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| Deadish Powerbook A1138 |
Posted by: Unknown_K on 2017-03-06 16:30:30
I recently snagged a Powerbook G4 1138 (Last of the G4 15.2" laptops with high resolution screen and DDR2 RAM) and it doesn't work.
Removed the PRAM battery and installed a nice 160GB IDE drive (one of the fastest IDE laptop drives made). The HD is a clone of my G4 MDD drive.
The unit bongs almost every time but the screen stays dark and it keeps working the DVDROM mechanism (its empty).
Sometimes it will boot but get stuck on a blue screen no cursor (caps lock button works), sometimes the white power button goes out.
Very weird. The screen when it does work is 100% fine, so at least that worked out, and the unit body looks very nice with no major imperfections. Insides look fine with no water damage I could see, the 2x1GB RAM sticks are good as well.
Any ideas?
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Posted by: rsolberg on 2017-03-06 17:10:21
Does it behave any differently if you try powering on while holding 'T' for FireWire Target mode? If you haven't already, I'd try resetting the power management unit as per Apple's KB here: https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT1431
Furthermore, I might try disconnecting the optical drive in case it's causing a serious error with the ATA controller.
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Posted by: techknight on 2017-03-06 19:10:21
Or your just suffering from GPU failure.
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Posted by: Unknown_K on 2017-03-06 20:27:34
Yea, I think it might be the GPU. I did get it to boot into 10.4.11 fine and I went to run a benchmark and it froze up on the graphics test.
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Posted by: Byrd on 2017-03-06 22:06:22
Later model PowerBooks I've found issues with flaky RAM slots - usually the top slot, and you might also find it covered in dry grease. Strip it down to one known good working RAM module, and also clean the contacts with electronic contact cleaner.
JB
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