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Powerbook G4 goes to sleep randomly

K

Kris75

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 1, 2011
16
0
Hi
I have an Powerbook G4 (1.67, 1GB) that i recently bought. Its running Leopard OS X. When im using the mashine it randomly goes to sleep. Then i have to wake it up with enter. What could the problem be? When i bought the mashine i changed the memory block from 256mb to 1gb, but it should be the right ones.

Besides that, then i think the mac gets to hot (around 60* F. at normal use). Is that right for this kind of mashine?

Greets
Kris
 
simsaladimbamba said:
60° F (Fahrenheit) is impossible, I guess you meant 60° C (Celsius), which would be 140° F, which still would be okay, even (or especially) for a PPC G4 CPU.

Maybe this can help with the sleeping issue?
http://www.tekserve.com/service/mac-faq/cant-start/reset-pmu-smc.php

PS: Did you Erase and Install Mac OS X on the PB?
Click to expand...

Haha :eek: Jeps, its Celsius offcause.

I already tried to reset pmu, but it didnt help :-( And yes, i erased and installed Mac os X on the powerbook. I started with installing Tiger and the same thing happened....

What do you think the problem could be?
 
Did you look at the top of this sub-forum? This is a common issue, and there's a guid for it just above all the posts in this sub-forum.
 
Look it up on iFixit.com, they have fantastic guides on how to disassemble your Mac. Warning: PowerBook G4s are a bit of a pain.
 
iThinkergoiMac said:
Look it up on iFixit.com, they have fantastic guides on how to disassemble your Mac. Warning: PowerBook G4s are a bit of a pain.
Click to expand...

Great Thanks :)

I just cant seem to find where the thermal sensor is located, do you know that?
 
Kris75 said:
Great Thanks :)

I just cant seem to find where the thermal sensor is located, do you know that?
Click to expand...

I have not personally tried to find the sensor as my PBG4 hasn't had this issue. Are you looking at a disassembled PBG4 or trying to tell by the guide alone?
 
I think I've had the same issue. The sensor beneath the trackpad was ***ed up and sometimes showed 100 degrees celcius, making the computer go into emergency sleep mode. The problem was fixed by physically removing that sensor. However, after doing that, the computer had A REALLY HARD TIME to boot properly. Sometimes I've had to press the power button on/off on/off for 30 mins before getting this thing to boot. So I stopped to power off this computer, and it was fine. Until after 2 weeks I turned it off by mistake, and guess what? The boot issue was gone. It seems like the computer has to adapt its boot sequence after removing one physical part. It might take some time, and in the meantime it is not nice at all. If that happens, do not worry though, since it will get back to normal in a couple of days.

------
Get Temperature monitor and take a look at the trackpad sensor info.... I suggest you run temperature monitor light at ALL TIMES and select trackpad as the display temperature. That way you will see if it goes to some moron temperature before shutting down.

This issue doesn't happen all the time.... Seems like this is set up at boot. When you boot and the temperature is listed as " - - - ", you can expect trouble, since when the number will come back, expect a 100 degrees. Sometimes it shows the number, then you are okay (if I remember things right).
 
Nova77 said:
I think I've had the same issue. The sensor beneath the trackpad was ***ed up and sometimes showed 100 degrees celcius, making the computer go into emergency sleep mode. The problem was fixed by physically removing that sensor. However, after doing that, the computer had A REALLY HARD TIME to boot properly. Sometimes I've had to press the power button on/off on/off for 30 mins before getting this thing to boot. So I stopped to power off this computer, and it was fine. Until after 2 weeks I turned it off by mistake, and guess what? The boot issue was gone. It seems like the computer has to adapt its boot sequence after removing one physical part. It might take some time, and in the meantime it is not nice at all. If that happens, do not worry though, since it will get back to normal in a couple of days.

------
Get Temperature monitor and take a look at the trackpad sensor info.... I suggest you run temperature monitor light at ALL TIMES and select trackpad as the display temperature. That way you will see if it goes to some moron temperature before shutting down.

This issue doesn't happen all the time.... Seems like this is set up at boot. When you boot and the temperature is listed as " - - - ", you can expect trouble, since when the number will come back, expect a 100 degrees. Sometimes it shows the number, then you are okay (if I remember things right).
Click to expand...

Thanks, ill be monitoring the temp to see if that is the problem. Do you know if i can find a picture etc. where i can see how i can disable the sensor?
 
Kris75 said:
Thanks, ill be monitoring the temp to see if that is the problem. Do you know if i can find a picture etc. where i can see how i can disable the sensor?
Click to expand...

Sorry its been like a year or so since it happened and don't have the link on how to remove it, etc. You should be able to find it on the internet, seems like this is a common issue with PowerBook G4s... Good luck!
 
Kris75 said:
Thanks, ill be monitoring the temp to see if that is the problem. Do you know if i can find a picture etc. where i can see how i can disable the sensor?
Click to expand...

Yes, the iFixit website I referred you to earlier has step-by-step instructions with pictures. Did you look at it?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
iThinkergoiMac said:
Yes, the iFixit website I referred you to earlier has step-by-step instructions with pictures. Did you look at it?
Click to expand...

Yes, great site with good manuals. I have now been monotoring the heat of the powerbook and it doesnt go much over 60 on any of the sensors, so i dont think thats the problem. Strange !?!
 
I installed Istat pro to see the temperature and it says that the fans arent running at al in the temperature menu, but i can hear that they are running plus the temperature is now around 50 degrees. What can that be?
 
Kris75 said:
I installed Istat pro to see the temperature and it says that the fans arent running at al in the temperature menu, but i can hear that they are running plus the temperature is now around 50 degrees. What can that be?
Click to expand...

Are you looking at trackpad temp? CPU temp won't help.
Also, I told you to get temperature monitor lite because you need to start up the dashboard for iStat. The sensor problem I described is something that pops up when you don't expect it, so you cannot know it with iStat unless you check every minute (or unless iStat has a function I'm not aware of that can list temp at all times while you are doing something else).

It is not heat related, its a bug. Temperature can be normal, then BOOM 100 degrees and sleep mode.
 
Nova77 said:
Are you looking at trackpad temp? CPU temp won't help.
Also, I told you to get temperature monitor lite because you need to start up the dashboard for iStat. The sensor problem I described is something that pops up when you don't expect it, so you cannot know it with iStat unless you check every minute (or unless iStat has a function I'm not aware of that can list temp at all times while you are doing something else).

It is not heat related, its a bug. Temperature can be normal, then BOOM 100 degrees and sleep mode.
Click to expand...

I found the problem. It was the cable that connects the trackpad and keyboard that was loose. Now its working just fine.
 
There is a sticky about this issue and it's the only one that exists in the PowerPC section. Some people really love redundancy.
 
Kris75 said:
Yes, but this is a Powerbook and NOT a Power PC......
Click to expand...

PowerPC is a type of RISC CPU. It is the CPU in your PowerBook. To be exact it would be a G4 7447a PowerPC CPU.

I know not everyone is a super geek but come on.. you should at least understand what computer you own and what CPU it has.
 
zen.state said:
PowerPC is a type of RISC CPU. It is the CPU in your PowerBook. To be exact it would be a G4 7447a PowerPC CPU.

I know not everyone is a super geek but come on.. you should at least understand what computer you own and what CPU it has.
Click to expand...

Well, when i started this thread, i just bought my first Mac (this one). I didnt have any knowledge to how a Mac works and whats inside a Mac. Thats why i choose to start a thread on Macroumers because a friend said that i could get good adwise even as a novice to Mac.....

Give a noobie a break!!!!! Isnt it also in your intrest that more people start using Mac????
 
Kris75 said:
Well, when i started this thread, i just bought my first Mac (this one). I didnt have any knowledge to how a Mac works and whats inside a Mac. Thats why i choose to start a thread on Macroumers because a friend said that i could get good adwise even as a novice to Mac.....

Give a noobie a break!!!!! Isnt it also in your intrest that more people start using Mac????
Click to expand...

I am not coming down on you. Just pointing out that there is already a solution and in the lone sticky we have here.

The PC in PowerPC has nothing to do with the term PC that most use for a Windows machine. PC doesn't actually specifically mean a windows system. The term personal computer was started in the 60's to refer to a system you could have in your home/office on a desk rather than in a lab and taking up 2-3 walls.

PowerPC is the CPU technology Apple used from 1993 till 2005. It is a RISC (reduced instruction set computing) CPU as opposed to to Intel and AMD which use CISC (complex instruction set computing). Any Mac with a 601, 603, 604, G3, G4 or G5 CPU is a PowerPC.
 
Funny, because mine says 7447B on it. Was there a difference between the G4 PowerPC 7447A and B?


zen.state said:
PowerPC is a type of RISC CPU. It is the CPU in your PowerBook. To be exact it would be a G4 7447a PowerPC CPU.

I know not everyone is a super geek but come on.. you should at least understand what computer you own and what CPU it has.
Click to expand...
 
Ah ok, but im still just a newbie and Markush, you lost me there....
 
PowerPC chips like Intel go through revisions. 7447a might have be the original chip for that line of computers, where as 7447b is a revision of the A version of the same chip. Either way my PowerBook G4 states I have a PowerPC G4 7447B revision.


Kris75 said:
Ah ok, but im still just a newbie and Markush, you lost me there....
Click to expand...
 
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