PowerBook G4 17" freezes appearing to over heat
Hello. I have a PowerBook G4 Aluminum 17"model A1139 that started freezing days after a HD replacement. The system was restored from a Time Machine backup of the previous HD. It was fine for a few days at first but after when I was playing a music file in Safari it suddenly stuttered then stopped dead. The machine had totally froze and required the power button to be held down to shut it off.
I went through the motions, read up on resetting PMU and PRAM and all that. The machine has a 65W adaptor. It also has a replacement battery a friend got off eBay so I also wonder if that can cause it. It currently has 1GB of RAM.
I've done a bit of experimenting so far but am frustrated that I still don't know what the problem is. This is a shame as the machine is in VGC, suitable as a portable workhorse, with the biggest laptop screen I've ever seen!
When I replaced the HD I had trouble with the keyboard flat ribbon and thought I may have damaged it. So I tested it with the ribbon removed. Still froze.
I booted the OSX install CD to test the drive. Disk Utility reported no problems on the drive. I ran all the repair options just in case.
I thought the HD may be drawing too much power. So I tested without the HD. I booted an Ubuntu 10 DVDRW. It ran fine for an hour and then froze.
I suspect it is overheating because I can feel the bottom get hot and I cannot hear any fans/motors apart from HD. On top of that it needs to "cool down" after a freeze and won't start up (chime and all) after a few minutes. And then the lesser cooling off period I give it the more quicly it locks up again.
I located and ran an Apple Hardware Test from CD. I ran the extensive test. Twice on two occasions. I could hear it turn the fans on. And in the end it reported no problem. Great, I'm still clueless!
Back in OSX I found a program to show temperature and fan speed. It shows two CPU bottoms, one 45C, the other as 60C. Power supply 54C. Track pad 34C. HD is 34C. It showed a rear fan at 2300 RPM and a rear exhaust as 0 RPM. I had been running it off the battery for almost half an hour and it managed not to freeze during that time. Then it went to sleep. I plugged power in and woke it up. The CPU reading dropped before picking up again. But then it reported both fans as 0 RPM! :-o
Okay, so with all of the above, does anything stand out? Can you see any reason the machine would freeze? What experiment should I try next. :-)
Es esta una buena pregunta?
1 comentario
Thanks for your reply. I didn't realise it would be shutting down given it totally locks up. Well given there is no ASOD (Apple Screen Of Death) I suppose that the CPU locked up.
I've currently got it unscrewed to the point of what is needed to replace HD. Since I unscrewed it again after the freezing. I thought I may have also brushed against some cables relating to fan. But I dread taking more screws out. :-o
I also wonder if there is a way to start up without the laptop keyboard? I have an Apple M2452 Keyboard that I plugged in order to start it with the on button but I cannot get it to work. This is strange as I'm certain I used it to do so when I pulled the internal one out and the on switch with it. I also have an M7803 Apple Pro Keyboard.
Anyway, the last three figures are SX0.
- de Damien