PBG4/867 Intermittedly Dies
I am running into an extremely bizarre problem that I can't solve.
My PBG4/867 runs perfectly most of the time. Very recently, however, when I restart it or hit the power button after it is shut down, it will do nothing. There's no chime, no screen brightness, and no HD booting news. It does whir and do basic things like check the fan and optical drive, but it doesn't proceed to boot. If I keep forcing it to shut down from this state (by holding down the power button for several seconds) and then hitting the power button, it eventually will boot, at which point everything is fine.
Things I've tried:
* resetting power manager
* repairing permissions (once I finally got the thing to load)
* pulling non-Apple RAM from top slot
* switching standard-Apple RAM between RAM slots
I brought it to the Apple store, and they told me it was bad RAM. After pulling the supposedly offensive RAM chip, the problem has continued.
I'm losing my mind -- anyone have ideas about this? Thanks!
My PBG4/867 runs perfectly most of the time. Very recently, however, when I restart it or hit the power button after it is shut down, it will do nothing. There's no chime, no screen brightness, and no HD booting news. It does whir and do basic things like check the fan and optical drive, but it doesn't proceed to boot. If I keep forcing it to shut down from this state (by holding down the power button for several seconds) and then hitting the power button, it eventually will boot, at which point everything is fine.
Things I've tried:
* resetting power manager
* repairing permissions (once I finally got the thing to load)
* pulling non-Apple RAM from top slot
* switching standard-Apple RAM between RAM slots
I brought it to the Apple store, and they told me it was bad RAM. After pulling the supposedly offensive RAM chip, the problem has continued.
I'm losing my mind -- anyone have ideas about this? Thanks!
Comments
Tell us if it works...
* resetting PRAM
* starting up in single user mode to fsck
Neither thing works, however. The computer doesn't even start up to the point where it recognizes that I'm trying to reset PRAM or start up in single user mode. (In the case of both, I hold down the keyboard commands for up to a minute, but there's no HD activity or chimes to indicate any response.)
Originally posted by gruth
I forgot to mention that I have tried doing the following:
* resetting PRAM
* starting up in single user mode to fsck
Neither thing works, however. The computer doesn't even start up to the point where it recognizes that I'm trying to reset PRAM or start up in single user mode. (In the case of both, I hold down the keyboard commands for up to a minute, but there's no HD activity or chimes to indicate any response.)
See if it will boot into Open Firmware (command-option-O-F).
I took it into the Apple store, and they first told me that a RAM chip was bad. But after yanking that RAM chip, the problem continued. They then told me that the mother board was fried.
The completely bizarre problem is that the computer will eventually boot if I continually press the power-on button, followed by resetting power manager. After it boots, all is well.
Other weird things: Ocassionally the computer will make either 1 or 4 beeps before refusing to start up, and then the LED that normally indicates sleep will flash one or four times. I can't correlate the beeping or flashing with anything. I have NEVER heard of this before -- help?
Originally posted by gruth
No, can't boot into open firmware.
I took it into the Apple store, and they first told me that a RAM chip was bad. But after yanking that RAM chip, the problem continued. They then told me that the mother board was fried.
The completely bizarre problem is that the computer will eventually boot if I continually press the power-on button, followed by resetting power manager. After it boots, all is well.
Other weird things: Ocassionally the computer will make either 1 or 4 beeps before refusing to start up, and then the LED that normally indicates sleep will flash one or four times. I can't correlate the beeping or flashing with anything. I have NEVER heard of this before -- help?
Every word you're saying is an indication
of a serious problem with the hardware.
Flashing LEDs usually tell you the hard way:
"i am broken".
The flashing pattern they use (eg. 3x fast) indicates
the problem you have to deal with.
Can be the Optical Drive,
or any other part of your Mac. Sorry to say that.
good luck
Originally posted by gruth
Damn. You confirmed my worst fears.
Two more things. Maybe.
It didn't get clear to me, if you've also tried to boot from
CD? Well, if it is possible anymore.
Push the power button, wait a split second,
put a bootable CD into the slot quickly,
hold KEY no. "c".
See what happens.
Sometimes the drive didn't spin-up when I started up the computer. The computer kept searching for an active drive and made beeping noises while doing so.
When I replaced the drive, the computer never had trouble starting again.
Do what Vox Barbara says. Boot from a CD. Try several times. If it consistently boots without problem, your hard drive might be at fault. Get a new drive and back up your data before your drive fails completely.
Originally posted by BeigeUser
I've had the same problem. Although I can't say for sure if the cause is the same, my Digital Audio Powermac had a malfunctioning hard drive.
Sometimes the drive didn't spin-up when I started up the computer. The computer kept searching for an active drive and made beeping noises while doing so...
I encountered exactly 2 Hds dieing in my "computer life".
I remember the first one quite well. Quick an' painless.
All of a sudden there was a hefty scratching noise, then
the screen froze. Nada. Good by data.
The 2nd one was a real nasty thing.
Sometimes the computer booted properly,
sometimes not. If not, the beeping occurred,
accompanied with flashing LEDs. The flashing
pattern gave me some hints. Service people
told me: 5x flashing means dead HD. 4x means
dead motherboard. 3x means dead Optical and so on.
It was a slow dieing i tell you.
cheers
The pattern of 4 flashing LED's/beeps that my computer emits matches with Vox Barbara's description of a dead motherboard.
Does anyone have any idea about where the best to place to sell the remains of this laptop would be for parts? Ebay? Some other place?