Deadish Powerbook A1138

[Unknown_K]

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?

 

[rsolberg]

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.

 

[techknight]

Or your just suffering from GPU failure. 

 

[Unknown_K]

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.

 

[Byrd]

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