PowerBook A1106 keyboard suddenly dies and no boot chime.

[Baldung99]

More specifically, it's a PowerBook G4 1.5GHz (SMS/BT2 - Al). I just decided to turn it on today and well... things just started breaking down.

First thing, I knew the HDD is almost dead (nothing important is on it so I'll just ride it until it completely dies) but it just sat in a blue screen for almost five minutes. I get that, but then out of the blue the keyboard and trackpad stop responding, right after the screen started dimming (probably when it was readying itself to enter sleep mode - I don't know if it's a coincidence or not).

Then, despite having the volume cranked all the way up, it didn't chime at all. I could very well have turned it off somehow and forgotten about it though.

How do I even begin to troubleshoot these issues? At this point, I only really care about the keyboard since it really isn't convenient to use it with an external keyboard and mouse.

EDIT: I just noticed, the keyboard backlight doesn't appear to work. Would that be related to the keyboard refusing to work?

 

[DeltaMac]

Try a PRAM reset:
Make sure the PBook is completely off by holding the power button for 5-10 seconds, or just remove the battery, and disconnect the power adapter, then hold the power button for 5 seconds, then reinstall battery and connect power adapter.
Press and release the power button, then hold Option-Command-P-R
Keep holding the same 4 keys. You should hear a boot chime. Continue to hold the 4 keys until you hear the boot chime 2 more times.
Did you hear the boot chime at all? Keep holding the 4 keys for a full minute. Still no boot chime?

When I see a display go dim, and the system stops responding, I check to see if it is overheating.
An older laptop may need to have the CPU heat sink reworked (some use pads, others use heat sink compound)

 

[Baldung99]

Well whatever it was, zapping the PRAM seemed to fix it. I'll just let it sit for a bit to see if the keyboard issue is resolved.

However;

When I see a display go dim, and the system stops responding, I check to see if it is overheating.
An older laptop may need to have the CPU heat sink reworked (some use pads, others use heat sink compound)

It definitely wasn't an overheating issue. The system was perfectly responsive after I connected the keyboard/mouse set (wireless with a single dongle)... well, as responsive as a 15-year-old laptop with a failing HDD can be. I think it's set to dim before going into sleep mode? I've recently done a complete teardown to replace the old and crusty paste (man was that a trip though - the VRAM was soldered directly onto the GPU chip and the whole assembly was slathered with paste...). The fans weren't even running at that time.