Powerbook G4 -- chime, but no boot

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Steven Fisher - 28 Dec 2004 10:43 GMT

My wife's Ti Powerbook (1st generation 500 MHz) has had problematic
airport reception for a while. Today, I was unable to start it. The
hard drive begins to spin, it chimes, but the display does not light
and it does not seem to make enough noise to actually be trying to
boot. I can hold down the power key to turn it off. The caps lock and
num lock both respond. Nothing else happens.

The chime suggests to me that it is not motherboard or RAM, but I'm not
really sure. Any suggestions?

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Cathy Stevenson - 28 Dec 2004 18:21 GMT

> My wife's Ti Powerbook (1st generation 500 MHz) has had problematic
> airport reception for a while. Today, I was unable to start it. The
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
> The chime suggests to me that it is not motherboard or RAM, but I'm not
> really sure. Any suggestions?

Try resetting the Power Management Unit. At the Apple support site,
put "reset PMU" in the search box, and the KB article with the
instructions will appear on the list.

If that doesn't work, you might want to specify whether the TiBook
boots from the system disks, whether you zapped PRAM, and any other
troubleshooting steps you may have tried. It also helps if you specify
what version of the OS is on the PB.

Cathy

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Steven Fisher - 29 Dec 2004 11:32 GMT

I thought I had, but it looks like I used the wrong process to do so.
I'm too used to the AlBook's keyboard-slam and forgot about the reset
button on the back. :)

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matt neuburg - 28 Dec 2004 18:41 GMT

> My wife's Ti Powerbook (1st generation 500 MHz) has had problematic
> airport reception for a while. Today, I was unable to start it. The
> hard drive begins to spin, it chimes, but the display does not light
> and it does not seem to make enough noise to actually be trying to
> boot. I can hold down the power key to turn it off. The caps lock and
> num lock both respond. Nothing else happens.

This is a classic symptom of your PRAM battery having gone dead, so step
one would be to check it. m.

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Steven Fisher - 29 Dec 2004 11:35 GMT

I'll check that out, Matt. Thank you.

In the meantime, the PMU reset got it back online. So at least we have
a workaround for next time it happens.

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Mac Forum / General / Portable Macs / December 2004

Powerbook G4 -- chime, but no boot