From: "doobisary" <tjp314@pacbell.net>

Date: July 14, 2010 8:39:06 PM MDT

To: Astro_IIDC@yahoogroups.com

Subject: Re: My Powerbook G4 is dying!


Thanks for the suggestions.  A little more info:


I've had this problem since the computer was brand new.  It crashed a number of times like this within the first month or so, so I took it in for warranty service.  When I got it back, it still would crash, but seldom more often than about once a month.  


About a year or so ago, the internal hard disk crashed and the computer wouldn't boot at all, so I replaced it with a 160GB drive.  Crashes went away for a few months, but returned.  Again, only occasional crashes after that, until last week in Utah.


I'm typing from it now but haven't had any problems crop up yet.


It's got the 1.5GB of RAM that came with it, but one of the Ram chips was installed at MacMall, where I bought the computer.  More recently than the hard drive replacement, I replaced the keyboard (popped off the "L" key by snagging a thread in the bedspread!), the battery (wouldn't hold a charge for more than a few minutes, but the new one still runs for a couple hours or so), and the power adapter (non-apple aftermarket gizmo - cheap, but it gets HOT, and sometimes so does the laptop).  I believe the fan works, but it never was very noisy.


When the problem occurred last week, I attached it to my Macbook Pro from work via a FW 800-400 cable (from one of my Pt Grey cameras) and booted the G4 in target mode (should I try by booting the Macbook Pro in target mode?  Or will I need another G4?).  Disk utility said it couldn't be repaired, but that I could still copy data off it, and should do so and then reformat the drive.  I did that, and now have 10.4.11 back on.  I don't believe that I partitioned the drive either when I installed it or when I reformatted it (just used the default setting in Disk Utility)



--- In Astro_IIDC@yahoogroups.com, Milton Aupperle <milton@...> wrote:


Good suggestions.


Just to add in here.


Target Disk mode will only see the first (0) disk partition it finds.  

If you have your drive split into multiple partitions, it will not see  

any other ones than the first.


HTH..


Milton Aupperle


On 14-Jul-10, at 3:52 PM, Ernest Wright wrote:




Borrow another G4,hook it up to yours in Target disk mode with a FW  

cable then hold the option key down while you boot the misbehaving  

computer. You will be presented with the option of booting from the  

other computer. Play with the one in question to see if it displays  

the same behavior as when it is booted to its own HD. If not then  

you know it's probably the HD. May be overheating or bad clusters  

that it needs to access only once in awhile? You can also boot to  

the system DVD and run Disk Utility to verify the HD but that can be  

unreliable unless there is something grossly wrong. If you can  

borrow a copy of Tech Tool Pro it will tell you if you have some bad  

clusters on the HD. Can you hear the fan running properly on the G4?  

Do you have two RAM modules in the machine, one of which was  

installed after purchase? Take the after-market module out and see  

how the computer runs. These are the strategies I would employ if it  

were my computer. Your mileage may vary but good luck!


Ernie