Powerbook G4 (17 inch) kernel panicing, freezing, etc

[aouate3]

OK, so i have this mac that has had a long story behind it. here is the story, it was bought in 04 by my friends brother. He upgraded the ram to 2 gigs soon after he purchased it. in 08 he gave the mac to my friend (his brother). in 09 he fell asleep while using the mac on his bed, his foot knocked it off the bed, the screen got cracked pretty baddly.

during that same year he dropped it a few times. one of those times the mac failed to power on. it would chime, then gave a 3 beep message. i bought the mac from him for $50. he told me that the mac was left on over a weekends time before it was dropped, he said it burned his hand because it was so hot and thats what made him drop it.

i opened up the mac to check the components (me being a windows pc user, and a hardware expert). everything looked ok, except there was a sticker stuck in the fan. the sticker was a year/date factory sticker. it was stuck in the fan's blade and keeping the fan from spinning. which means the board basically couldnt cool itself.

i put a little pressure on the center of the board while pressing the power button, the mac sprang to life, when i let go, it still ran. i powered it off and turned it back on, 3 beeps. applied pressure, works, you get what im saying. the board was hot, he dropped it, knocked a solder point loose. I replaced the ram, still 3 beeps.

i put the mac motherboard in the oven at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 7 minutes, took it out, let it cool for a hour. I installed it back into the mac and turned it on. the mac powered up and has been working for a good 6 weeks. i loaded a fresh install of osX tiger 10.4 onto the mac (got it from unsavory place, i own the disk, its just too scratched to use, so i downloaded it). The installed finished successfully.

BUT when i try to watch a flash video, on opera or firefox, sometimes even safari, the mac kernel panics. the mac also likes to overheat and freeze (fans may need replacing, PLUS, it needs new thermal paste with i will be putting in right away if someone says i should). i also installed a new screen (a 14.1 screen sadly. people now call my mac the ghetto mac) it has tape holding the screen in till i get a new screen or find a way to mount this on better. so if anyone has any ideas on how to get the mac running right please respond.

i am thinking the downloaded copy i got has been tampered with, i will be installing a LEGAL copy of osX leopard (i installed tiger first to to make sure the mac worked and would die a couple minutes into use, i don't pirate software that i don't already own) but i want to ask you guys if there could be a bigger problem then the OS... before i buy leopard

 

[aouate3]

home baked macs

the theroy behind baking circuit boards is that the heat from the oven will melt the solder and reconnect any bad solder points, same thing as using a heatgun, just the oven is a alternative

 

[quantum003]

Wow, I'd love to try and help you out but that pile of text you posted just isn't readable my friend...

 

[Dr.Pants]

Considering your previous beeping error, that meant that one of the RAM banks is bad. Doc from Apple says that there are "no good banks", but generally there's only one bad slot. Maybe it didn't get re-soldered correctly, which is my theory on this.

Getting into practice, make sure that you memory is alright with something like Memtest (I'll just attach it, licensed under the GNU General Public License version 2). If you get errors, you know you need to figure out a RAM problem.

After that, when you replace fans you should be replacing the thermal paste anyways. Something else I heavily recommend is using an external keyboard/mouse/monitor to solve your woes on the powerbook screen.

Oh, and breaking up your story into paragraphs for the rest of us to digest would be helpful, too

 

[aouate3]

ok

sure, ill break it up into paragraphs, i see how irritating that can be to read

And i will post the ouput of the Memtest terminal app as soon as it finishes, the fans have reved up a little, i think it does need new thermal paste, and it sounds like the right fan is bad, ill grab a usb keyboard and mouse and pop the mac open while its running the memory test..

 

[Dr.Pants]

Just sit and let it run. It is a pretty intensive process, it'll probably take a few minutes.

 

[aouate3]

Memory test results

Last login: Fri Jun 4 13:49:18 on console
/Users/aouate/Desktop/memtest; exit
Welcome to Darwin!
Chris-Aouates-Powerbook-G4:~ aouate$ /Users/aouate/Desktop/memtest; exit

Memtest version 4.22 (32-bit)
Copyright (C) 2004 Charles Cazabon
Copyright (C) 2004-2008 Tony Scaminaci (Macintosh port)
Licensed under the GNU General Public License version 2 only

NOTE: No command-line arguments have been specified
Using defaults: Test all available memory, one test pass, no logfile

Mac OS X 10.4.11 (8S165) running in multiuser mode
Memory Page Size: 4096
System has 1 PPC processors(s) with Altivec
Requested memory: 829MB (869687296 bytes)
Available memory: 829MB (869687296 bytes)
Allocated memory: 829MB (869687296 bytes) at local address 0x02008000
Attempting memory lock... locked successfully
Partitioning memory into 2 comparison buffers...
Buffer A: 414MB (434843648 bytes) starts at local address 0x02008000
Buffer B: 414MB (434843648 bytes) starts at local address 0x1bebb000

Running 1 test sequence... (CTRL-C to quit)

Test sequence 1 of 1:

Running tests on full 829MB region...
Stuck Address : ok
Linear PRN : ok
Running comparison tests using 414MB buffers...
Random Value : ok
Compare XOR : ok
Compare SUB : ok
Compare MUL : ok
Compare DIV : ok
Compare OR : ok
Compare AND : ok
Sequential Increment: ok
Solid Bits : ok
Block Sequential : ok
Checkerboard : ok
Bit Spread : ok
Bit Flip : ok
Walking Ones : ok
Walking Zeroes : ok

All tests passed! Execution time: 4240 seconds.

logout
[Process completed]


Well, it seems that all is right with the ram, which leads me to think that the OS is to balme, i think the person who posted this on the torrent site (whose name i will not mention because it probably is against forum rules to even name the site) tampered with the kernel

 

[aouate3]

Leopard

I will go purchase osx leopard and install it, ill be back

 

[aouate3]

mishap but hopefully i fixed it

before i put leopard on it, i decided to install all the updates and then put new thermal paste on it, after putting the thermal paste on, and while closing up the mac, i accedently broke the connector for the palmrest devices (trackpad, ambeient lighting, keyboard, and power button) it came off the board a little, luckly it didnt pull any traces away with it . so it is fixable, so i put it back in the oven, (i think im addicted to baking computer motherboards in the oven now ) lets hope i fixed what i have screwed up

 

[aouate3]

the oven didnt quite solder it back on, it unsoldered it, will a imac keyboard (with a power button) power on a powerbook???? thinking its time to make this a desktop before i break it anymore

 

[kbfr08]

Go get some flux and a fine tip soldering iron. A heat gun, or a pyro pen would make resoldering easier, but they're expensive. Apply some flux to the ram, a small bit of solder to the iron, and run it over all of the RAM slot pins very gently. Remove bridges pins with a solder wick, or solder sucker, then clean the board with isopropyl alcohol. I've resoldered tons of TSOPs and other fine-pitch components with this method.

Anyway, if that doesn't work, check resistors, capacitors, or for broken traces. Also, 375F isn't hot enough to melt solder. I'd also recommend using an infrared station to heat the board, instead of the oven - you'll most likely burn some components in there. Toaster oven on broil works fine instead, I've reflowed a few xboxes in there

 

[aouate3]

ok

i think 375 degrees is hot enough because i used the oven once to fix a 360, the 360 had a wire soldered to the board for the accessory 5 volt by the power jack, the oven unsoldered it. i dont want to contradict a professional, its just my experince.