MDD light+chime, then nothing

I'm having a worrisome problem with my MDD dual 1ghz g4. It will sometimes turn off when in sleep mode. When I try to boot it back up, it comes on and chimes and I can hear the HDD spin up, but then it will just turn off. Usually after about 3 or 4 attempts it will boot up just fine.
I thought it might be the battery on the logic board, since the clock would re-set every time the machine was powered down, so I replaced it. That fixed the clock issue, but the machine is still turning off and taking several attempts to start back up.
I have no idea what is causing this. One thing I do know is that this house is pretty old and the wiring seems iffy. I have a battery backup on another machine and sometimes it will start beeping like it's lost power, but it's still plugged in and the light indicating that it's receiving power is on, so I think sometimes the power from the wall fluctuates. This might explain the MDD spontaneously shutting off, but does it explain the difficulty restarting?
UPDATE:
I just turned on my external FireWire drive to back-up my system and it wouldn't mount. I thought that was strange, so I had a look in System Profiler and under FireWire it says "no information."
I tried to run a hardware test using Tech Tool Pro, and the FireWire test was grayed-out (unavailable). It looks like my FireWire has just stopped working!
Also, now every time I try to re-start, the machine goes through the regular routine, chimes and shuts off. This is scary--can anyone help?

Try a PMU reset. Sometimes this needs to be done after a battery is installed.
Thought you could use this info about getting FireWire to work! First, you should always Repair Permissions in Disk Utility before and after any update; I would do that now. If you installed your update with FireWire plugged in, your Mac may not recognize it anymore.
Try resetting your FireWire ports by disconnecting all FW devices, shut down your Mac and unplug it from AC power (wall socket) for 30 minutes. plug it back in and try FW.
If that didn't work, download the combo update from this site (yours may be corrupt), not Software Update, disconnect all firewire + USB devices except keyboard + mouse, Repair Permissions, re-install update, Repair Permissions again + try.
If that still didn't get it Zap the PRAM. While restarting Mac hold down the following key combo Command-Option-P-R. Keep holding those keys down till you hear the second start-up chime, then release.
For those of you with Macs that are not PowerBooks or iBooks, a bad internal battery can cause FireWire to not be recognized, so make sure it's good! Also, here is
Apple KB HT1317 on getting FireWire to work.
Here's another
Fw Faq.
DALE

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jus..,
I too am having this same problem.
Not exactly.
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Exactly
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http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Mac/iBook-G4-14-Inch/Display/84/19/
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Message was edited by: spudnuty

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Hey. So briefly.
On way home, layed bag flat with macbook inside. Water bottle cap not tight all the way. Felt cold on right leg, thought it was cold aluminum. Felt it and was water. Had very small puddle at bottom of bag. Immediately took macbook out and wiped down. No water inside keyboard area. Did not lift screen enough to wake from sleep. White light still intermittently flashing indicating that. Went to apple store. They opened lid and immediately held down power to shut off completely. Went to back and took off back lid, came back and said that it produced a puddle??? Not impressed with that or way it was said. They advised to leave it for 1-3 days. Went home, took off back lid, inspected and absolutely no water at all! Put back lid back on and turned on. It booted to login screen, then past after entering info. Loaded programs galore. After 5-8 minutes, shut down by itself. Tried turning on again, I hear boot chime then something clicking off inside, no screen. Then white light flases as if it is put in hibernation mode. I try one more time to hold down power and then boot up again, chime and same thing. No screen at all, click inside (dvd drive?) and hibernate...
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MarkusLarockus wrote:
Hey. So briefly.
On way home, layed bag flat with macbook inside. Water bottle cap not tight all the way. Felt cold on right leg, thought it was cold aluminum. Felt it and was water. Had very small puddle at bottom of bag. Immediately took macbook out and wiped down. No water inside keyboard area. Did not lift screen enough to wake from sleep. White light still intermittently flashing indicating that. Went to apple store. They opened lid and immediately held down power to shut off completely. Went to back and took off back lid, came back and said that it produced a puddle??? Not impressed with that or way it was said. They advised to leave it for 1-3 days. Went home, took off back lid, inspected and absolutely no water at all! Put back lid back on and turned on. It booted to login screen, then past after entering info. Loaded programs galore. After 5-8 minutes, shut down by itself. Tried turning on again, I hear boot chime then something clicking off inside, no screen. Then white light flases as if it is put in hibernation mode. I try one more time to hold down power and then boot up again, chime and same thing. No screen at all, click inside (dvd drive?) and hibernate...
What do you think? Battery indicator says full. White light flashes. No screen though and no boot up. Everything backed up on time capsule. Is there hope after 1-3 days? If not, what do you think is fried? What's the cost estimate? Anyone ever have a favour by apple because of extreme loyalty to the brand (product buying).
Thanks for listening and assisting. Will try anything.
You're probably past the stage when drying it off would help, but dry it needs to be before! you apply power to it again. If the battery is removable, remove it. Put it (as LInc said) in a bag of uncooked rice, for a minimum of 7 days, DO NOT turn it on again until this time has passed.
Good luck

MDD light+chime, then nothing

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