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Powerbook G4 Startup Problem
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Forum Regular
Join Date: Jul 2005
Status:
Offline
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My folks Powerbook G4 15 inch has been giving my folks trouble lately, so when I was at their place last I brought it home to trouble shoot.
When you turn the computer on, you get the normal Apple chime, the logo appears on screen and everything proceeds as normal until you arrive at the login window. A second or so after reaching the login menu (prompted by no user action), the screen goes entirely black and the sleep indicator begins pulsing as those the computer has put itself to sleep. At this point, it responds to no input whatsoever and pressing and holding the power button does nothing. The only way to turn the computer off and attempt to start it again is to remove the battery and power supply to force it all the way off.
I have tried booting the computer in safe mode. When I do this, it reaches the grey apple logo screen and sits there for several minutes before shutting itself off (it doesn't even make it to the login screen).
Anyone have any idea what's going on?
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Professional Poster
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: UK
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Offline
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Does it still charge the battery ok?
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MacBook 2.0GHz CD; MacBook Pro 15" 2.4GHz Late '08; PowerMac G4 MDD Dual 1GHz; 3x Xserve G4 1GHz; Mac Mini 2GHz; Big pile of broken and working bits;
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Administrator  Join Date: May 2000
Location: California
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Offline
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Sounds like a power supply/battery issue. Boot in verbose mode by holding down command-v during boot. Text will appear. Have a camera handy, preferably in movie mode. See if you can capture the text, preferably right before it shuts down.
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Clinically Insane
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Los Angeles
Status:
Offline
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Power issues may be remedied with a PMU reset.
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"The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground." TJ
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Addicted to MacNN
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Great White North
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Offline
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Boot off the DVD and go into Disk Utility. Run a repair permissions and a disk check. You could have some file corruption. I don't think its a power supply issue based on what you have said so far, but more a corruption issue.
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Brian says (9:16 AM): I was looking at houses in Ottawa... I actually have a temptation in me to move
Jeff ******* says (9:19 AM): Eww, Ottawa is gross. It's infested with politicians, and presently, 1 Harper as well.
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Forum Regular
Join Date: Jul 2005
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Originally Posted by Athens 
Boot off the DVD and go into Disk Utility. Run a repair permissions and a disk check. You could have some file corruption. I don't think its a power supply issue based on what you have said so far, but more a corruption issue.
This seems more likely to me at the moment as well because I have recently replaced the battery and power adapter in this computer, and it holds a charge fine.
However, I will run these tests later tonight when I have a moment.
Thanks for the help!
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Addicted to MacNN
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Great White North
Status:
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booting off the DVD and it staying alive should rule out hardware problems and leave it as a software issue. If the computer still reboots or goes dead on DVD then it is a hardware issue.
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Brian says (9:16 AM): I was looking at houses in Ottawa... I actually have a temptation in me to move
Jeff ******* says (9:19 AM): Eww, Ottawa is gross. It's infested with politicians, and presently, 1 Harper as well.
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Clinically Insane
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Los Angeles
Status:
Offline
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Good troubleshooting idea.
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"The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground." TJ
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Moderator  Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Cambridge, UK
Status:
Offline
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Reed switch magnet gone walkies? Try plugged/unplugging a USB device with the power adapter plugged in and see if it wakes.
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