[Superchicken]

If I have just about anything including ethernet cables plugged in on start up it will crash, sometimes it'll crash just because. Sometimes in class it will not wake up from sleep (specifically when it's on battery life) about one third of the time I simply have to hold down the power button. Worst of all this mean my battery dies a lot faster, and people in class hear that oh so lovely start up sound even if I've mutted the speakers.

I didn't notice any of these problems until I got to school. But it's really frustrating, I used it OK for a few months last year. A lot of times I'll open the lid, it won't wake up, I hit a key and despite it already being on it'll just start up. It's also randomly logged out on me. I feel like I'm using windows.

I've repaired permissions too.

[crouchingtiger]

yes. More specifically, BAD RAM will. =)
Try pulling whatever memory you have in there and see if the problem goes away. Otherwise you may have another problem, like a bad logic board that only Apple can fix.

[wuzup101]

Yeah that definitely sounds like it could be a ram problem (espeically the wake from sleep issues). Powerbooks don't normally act like that unless there is a defective component in there somewhere. I would suggest doing what the above poster said and remove any ram taht you've added. If it's apple factory ram that you still have in there, and there are 2 sticks, try removing each seperately and see if you can pin down the bad stick.

[alligator]

Pull your bad RAM out, if it works, it was the RAM. I had the same problem on another machine. Turns out there was some special feature of the RAM that didn't match my machine - I bought the correct stuff from Crucial, and it worked perfectly after that.

[Superchicken]

Hmmm well yah seems to have been the RAM... then again now I'm back to 256 megs... dang... this kinda sucks...

Oh well, yah so I guess I'm going to have to take it back to the U of M and beg and plead with them to give me my money back or replace it or something...