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Simon · Apr 19, 2005, 09:17 AM

When I got my 1.67 GHz rev C 15" PowerBook the sleep light worked normally. After two weeks or so I noticed that the sleep light would come on when the PowerBook was running or that it would not pulse when sleeping. In the meantime, it has stopped glowing/pulsing altogether. It just stays off. I have reset PRAM and the PMU, but with no effect. Any ideas what could be going wrong?

Simon · Apr 20, 2005, 04:11 AM

Is really everybody's sleep light working on the new 15"?

roadracr · Apr 20, 2005, 09:56 AM

Sounds like you have a problem. I'd call Apple. Mine works fine (1.67 GHz PB G4 15").

Simon · Apr 20, 2005, 10:34 AM

Well, I might just give them a call before I go on vacation or something. I don't want to be w/o my PowerBook for weeks when I should be getting work done instead, just because of a little light. But it is kind of unsatisfying when something breaks on a basically new device.

adamberti · Jun 17, 2005, 09:18 PM

Did you ever get it fixed Simon? My 1.5 is now pulsing like it should be asleep, but as you can see I am typing, so something is up. I havent noticed it not pulsing when it sleeps.

Just wanted to know what kind of outcome you had. Or anyone else for that matter.

Simon · Jun 18, 2005, 02:45 AM

Well, the light has never came back on again, so I guess it's indeed a hardware problem. Maybe a bad connection or something. I'm kind of reluctant to get it fixed, because I don't want to have it gone for two weeks and also because last time I had to have repair work done on my PowerBook, it was ruined by the service center. But nevertheless, not having the sleep light is kind of annoying.

asodamiac · Jun 18, 2005, 05:28 AM

i can see how not having the sleep light would bother you. it bothers me when i have to stick around for 30 seconds or so after i shut the pb lid and wait for the pb to sleep. guess i just dont want it running all night long.

Simon · Jun 18, 2005, 05:55 AM

In my case it's that I move my PowerBook around a lot and I want to be sure it's really asleep before I put it in a bag and carry it around.

asodamiac · Jun 18, 2005, 05:57 AM

guess you could always press the power button then set it to sleep (though it still takes a while, at least you'll be sure its sleeping).

Simon · Jun 18, 2005, 07:40 AM

That's actually my workaround.

nsbio · Jul 7, 2005, 12:10 AM

Hi,
I am having the same problem with rev D 15'' 1.5Ghz PB. All of a sudden the sleep light keeps staying on while the book is unfolded, or does not come on when put to sleep (it does go to sleep, just the light is not on). Eventually this results in other odd behaviour such as automatic display brghtness and keyboard backlighting getting frozen in one setting. I also had sudden falling asleep and problems waking up from sleep (the book, that is

). What seems to reliably trigger this "odd mode" is plugging/unplugging from power adapter while the computer is asleep.
So my problem seems to be the same as yours (or at least similar). Have you been able to figure it out?
Thanks

Originally Posted by Simon

When I got my 1.67 GHz rev C 15" PowerBook the sleep light worked normally. After two weeks or so I noticed that the sleep light would come on when the PowerBook was running or that it would not pulse when sleeping. In the meantime, it has stopped glowing/pulsing altogether. It just stays off. I have reset PRAM and the PMU, but with no effect. Any ideas what could be going wrong?

Simon · Jul 7, 2005, 08:37 AM

No, it's still broken.

nsbio · Jul 7, 2005, 01:00 PM

Did those Apple Geniuses have to say anything about it?
I am heading to the Apple store now, but I am half-expecting to hear "we never heard of such thing" or something of that sort... I shall post a message if they actually prove me wrong (which I am hoping for).

Originally Posted by Simon

No, it's still broken.

nsbio · Jul 9, 2005, 04:55 PM

Brought the powerbook to the local Apple store - they sent it for repair, apparently going to replace the MLB. Should be getting the machine back by Tuesday; will let you know if the problem is fixed.

Originally Posted by Simon

No, it's still broken.

nsbio · Jul 11, 2005, 10:21 PM

ALL FIXED!!! Took them only two business days to pick it up from the local (San Diego) Apple store (Thursday), send it to Texas for repair, and return it (Monday). The repair order says that they replaced "ALS ASSY", whatever that may be. But now the Powerbook is like brand new again. Kudos to Apple!

Originally Posted by nsbio

Brought the powerbook to the local Apple store - they sent it for repair, apparently going to replace the MLB. Should be getting the machine back by Tuesday; will let you know if the problem is fixed.

Simon · Jul 12, 2005, 02:52 AM

Congrats! It's good to hear the repair worked well and was done quickly.

Does anybody know what 'ALS ASSY' means? I guess some kind of assembly, but what is ALS?

I'm thinking of taking my PowerBook in when I go on vacation. I hope that way it'll be ready by the time I get back. I'm just worried that after bringing in a more or less working PowerBook with a minor defect, I'll get back a 'fixed' but ruined PowerBook due to careless repair like the last time when I brought in my 12" PB.

naphtali · Jul 12, 2005, 05:19 AM

ALS probably refers to the Ambient Light Sensor which controls the illumination of the sleep light, keyboard backlight and screen backlight

All the best with your Mac

nsbio · Jul 13, 2005, 08:25 PM

Thanks! Now I know what exactly has been replaced.

Originally Posted by naphtali

ALS probably refers to the Ambient Light Sensor which controls the illumination of the sleep light, keyboard backlight and screen backlight

All the best with your Mac

Simon · Jul 20, 2005, 03:18 AM

By chance I noticed something pretty weird with my 'broken' sleep light today.

I was using my PowerBook in closed-lid mode and wanted to check my battery serial number because of the PowerBook G4 battery exchange program, so I sent it to sleep and removed the battery while the PowerBook was still connected to AC power. As soon as I removed the battery, the sleep light started pulsing (the way it should have all the time) and when I put the battery back into the PowerBook it stopped again. I woke the PowerBook and the light stayed off.

So I guess it's not really a broken sleep light LED or wire, but something else that prevents the light from coming on. Recently I also experienced for the first time after a reboot that my PowerBook had 'forgotten' it had keyboard illumination. There was no keyboard backlight, the f-keys to control it had no effect and even the appropriate checkbox and slider in the keyboard system pref had vanished. After a reboot everything went back to normal.

Is it possible that sleep light and keyboard backlight are somehow connected to the PMU (yes, I have tried resetting it - it didn't help) and that something is screwed up there? It's strange, because I figure if some circuit would be really bad, the malfunction would be around permanently, but that's not the case. Sometimes stuff doesn't work, sometimes it does.

nsbio · Jul 22, 2005, 01:46 AM

I had exactly the same, intermittent, symptoms with my PB before it was sent to Apple for repair. It has been a couple of weeks by now - everything is working perfectly. My advice for you is to get in touch with Apple to get it fixed. This is a problem with ALS (presumably standing for Ambient Light Sensor), which needs to be replaced.

Originally Posted by Simon

So I guess it's not really a broken sleep light LED or wire, but something else that prevents the light from coming on. Recently I also experienced for the first time after a reboot that my PowerBook had 'forgotten' it had keyboard illumination. There was no keyboard backlight, the f-keys to control it had no effect and even the appropriate checkbox and slider in the keyboard system pref had vanished. After a reboot everything went back to normal.

Is it possible that sleep light and keyboard backlight are somehow connected to the PMU (yes, I have tried resetting it - it didn't help) and that something is screwed up there? It's strange, because I figure if some circuit would be really bad, the malfunction would be around permanently, but that's not the case. Sometimes stuff doesn't work, sometimes it does.

davoomac · Jul 26, 2005, 06:00 AM

I had some pretty erratic behavior with my PB's sleep light too. Doesnt always pulse the way it should. When i plug or unplug stuff into my power book while its asleep it disables the light. I dont have any other weird occurences though so its all good.

Simon · Jul 26, 2005, 07:28 AM

Originally Posted by davoomac

I had some pretty erratic behavior with my PB's sleep light too. Doesnt always pulse the way it should. When i plug or unplug stuff into my power book while its asleep it disables the light. I dont have any other weird occurences though so its all good.

Is this on a rev D 12"?

With the rev C 15" and the rev D 12"/17", Apple changed a lot of the hardware in this respect. They now use their own trackpad (now a USB device and no longer an antique internal ADB interface) instead of the third-party trackpad they used to have and they changed the ambient light sensor/keyboard backlighting circuitry as well. I'm wondering if we are just experiencing this erratic behavior due to bugs in this new hardware implementation...

mmm31415 · Aug 2, 2005, 11:14 PM

I had the same problem described by Simon and nsbio with the sleep light on my PowerBook. It broke at about the 12 month point. I sent it in for repair. They replaced the hard drive for some reason, but didn't actually fix the sleep light issue. Went on-line and found this thread, so I contacted Apple support again and told them about about it. Sent it in for repair again, they replaced the ambient light sensor assembly, and now it works great. Just wanted to say thanks. You guys really helped me out!

shabbasuraj · Aug 3, 2005, 01:21 AM

http://forums.macnn.com/showthread.p...ed+shabbasuraj

Simon · Oct 26, 2005, 08:28 AM

I wanted to give a follow-up since I just got my PowerBook back from Apple.

The sleep light is pulsing again, the keyboard backlight is here again together with its controls in system prefs. And best of all, my PowerBook didn't get scratched, the screen is still perfect (no scratches either) and it seems this time they were as careful as I am with it.

The repair sheet says: PCBA, MLB & PCBA, ALS, Right replaced

I guess MLB = main logic board and we already had ALS = ambient light sensor, but what the heck is PCBA? Neither Google nor Wikipedia know about it...

I was David B. · Oct 26, 2005, 09:41 AM

Printed Circuit Board Assembly

Simon · Oct 26, 2005, 10:20 AM

Originally Posted by I was David B.

Printed Circuit Board Assembly

Hmm, just got off the phone with an Apple technician. He claims PCBA = power circuit board assembly.

Looks like they pretty much gutted my PowerBook.

bleee · Oct 26, 2005, 10:43 AM

Originally Posted by Simon

When I got my 1.67 GHz rev C 15" PowerBook the sleep light worked normally. After two weeks or so I noticed that the sleep light would come on when the PowerBook was running or that it would not pulse when sleeping. In the meantime, it has stopped glowing/pulsing altogether. It just stays off. I have reset PRAM and the PMU, but with no effect. Any ideas what could be going wrong?

I've actually had my sleep lite DOA when I first received my powerbook and they replaced it, its and obscure problem that took the Apple Store guys like 30minutes to actually located the part to replace. They can fix it in the store after they get the part, or it atleast they did for me it takes like 2-5 days turn around for the actual repair but took like 2-3 weeks for them to ship the part to Canada.

Simon · Oct 26, 2005, 11:28 AM

Same here. It took them over two weeks to get the parts, but once they had em, the repair was done in half a day.

brachiator · Oct 31, 2005, 03:46 AM

Originally Posted by Simon

Recently I also experienced for the first time after a reboot that my PowerBook had 'forgotten' it had keyboard illumination. There was no keyboard backlight, the f-keys to control it had no effect and even the appropriate checkbox and slider in the keyboard system pref had vanished. After a reboot everything went back to normal.

Simon, did you ever have this recur or figure out what was up with it? I am now experiencing simiilar -- no keyboard backlight, no sleep light, and no keyboard preference for the kbd backlight or response from the backlight function keys...

thanks!

Simon · Oct 31, 2005, 03:52 AM

Originally Posted by brachiator

Simon, did you ever have this recur or figure out what was up with it? I am now experiencing simiilar -- no keyboard backlight, no sleep light, and no keyboard preference for the kbd backlight or response from the backlight function keys...

I can confirm it's a pure hardware problem. Check my post above. Apple will exchange your ALS and logic board under warranty for free. The technician who did mine actually told me he hadn't seen this for the first time at all and judging by what I've seen on this board we two are certainly not alone.

The good news is that they can fix it, it's free (if you're still under warranty) and once you get it back, everything works like gravy.

brachiator · Oct 31, 2005, 03:58 AM

Thanks, Simon! I suppose I'll have to relinquish the Baby to the Apple Store for a couple of days. Still under warranty, thankfully!

Simon · Oct 31, 2005, 04:07 AM

Originally Posted by brachiator

Thanks, Simon! I suppose I'll have to relinquish the Baby to the Apple Store for a couple of days. Still under warranty, thankfully!

The wait is the downside. I experienced that it took them quite some time to get the replacement parts, but once they arrived the repair job was done very fast. I've been told if you go to an Apple Store and you're lucky they let you keep the PowerBook till they get the parts (assuming they know exactly what the problem is and what parts to order) and then call you in to get it done in one single day. Good luck!

adamberti · Nov 1, 2005, 01:03 AM

Add me to the list. I have many of the same sympyoms, and it's purely hardware. Only I let mine go for so long (and get so bad) that the ALS was putting my powerbook to sleep instead of dimming the screen and turning on the backlit keyboard. It's now being fixed.

My advice for anyone else is to get it fixed before it gets that bad.

cdetdi · Nov 17, 2005, 11:37 AM

I'm there too.

Random keyboard light, sleep light does its own thing completely (right now just static full brightness).