PowerBook G4 - Is it dead this time?

[yojitani]

Well, late last year I came here for some advice about this same PowerBook - then it was just a simple dead HD. No question. I changed the HD, all has been good for several months. Then, last week, my colleague complained that her usb pen drive wasn't working on the machine. Indeed, all usb ports, as well as firewire, were dead. Unfortunately, she told me this while I was running the recent security update. Anyway, I figured a restart might sort things out, so after the update, I just opted to restart. However, what happened was after it had shut down, it chimed but the screen didn't light up. Nothing happened. Still nothing is happening. To make matters worse, I put in the startup disk thinking that maybe I could repair or diagnose the problem from the disk utility, but the disk spins but doesn't boot AND it won't come out when I start up the computer with the mouse key down...

Any advice would be most appreciated. Is this dead? Do you know of any fixes? Thanks!

YT

 

[0007776]

I think that it is dead, or at least it's not worth fixing anymore.

 

[fuzzwud]

perhaps take it to an Apple store? get a diagnostic or estimate for repair and then judge if it's worth fixing.

 

[QCassidy352]

sounds like something pretty serious, maybe the logic board. In any case, methinks it's going to cost more to fix than the powerbook is worth (well, depending on the model, but I'm guessing it's old). But definitely do what the previous poster suggested and get an estimate at the apple store.

 

[smueboy]

Did you try holding down 'C' on restart to boot from the startup disk?

 

[Angrist]

What size / speed is it ? .... maybe i'll take it off your hands for parts.

If the ports are all dead, then it's probably a logic board problem, which can cost upwards of $600. At that point you're better off buying a re-furb MB for another $200 or so.

 

[yojitani]

What size / speed is it ? .... maybe i'll take it off your hands for parts.

If the ports are all dead, then it's probably a logic board problem, which can cost upwards of $600. At that point you're better off buying a re-furb MB for another $200 or so.

Yeah, I'd love to part it out but it doesn't belong to me! It's a 15" 1.67 G4 PowerBook. I think this one was a lemon from the start.. and it didn't help that it's primary users really didn't know how to treat it. When it crashed the person who had been using it said she never turned it off, so it had been on about 6 weeks!
I'm pretty sure it's the logic board. I just took out the HD to get some important files off and it seems fine..

Well, thanks for your help!

YT