[John123]

I've got a weird problem with my PB 667 DVI that I was hoping you all might be able to help with.

Sometimes, it just won't start up. And it takes a lot of jimmy-rigging to get it to start up -- and even then it often crashes on the happy Mac screen, during the startup process, etc. I try stuff like resetting the PRAM and the PMU, letting it sit for a while, etc.

I've tried taking out the memory modules and replacing them as well. That doesn't seem to be the issue.

One other related symptom: the AC adapter (the 45W one) often can't seem to make up its mind whether it'll be orange or green. Move it slightly, and the color can change. This isn't the case when I use the AC adapter that came with my 1Ghz PB (the 65W one).

If anyone has any ideas, I'd love to hear them!

Thanks!

[slimmy]

Generally, you need to shut down, remove the keyboard, and reset the power manager by depressing the small metal button on the upper right (just under keyboard). After about 60 seconds put keyboard back and start up as usual.

This often has to do with shifting from battery to plugged in use. I'm not sure why.

Robert

[John123]

I've actually tried resetting the PMU several times....but no luck.

Any other thoughts?

[John123]

Interesting addition to my crashing issue:

Occasionally now, after a crash, the PowerBook's sleep light blinks quicker than usual three times, then on the fourth blink it stays on for a second and a half...and then it continues the 3-then-1 cycle until I manage to get it to start up again.

Anyone seen this kind of behavior?

[John123]

Also, I set the Hardware CD to test...sometimes it crashes, but it's been running in loop mode since last night -- up to loop #114 right now, with no problems found.

[elysian]

I've had similar problems. Sounds like a bad motherboard/logic board. I had mine replaced under Apple Care and now the problems seem to have stopped.

[John123]

Originally posted by elysian:
I've had similar problems. Sounds like a bad motherboard/logic board. I had mine replaced under Apple Care and now the problems seem to have stopped.

Well that sucks, because I'm just barely out of warranty.

I don't know why the logic board keeps passing the Hardware Test CD...it's been looping for 24 hours now with no problems whatsoever.

[Yose]

I think you are supposed to use the 65W adaptor. I left my original adaptor at a friend cottage a couple weeks ago and had to purchase a new one from CSC in Toronto the next day... The version they sold me was the 65W and was marked for the Larger Powerbooks.

Previously when I had needed to borrow an adaptor at school I called up Applecare to verify which one I should be using (my original 667 DVI's adatpro doesn't show the wattage as prominently as the new ones do) and they said I could use any of the new square ones, just I would run into problems powering the unit on the 45W.

So... okay I just thought you should know.

[John123]

Originally posted by Yose:
I think you are supposed to use the 65W adaptor. I left my original adaptor at a friend cottage a couple weeks ago and had to purchase a new one from CSC in Toronto the next day... The version they sold me was the 65W and was marked for the Larger Powerbooks.

Previously when I had needed to borrow an adaptor at school I called up Applecare to verify which one I should be using (my original 667 DVI's adatpro doesn't show the wattage as prominently as the new ones do) and they said I could use any of the new square ones, just I would run into problems powering the unit on the 45W.

So... okay I just thought you should know.

Well the unit shipped with the 45W adapter. The PB 867/1Ghz were the first PowerBooks to ship with the 65W adapters (you can identify those because they also had the grounding plugs -- a welcome addition in my opinion!).

[Karim]

Originally posted by John123:
Well that sucks, because I'm just barely out of warranty.

I don't know why the logic board keeps passing the Hardware Test CD...it's been looping for 24 hours now with no problems whatsoever.

Unfortunately, the hardware test cannot test "every" part of the logic board.

If you have a cracked trace it could cause sporadic glitching that will crash even the hardware test without clearly indicating what the exact failure is.

[John123]

Originally posted by Karim:
Unfortunately, the hardware test cannot test "every" part of the logic board.

If you have a cracked trace it could cause sporadic glitching that will crash even the hardware test without clearly indicating what the exact failure is.

If it's something like that, does that make the prospects of repair brighter? Obviously chunking down $1000 for a new logic board is not my ideal situation....

[Karim]

The days of component level repair are almost completely over except for specialty repair houses. Its come to either the logic board works or doesn't. What part is to blame has become irrelevant.

[John123]

Originally posted by Karim:
The days of component level repair are almost completely over except for specialty repair houses. Its come to either the logic board works or doesn't. What part is to blame has become irrelevant.

Well that sucks.

[Karim]

Yes it does. We live in the days of disposable CD players and various other electronics...

Why fix a $75 CD/DVD player when the shop rate is $100/hour to just look at it.

[John123]

Originally posted by Karim:
Yes it does. We live in the days of disposable CD players and various other electronics...

Why fix a $75 CD/DVD player when the shop rate is $100/hour to just look at it.

But a mobo replacement from Apple is $1000....so therein lies why it truly sucks.

Unless you know of a cheaper alternative?

[Karim]

These guys may be helpful: (just did a google search)

http://www.powerbooktech.com/

[John123]

Originally posted by John123:
Interesting addition to my crashing issue:

Occasionally now, after a crash, the PowerBook's sleep light blinks quicker than usual three times, then on the fourth blink it stays on for a second and a half...and then it continues the 3-then-1 cycle until I manage to get it to start up again.

Anyone seen this kind of behavior?

Sidenote: before the lights do this for the first cycle, I hear three "beeps".....

Anyone know what this means? According to the Apple KnowledgeBase, 3 beeps means there are "no good banks of RAM" -- but this isn't the case because I've swapped out RAM chips several times...and the RAM passes all tests.

Thoughts?

[ChrisF]

Originally posted by John123:
Anyone know what this means? According to the Apple KnowledgeBase, 3 beeps means there are "no good banks of RAM" -- but this isn't the case because I've swapped out RAM chips several times...and the RAM passes all tests.

That the RAM passes all tests really means nothing- I've run into DIMMs that test fine but simply won't work. If you have a PC133 SO-DIMM from another machine, try that. Use only one DIMM at a time and confirm that the problem still exists. Otherwise, try each DIMM you have separately in each of the two RAM slots to see if you have any change in the computer's operation. The symptoms you've described are typical of faulty RAM.
Chris

[John123]

Originally posted by ChrisF:
That the RAM passes all tests really means nothing- I've run into DIMMs that test fine but simply won't work. If you have a PC133 SO-DIMM from another machine, try that. Use only one DIMM at a time and confirm that the problem still exists. Otherwise, try each DIMM you have separately in each of the two RAM slots to see if you have any change in the computer's operation. The symptoms you've described are typical of faulty RAM.
Chris

Yes, that's exactly what I already did. I had 2 SO-DIMMs in the 667: the factory 256 and a third-party 512. I've tried using one, the other, and both. I've *ALSO* tried taking another 512 out of the 1Ghz machine I use every day and using it alone.

The results are the same no matter what I do -- which tells me the problem isn't with the memory chips themselves.