[someone]

Hi guys,

Short and sweet: my 17" 1GHz AlBook won't boot properly.

Most of the time -- with and without battery, with and without charger -- I press the button and hear nothing -- no startup chime, no optical drive noises, no hard disk noises. If I press the caps lock key, however, the indicator light turns on -- meaning that at least the logic board is working. If I unplug the charger when there's no battery in, I hear a whine like a discharging capacitor. Other than that, there's no indication the machine is alive.

The only times I've gotten the machine to boot is by getting it in firmware-ready mode -- turning it off, pressing and holding the power button for a while, hearing a tone and the front LED flash, then pressing the power button again and (sometimes) getting the startup chime.

When it boots, either of the following will happen:

1) In normal mode, the computer will just stop in random places -- the grey startup screen, the login window, etc. I have to force it to shut down by holding the power key.
2) In verbose mode, it stops at the oddest places: after testing FireWire, after configuring IP v. 6, after kernel panicking...

there's no consistancy to it!

The last time it booted, the oddest thing happened: it only booted after firmware-accept mode, then gave me two beep tones (you know, like the ones you get with faulty RAM) and then one looong continuous tone that would not stop until I turned the computer off.

Any thoughts? Feel free to ask for clarification or more examples. I've had this machine for over three years without a hitch...

[rjenkinson]

pull any RAM you added to the machine and see if that helps. i had a RAM module go bad on me that resulted in random freezing and boot problems.

-r.

[someone]

Originally Posted by rjenkinson

pull any RAM you added to the machine and see if that helps.

Thanks -- but the machine hasn't been hardware upgraded since I got it. Stock RAM, stock everything...

[JKT]

Did it come with a hardware test on the installer CD? If so, try running that.

[someone]

AHT is pretty useless since the machine most times won't even give me a startup chime -- holding down C or option or the mouse button won't do anything, since the screen doesn't even come on.

[imitchellg5]

I think it is the logic board.

[someone]

and yet my caps lock key light turns on....

Originally Posted by an apple service manual

Caps lock LED power check
There are situations when the system is giving indications that it is shut down (no hard
drive access, screen is dark, no fan, and so on). However, the logic board may still be
running. In this case, the logic board is drawing power and generating heat.

Check this situation by pressing the caps lock key.

[imitchellg5]

Maybe it is only half dead?

[someone]

okay, then how do i diagnose and fix a half dead logic board? can you think of anything else that might be wrong?

[imitchellg5]

I think you would have to buy a whole new logic board, but I am not 100% sure. Do you plan on getting rid of your PowerBook?

[someone]

Well ideally no...but would it be more cost-effective to replace? It's waay after warranty, after all

[imitchellg5]

Depends. Sometimes not, sometimes yes. It is for iBooks, but I don't know about PowerBook G4 17." Ebay is a good place to look.

[brokenjago]

Apple will want to charge you around $600 for a replacement, I believe, so I imagine they're not a very cost-effective option.