Powerbook G4 DVI: black on startup-at open firmware phase, screen comes on at loading

[Treymac]

Hey. I'm experiencing a few problems with my Powerbook, but I'll post one problem for now.

I got my Powerbook G4 DVI 667Mhz off eBay a couple of days ago. This problem is that the screen is black during the first part of startup, at the phase were you should see the firmware stuff, or the BIOS display. I'm not sure what this stage is on the Mac. Anyways, the screen is black for about 30 seconds when it finally comes on when the OS loading screen appears. The chime does come on at the start, other than that you would have no idea it was on.

Any ideas?

Thanks guys.

 

[Eidorian]

Is OS X actually booting completely or not?

 

[Treymac]

Hey.

Ya, it boots fine and I can log in and it works fine, it's just that the screen is black for the first 30 seconds, which would prevent me from seeing anything, or being able to go into the firmware.

 

[Eidorian]

Hey.

Ya, it boots fine and I can log in and it works fine, it's just that the screen is black for the first 30 seconds, which would prevent me from seeing anything, or being able to go into the firmware.

What are you expecting to see after power on and the OS X loading screen?

 

[Treymac]

Isn't there supposed to be something displayed on the screen? Having 30 seconds of a black screen doesn't seem proper. Shouldn't I be able to see the BIOS post on the screen, or have a way to go into the BIOS (firmware)? That's what it's like on the PC.

 

[Eidorian]

Isn't there supposed to be something displayed on the screen? Having 30 seconds of a black screen doesn't seem proper. Shouldn't I be able to see the BIOS post on the screen, or have a way to go into the BIOS (firmware)? That's what it's like on the PC.

Unless you intentionally boot into Open Firmware, do a Verbose Boot, or something is wrong with the OS X boot you're not going to see anything until the gray screen and Apple logo.

 

[Treymac]

I don't like that
I think Apple should at least have a bitmap graphic of the Apple logo or something on the screen right at the start of boot-up, just so that you can see something is on the screen, instead of black.

 

[Eidorian]

I don't like that
I think Apple should at least have a bitmap graphic of the Apple logo or something on the screen right at the start of boot-up, just so that you can see something is on the screen, instead of black.

If you don't hear the boot tone you haven't completed POST.

I've noticed that PowerBooks do tend to have a long period of black screen.

 

[TheStu]

Eldorian is right, that is the way things are. Macs don't use a BIOS, so there is no BIOS info to display. 30 seconds is an awful long time for black screen though, my macbook only has a couple seconds worth before I go grey screen.