up on the whole screen looks like the On Off Button switch on my PB. Than there will be some message that I need to restart my Powerbook.
I have tried so many things, like changing my hardisks, reinstalling the OS.X but it still doesn't work. Everytime it happens all my data that i have done half way will be gone.
Be glad if anyone can advice me what to do.

Thanks.

 

[BlueRevolution]

What you see is known as a kernel panic. As you suspect, it indicates that you have a hardware problem of some sort. As a first step, I suggest running Apple Hardware Test from the disks that came with your computer. It will hopefully give you a better idea of what is acting up.

 

[KingYaba]

Are you ok with taking your Powerbook apart? One major cause of kernel panics would be memory. Maybe you dropped your unit and the memory isn't properly seated? Maybe it's bad RAM? Maybe it's a firmware issue... run the hardware tests like the user above suggested.

 

[BlueRevolution]

Are you ok with taking your Powerbook apart?

If the memory does show errors, it's fairly easy to access. However, I wouldn't disassemble it further unless you are absolutely confident that you know what you're doing. Laptops are a lot more delicate than desktops.

 

[Francis118]

Hi, I does not have the CD that comes with the Powerbook anymore. I am having a retail version of OSX 10.4 software. I can't seem to find any Apple hardware test on this CD. Is there anywhere I can get this hardware test software from? Please help. Thanks.

 

[BlueRevolution]

I don't think you can run hardware test from anywhere else, so I think you may be SOL there. You could try removing the memory, though. If there are two slots, it must have one stick in it to run. If there is only one slot, you can safely remove the stick and it will operate from the onboard memory. It will run slowly, but it will run.

Unfortunately, without hardware test, you can't check the integrity of the memory, but I imagine some third-party apps can do so. Someone else may be able to help you there.