[griffd]

My friend has a pismo firewire powerbook g3 that is 14 months old, with a display problem, possibly bad VRAM. While using it, the screen just went nuts. Restarting it made it worst, and now the entire screen is full of random pixels. He was able to bring up apple diagnostics on a second 640x480 monitor with the clamshell closed. The tool reported bad VRAM with an error code "Error disp/13/2". I think the VRAM is embedded in the Rage Mobility chip, which is soldered onto the motherboard. Question 1) does this mean for sure the vram is bad, and hence the entire rage chip needs replacing? 2) Does anyone know of a company that will just replace this rage mobility chip on the logic board? We are trying to avoid replacing the entire logic board since this would cost roughly $500. Thank you!
Dave

[RWoelk]

Try resetting the PRAM $ NVRAM.

From Apple's support site:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
TITLE

Macintosh: How to Reset PRAM and NVRAM
Article ID:
Created:
Modified: 2238
6/2/87
9/10/01
------------------------------------------------------------------------
TOPIC


This article explains how to reset the Parameter Random Access Memory (PRAM) and nonvolatile RAM (NVRAM) on Macintosh computers.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
DISCUSSION


Resetting PRAM and NVRAM on iMac, iBook, and Power Mac computers

1. Shut down the computer.
2. Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command, Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously in step 4.
3. Press the power button to turn the computer on. You will hear the computer's startup sound.
4. Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys. You must press this key combination before the gray screen appears.
5. Hold the keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for the second time.
6. Release the keys.
Your computer's PRAM and the NVRAM are reset to the default values. The clock settings were not changed. See
Resetting PRAM on PowerBook computers
To reset the PRAM in your PowerBook computer, follow the steps in technical document 14449: "PowerBook: Resetting Power Manager."
Resetting PRAM on Earlier computers
Follow these steps for Power Macintosh computers with NuBus expansion slots, and Macintosh computers with a 68000-family microprocessor and System 7 or later.

1. Shut down the computer.
2. Locate the following keys on your keyboard: Command, Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously in step 4.
3. Turn on the computer.
4. Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys. You must press this key combination before the Welcome to Macintosh screen appears.
5. Hold the keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for the second time.
6. Release the keys.
The parameter RAM in your Macintosh is reset to the default values. The clock setting are not changed.
Contents of PRAM
Contents of PRAM are as follows. Some Macintosh computers may not have all the settings described below.

* Status of AppleTalk
* Serial Port Configuration and Port definition
* Alarm clock setting
* Application font
* Serial printer location
* Autokey rate
* Autokey dela
* Speaker volume
* Attention (beep) sound
* Double-click time
* Caret blink time (insertion point rate)
* Mouse scaling (mouse speed)
* Startup disk
* Menu blink count
* Monitor Depth
* 32 Bit addressing
* Virtual Memory
* Ram Disk
*

[griffd]

We've done so, no such luck, but thank you for the suggestion.

[ 11-14-2001: Message edited by: ]

[lucylawless]

you know, my Pismo just had a problem with the display and the apple store told me they have a new price scheme, and it won't cost more than $310 no matter what the problem is. And I'm not under any warranty or applecare. Just something to think about...

[RWoelk]

Not sure if this will help, but this fellow might be able to advise you ....

From the PowerBook zone:

David Wegener wrote to say his shop does attempt backlight repairs on PowerBooks, but success is not guaranteed. They do guarantee full screen replacement for the relatively cheap price of $520 on a Pismo. Fixing the backlight costs $279, but you're only charged $65 if they're unsuccessful in fixing the backlight, which happens in about 50% of the current machines out there. If you're interested in this service, contact David at [email protected] or call his shop at 803.808.4362.

[ 11-14-2001: Message edited by: RWoelk ]