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seelab

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 22, 2004
78
0
Canada
Hi,

I need some help here. I 've a 2 weeks old 17 powerbook 1.6 (no extra ram) and today i got a crash in photoshop. I had to force shut down and since then when i try to boot, the screen is black, the fans are going crazy, no start up chime. I've had the exact same thing with a G5 a few months ago (there was a thread here).
Any suggestions ?
 
I don't know much about this, but maybe the computer somehow changed what the boot disc was?

Does anything show up on the screen?
 
coleg said:
I don't know much about this, but maybe the computer somehow changed what the boot disc was?

Does anything show up on the screen?

I don't think it's a boot disc problem.
No, nothing on the screen, just black.
 
Try resetting the Pram and NVram

1st. Turn on the computer.

2nd. Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys. You must press this key combination before the gray screen appears.

3rd . Hold the keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for the second time.

4th. Release the keys.

if this does not work, then as Apple puts it try the aggressive approach and reset the PMU

PowerBook G4 (15-inch 1.67/1.5GHz), PowerBook G4 (17-inch 1.67GHz)

1st If the computer is on, turn it off.

2nd Disconnect the AC Adapter and remove the computer's battery.

3rd Press and hold down the power button for 5 seconds and then release the button.

4th Reconnect the battery and AC Adapter.

5th Press the Power button to restart the computer.

Further information can be found on different models here
 
simie said:
Try resetting the Pram and NVram

1st. Turn on the computer.

2nd. Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys. You must press this key combination before the gray screen appears.

3rd . Hold the keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for the second time.

4th. Release the keys.

if this does not work, then as Apple puts it try the aggressive approach and reset the PMU

PowerBook G4 (15-inch 1.67/1.5GHz), PowerBook G4 (17-inch 1.67GHz)

1st If the computer is on, turn it off.

2nd Disconnect the AC Adapter and remove the computer's battery.

3rd Press and hold down the power button for 5 seconds and then release the button.

4th Reconnect the battery and AC Adapter.

5th Press the Power button to restart the computer.

Further information can be found on different models here

I did that before your post and the apple tech on the phone told me to do this also but it doesn't work. I can't even see the grey screen, it's just black. I guess it's just dead like my G5.
 
Well...

I hate to say it, but it's most likely the logic board--my girlfriend has an ibook that's had it's share of problems, and in each case the logic board has given out (3 times so far....) those have been the symptoms.

:(
 
Kushiro said:
I hate to say it, but it's most likely the logic board--my girlfriend has an ibook that's had it's share of problems, and in each case the logic board has given out (3 times so far....) those have been the symptoms.

:(

Yeah, i know ... i guess it's the motherboard too. The apple tech suspected the screen but i really don't think so. And i hate to say this also but i've now lost confidence in apple products an i'll stop promoting apple reliability because 2 dead computers in less than 4 months is unacceptable. I'll try to get my money back now. My main concern is about my files and I have a real problem here. Of cours there are no apple store in Canada and I won't get any help before tuesday. There are no technicians available in Montreal before next week. I hate my job now because I'm tired about these apple hardware problems.
For those interested here is the story i posted a few months ago about my G5.
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/102995/
 
Yeah...

I guess I've been lucky so far--I've owned 7 macs, starting with a mac plus and working on down to a latest revision powerbook 17", and I have yet to have a problem I didn't cause (knock on wood), but then you hear some of the horror stories....

Sigh....

Well, I hope it works out all right in the end.
 
following the link provided I got to:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=14449#faq9

for my G4 867. Unfortunately, the model that is shown for my PB isn't the same as my PB. eg: there are no latches under the esc/F1 key or the other side. I think I need to do a power manager reset as my battery life is down to about 45 minutes and once it gets to about 85% the whole machine goes to sleep. I tried the shift-ctrl-option-power approach but the same problem seems to continue.
 
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