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nikoz1200 · Jul 3, 2006, 04:28 PM

So my sad story begins... I wake up this morning, as does my 12" PB with no problems. After a little use, I close the lid to put it back to sleep. A few hours later, I open the lid again, and the PB gets stuck on the white screen. I tried rebooting, and all that happens is the normal beep sounds, but the boot doesn't comlete (the little image with the rotating tick marks around it never comes up) and it stays on the white screen.

I don't hear or feel the drive spinning up... did the little guy bite the dust? Is there a way to recover the data?

chadseld · Jul 3, 2006, 05:58 PM

Try zapping the P-Ram (hold down Command-Option-P-R at boot). Some macbooks have had trouble starting up after the 10.4.7 update, perhaps the pro models are having similar trouble.

chadseld · Jul 3, 2006, 05:59 PM

oops. Dupe post.

brassplayersrock² · Jul 3, 2006, 06:13 PM

the op said powerbook, not macbook. but, yeah, try the pram thing, if not than hard off the powerbook a few timesand that might zap it back to life. that has helped me a couple times

nikoz1200 · Jul 3, 2006, 08:09 PM

The Cmd-opt-P-R didn't change anything. Also took the battery out and hit the power button to clear the caps (not sure if that would even help or not.. but anyway) Still nothing.

What about booting from the CD drive? Any other boot options?

thanks

chadseld · Jul 3, 2006, 11:36 PM

My bad, I was thinking MBP. Anyway, the last thing to try is to reset the power management unit. If this doesn't fix your PB, then it will need service.
Instructions are here:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=14449

nikoz1200 · Jul 4, 2006, 07:42 PM

Originally Posted by chadseld

My bad, I was thinking MBP. Anyway, the last thing to try is to reset the power management unit. If this doesn't fix your PB, then it will need service.
Instructions are here:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=14449

still no luck with that boot sequence. any rough guess how much this fix will cost? and more importantly, is the any way to get my data off the drive before I send it off?

chadseld · Jul 4, 2006, 08:00 PM

Out of warranty rough guess, probably $600 for the logic board plus labor ($75-$100/hr for 1-2 hours). It's worth taking in and eating the diagnosis costs (apx $100) just to be sure there is no easy fix. Also, some repair centers will be able to get you data off the disk. Not sure if Apple offers this service though. It's okay, you wanted a new computer anyway right? :|

nikoz1200 · Jul 7, 2006, 01:48 PM

I took the pb in to the genious bar yesterday, where it was diagnosed with a faulty logic board. estimate for repair is about 330$, which isn't as bad as I thought. I'm getting a hd enclosure so I can get my data off the drive before sending it away to be fixed (apple store wants 150$ to do it). while I'm at it, I think ill get a bigger drive to drop in too. thanks for the help

nikoz1200 · Aug 3, 2006, 11:37 PM

Originally Posted by nikoz1200

I took the pb in to the genious bar yesterday, where it was diagnosed with a faulty logic board. estimate for repair is about 330$, which isn't as bad as I thought. I'm getting a hd enclosure so I can get my data off the drive before sending it away to be fixed (apple store wants 150$ to do it). while I'm at it, I think ill get a bigger drive to drop in too. thanks for the help

So, I open the Powerbook up, remove the drive, and successfully get my data off. While the thing is sitting all opened up on my kitchen table, I decide it's a good idea to upgrade the hard drive so save me from opening it up a second time. So, I clone the original drive to a brand new 100 gig drive without problems. Both drives mount externally to another computer fine, so now I'm sure the original problem is not with the drive.

I button the computer up and take it back to the apple store and it gets sent off to the repair center. A few days later, I get a phone call from Apple. The tech tells me that they weren't able to get the computer to boot and suspect a bad drive! I told them no ****, that's why it's there, but the drive is brand new and works. I am told that they wouldn't be able to fix it for 330 as previously stated without the original drive so they can make sure the drive is not causing a problem. I asked if they had been able to boot it off an external fw drive or even another internal drive. The guy didn't know... he just makes the phone calls, but he said he would note the account and get back to me.

A few days later again, I am called again. Ill skip to the point.... I now have my unfixed computer back, into which I have reinstalled the original drive. Now the pb gets sent to apple again to be fixed. I can't believe that they wouldn't replace the logic board without the original drive! Can someone explain the logic here?

MOLLOWITZ · Aug 4, 2006, 12:34 AM

apple repair techs suck balls.

but $330 isn't so bad of a price for that kind of repair, from what i've encountered and heard of before.