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You are here: MacNN Forums > Hardware - Troubleshooting and Discussion > Mac Notebooks > Thoughts? 700mHz G3 iBook powers off abruptly.

Thoughts? 700mHz G3 iBook powers off abruptly.
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savoirfaire
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Sep 17, 2008, 09:11 PM
 
Yes, I know it's old, but my 700mhz G3 iBook has been great for basic uses like word processing, putting together powerpoint presentations, and surfing the net. I had not shut it down for months (sleep only), but one day I came home from work and found that it was OFF while plugged in to the charger.

It booted up normally, but about a minute after loading the desktop, it suddenly just powered off as if someone had yanked the plug on a desktop or something. Battery showed full power. It would not power back up again. A few hours later, I tried again and it powered up this time, only to power off abruptly within a couple of minutes of loading the desktop.

Any idea what might be going on? Someone had suggested poor soldering on some processor or something and told me to try applying pressure to the left palmrest with a c-clamp or something. That doesn't seem to solve the problem. Obviously, it's not worth paying to have it repaired, but if someone knows a cheap or easy fix...
     
tooki
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Sep 17, 2008, 10:54 PM
 
Do a power manager reset on it. (Search apple.com/support to find the specific instructions for your computer model.)
     
savoirfaire  (op)
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Sep 18, 2008, 12:11 AM
 
Originally Posted by tooki View Post
Do a power manager reset on it. (Search apple.com/support to find the specific instructions for your computer model.)
Thanks for the suggestion... I actually tried that already to no avail.
     
ginoledesma
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Sep 18, 2008, 02:55 AM
 
I've seen this happen with a "dead" battery, even one where it claimed to be at full charge, both according to Mac OS X and the battery life indicator on the battery unit. My uncle's iBook G3 exhibited similar symptoms. I popped in my iBook G4's battery and that fixed the problem for him. It turns out his iBook's battery could no longer sustain a charge enough to power his Mac.
     
Andrew Stephens
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Sep 18, 2008, 07:32 AM
 
Originally Posted by ginoledesma View Post
I've seen this happen with a "dead" battery, even one where it claimed to be at full charge, both according to Mac OS X and the battery life indicator on the battery unit. My uncle's iBook G3 exhibited similar symptoms. I popped in my iBook G4's battery and that fixed the problem for him. It turns out his iBook's battery could no longer sustain a charge enough to power his Mac.
yes but it should still boot from the charger. Have you tried starting it with the battery completely removed?
     
savoirfaire  (op)
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Sep 18, 2008, 11:25 AM
 
Originally Posted by Andrew Stephens View Post
yes but it should still boot from the charger. Have you tried starting it with the battery completely removed?
Yes, that's what I was thinking. It doesn't matter if the computer is plugged in or not. I will boot it up with the battery out to see if that works... that's one thing I haven't tried yet. Thanks for the suggestions! This machine has worked so well for me I hate to give up on it.
     
Andrew Stephens
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Sep 19, 2008, 02:31 AM
 
If the charge light is on but it's not delivering power then I would suspect that there is a fault in the power board, from memory that's a pig of a job on those.
     
markponcelet
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Oct 8, 2008, 06:31 PM
 
I had this problem occur with my macbook pro when the battery was defective. Consider running the machine with the battery completely removed and see if it spontaneously shuts off.

If not, maybe you could just replace the battery.
17" Rev. A MBP (ATI X1600 256 MB, 2 GB RAM, OS 10.5, Parallels Build 3214)
     
amazing
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Oct 9, 2008, 08:56 PM
 
I've noticed that my iBook power plug slips out very easily, after having been plugged in so often. The plug still hangs there, but it isn't pushed in far enough to keep charging.

So, if the battery isn't so good, and the plug slips out, then the thing will shut down.
     
savoirfaire  (op)
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Oct 16, 2008, 09:46 PM
 
Originally Posted by markponcelet View Post
I had this problem occur with my macbook pro when the battery was defective. Consider running the machine with the battery completely removed and see if it spontaneously shuts off.

If not, maybe you could just replace the battery.
I know this is an old thread, but I just wanted to post an update. Markponcelet and Andrew Stephens were right! Once I took out the battery it worked just fine using the power brick! I wonder what is wrong with the battery to make the computer shut down abruptly even while plugged in? Anyway, this is given my iBook new life! Now it will be easier for me to hold on a few months to see if Apple adds FireWire back into the later revisions of the new MacBook. They added FireWire 800 back into the MacBook Pro after that first came out, so there's still hope...
     
markponcelet
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Oct 17, 2008, 01:27 PM
 
Originally Posted by savoirfaire View Post
I know this is an old thread, but I just wanted to post an update. Markponcelet and Andrew Stephens were right! Once I took out the battery it worked just fine using the power brick! I wonder what is wrong with the battery to make the computer shut down abruptly even while plugged in?
When I reported this problem to Apple, they replaced my battery even though it was not under warranty. (At least, I think I was out of warranty. Anyway, the battery had expanded marginally inside of the aluminum casing. I guess Apple had a recall for batteries of that family. See if you can get yours replaced for free! Doesn't hurt to ask, right?
17" Rev. A MBP (ATI X1600 256 MB, 2 GB RAM, OS 10.5, Parallels Build 3214)
     
   
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