[Phat Bastard]

I've been searching for threads relating to this issue and I've been posting like crazy trying to get to the bottom of this problem I'm having.

Hopefully you guys in this forum will be more helpful. Here's my problem (and it's serious since the computer is being advertised as for sale):

The display on my Powerbook G4 400 started randomly not responding after waking the computer from sleep. I'd close the lid, walk away (time doesn't matter, I've left it asleep for anywhere from 5 seconds to 2 hours), come back and open the lid, and the hard drive spins up but the display doesn't turn on. Combined with some other problems I was having, I relation to theming and dock modifications, I thought I'd reinstall 10.2.3 yesterday. So I did. Things were fine for a while until I put the machine to sleep and wake it up again. Whammo--the hard drive spins up, but the display doesn't turn on.

The only way I can get the display to light up is by rebooting the system anywhere from 3 to 6 times. Needless to say, this is unacceptable.

My computer has been in tip-top shape for the two years I've had it and this seems to be a completely random event that has happened at a VERY inopportune time for me (selling the damn thing).

Now, I've read discussion upon discussion and thread upon thread here on Macnn and on the Apple support groups, and there are many people having this issue with many kinds of Macs. Anything from a Powermac G4 400, from a iBook 700 to a Powerbook 1 GHz. People are running OS 10.1.5, OS 10.2, OS 10.2.2 and OS 10.2.3. In other words, this is an issue that is irrespective of Mac computer and seems to happen only in later versions of OS X. I've noticed there are a variety of opinions as to why this is happening:

-conflicts with USB devices---I'm not using any USB devices when this happens.
-conflicts with Firewire hard drives--I don't have a Firewire hard drive.
-issues with the PRAM and it should be reset--I've tried this, to no avail.
-battery issues--this problem happens when the system is plugged in.

Just wanted to eliminate those trains of thought.

I would like to know if
1) anyone else is having this problem and
2) how did you fix it, if you did.

If we can't solve this issue I'm going to contact Apple and REALLY give them a piece of my mind. Or two.

Thanks in advance to any respondents and sorry for the long message!

Oh, btw, I haven't had this problem on my iMac (yet).

[93TT]

My powerbook G3 just developed the same problem about 5 days ago. Now when I wake from sleep, the display stays about 90% dim. The only fix is to reboot. Even then, on the login screen I have to hit the brightness button for it to pop to life out of it's dim mode. I'v tried resetting the PRAM (multiple times) with no luck as well. I've been running 10.2.4 flawlessly for a month.
This might help: the problem first appeared when I unplugged my powerbook while in sleep mode. The battery I found out is totally drained so having no power the system crashed. When I plugged it back in and rebooted, the date was set at 1969(?!!). Now it stays dim after sleep. Is it something to do with the power managment? It wants to save power by keeping the screen dim?
Anyone out there encounter this before, and solved it too? Any help would be most appreciated.
Pat

Powerbook G3 (Wallstreet) 256Megs Ram, 30 gig HD.