Display remains dark after wakeup

Question

The last few times I have awakened my four-year-old iBook G4 12" from sleep, the screen has flashed on briefly (just a flash), then gone dark again--not full black but nearly. The On light on the edge of the case remains lit, and I assume that the CPU and hard drive are working. No amount of key pushing will get the screen to come on, and the only way I can get it back is to turn the machine off with the button, wait a minute or so, and then use the button to turn it back on. At that point everything works OK, except that Word is disposed to crash. I have reset the power management system so that I can leave my work for a few minutes without having to worry about Sleep, and taken to turning the machine off when I quit for the day. I am concerned, however, that the problem may signal something even nastier lying in wait. The hard drive is relatively new--15 months. Any advice?
Dramaturg

Answer 1

Drama,
The last few times I have awakened my four-year-old iBook G4 12" from sleep, the screen has flashed on briefly (just a flash), then gone dark again
So how was it that you were putting the iBook to sleep? Via the Apple command or closing the lid?
--not full black but nearly.
So it's really dim but you can still see the desktop?
The On light on the edge of the case remains lit, and I assume that the CPU and hard drive are working.
Do you have the mini VGA adapter and another monitor to hook up?
The On light on the edge of the case remains lit, and I assume that the CPU and hard drive are working.
If you attached an external monitor that would also verify if that was the case.
I have reset the power management system
Like this?
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=14449
Have you done a "deep reset?" Pulling all power and letting it sit for 10 minutes after PMU reset.
I've also seen the super cap that holds settings on the PMU blow up and leak out.
Not exactly sure what the symptoms of that problem would be but I've replaced them with units from Electronics Goldmine. They're .22 F at 5.5 Volts. I had to mod them to make it work.
Richard
Message was edited by: spudnuty