Powerbook 17" G4 1.67ghz - dead logic board, or dead DC board?

Hi there,
I have recently come in to the possession of a Powerbook G4 17" 1.67ghz, given to me by a friend in an attempt to fix it. The problem is simple: it won’t turn on! when plugged into the power cord, it makes the green illuminated rim on the flex turn off. I then have to turn the power supply off and on again to get it to work on other machines. I have been told it could be a DC board issue, or it could be logic board... If anyone could shed any light on the issue I would be grateful... Would prefer not to have to splash out on a new logic board!
Chris
Powerbook G4 17" 1.67ghz Mac OS X (10.4.8)
iBook G3 500 Mac OS X (10.4.3)

I went through this last year.
Power's up - but the light around the power plug flickers green all the time - even when charging.
Won't charge when it's in sleep or turned off.
Thought DC board - logically - but nope logic board.
Then found out bluetooth wasn't working either.
Well I thought 800USD is a lot to pay to fix those 2 things - so just living with it now.
So even if it appears to be DC board - it might not be....
hope this info somehow helps you out
cheers
Jase

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power down and remove the power cable from the back of the mac
remove all the cards in the PCIE slots .. including the Graphics card in slot 1
remove all the disk drives in BAY1-BAY4
remove the memory riser cards (yep simple to do)
optionally but worth it (pull out the memory DIMMS and reseat them again . you never know)
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now with the POWER CABLE STILL NOT connected to the MAC PRO, PRESS and HOLD in the POWER BUTTON for 5-10 seconds and release it.This will help discharge the P/S caps apparently
NOW... put the power cable back in and POWER ON without any cards or memory or disks in. It wont go anywhere..
Power it off again
NOw insert all the GRPAHICs PCIE card in SLOT 1 only (leave the others for now), and a insert a SINGLE DISK that has the production OSX on it (leave the other disks out unless you have a RAID CARD for the internal disks)... DONT attach any other IO devices other than the screen and keyboard etc to teh MAC PRO just yet
Ready?... now HOLD THE POWER BUTTON IN FOR 20 SECONDS until you seethe LED bower flash AND it makes a SQUEALING sound. This will reset the system management controller.
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IF it works, shut it down and put in the remainder of the DISK bays and PCIE cards and the other external I/O devices. YOu may want to do this serially and power up and down to make sure its not one of these components that is contributing to the error.
This procedure has worked a few time for my colleague and I ove rthe years, especially of the machine has been left unused for a while and or it has been moved and bumped.
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BEst of luck mate.
Post your results for others to see.
Warwick

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Pretty much, Yes.
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PowerBook 15" Al not turning on (Logic Board dead)

Hi,
My powerbook has not been turning on since last morning. I went to get it checked at the apple care centre in Bangalore and they tell me its a logic board issue. Now this is something very strange for me. Last night it was working fine and I had just turned my pb off after work. When I tried to start it in the morning it just wouldnt turn on and now they tell me that the logic board had gone kaput. I cant understand how this can happen when there is was off the external power supply.
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vibhanshu:
I have not seen as many logic board issues with the 15", although if you go to the Search field at the top right of this page and type in logicboard, I am sure you will find you are not the only one.
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cornelius
Message was edited by: cornelius

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Thankyou very much
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jayson,
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3 times dead logic board and now you are on your own.

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When you buy a computer that has a know problem and you let them try to correct it, is this how you should be treated? Has any one else been treated like this?
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Hi S SQUAT-
Greetings and welcome to the Apple Discussion boards
Miriam offers sage advice. Contact Apple at the number provided and firmly yet politely state your case.
You may also want to research your local consumer protection laws. Often manufacturer's are given three tries to fix the same problem then must provide you with another solution in either a refund or a replacement unit.
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I've removed the faulty logic board and the replacement one is on standby - here's a photo of it; http://img810.imageshack.us/img810/3964/logicboard.jpg As you can see on the lower part of the image, bottom left corner there is the motorola processor, then next to that approx 1.5 inches square there is a heat sink(?) and then next to that there are 4 squares with a grey diamond shape in the centre - not quite sure what this is.
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some replacment boards are shipped with "thermal pads" - foam is likely leftover from the removed thermal pad, which are kind of sticky thin plastic-like pads and are glued to the chips on the board.
maybe consider getting some pads at your local computer store, if not mistaken, pad is only used on the processor chip, paste is used on video controller chip for that logic board
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Many kernel panics, possible dead logic board?

I hope someone can help my diagnose my recently quirky iMac G4 1 ghz 17 in flat panel. I currently have a 250 G Seagate hard drive, 1 G memory. It's running Tiger 10.4.11...or attempting to run it.
This computer ran beautifully until several weeks ago when I foolishly attempted to upgrade to Leopard. Only about a third of Leopard got installed when the system froze and crashed. I managed to access the hard drive and did a complete wipe and install of good old Tiger, upgraded to 10.4.10 which ran without a glitch in the past.
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I think I obviously have a hardware problem and since I've recently replaced the hard drive and both memory modules as well as done a fresh reinstall of the OS version this iMac used to run perfectly, I'm thinking I have a logic board issue.
Any opinions or suggestions on how I might get these issues worked out would be very much appreciated!

Thanks for responding. Yes, I've already followed all those suggestions to the letter. Unfortunately I do not have the original Apple Hardware Test disc that came with this computer. I have oredered a copy of Tech Tool Pro and plan to run it but it has yet to arrive.
I let the computer rest overnight and it booted right up and so far no freezes or panics, I've been using it about a half-hour.
Of note, in the kernel panic log folder it says,
Unresolved kernel trap(cpu 0): 0x300 - Data access DAR=0x0000000017FCBA10 PC=0x0000000000081F1C
Latest crash info for cpu 0:
Exception state (sv=0x2E9CC780)
PC=0x00081F1C; MSR=0x00009030; DAR=0x17FCBA10; DSISR=0x42000000; LR=0x0008223C; R1=0x17FC3A60; XCP=0x0000000C (0x300 - Data access)
Backtrace:
0x0008223C 0x00062D04 0x000A81F8 0x000ABD00
Proceeding back via exception chain:
Exception state (sv=0x2E9CC780)
previously dumped as "Latest" state. skipping...
Exception state (sv=0x2E9CB000)
PC=0x00013110; MSR=0x00009030; DAR=0x006D55FC; DSISR=0x40000000; LR=0x0001227C; R1=0x17FC3DA0; XCP=0x0000000C (0x300 - Data access)
Backtrace:
0x00000002 0x0001227C 0x00022864 0x000AC02C 0x1E010000
Exception state (sv=0x2EA7A780)
PC=0x9000B208; MSR=0x0200D030; DAR=0x901A640C; DSISR=0x40000000; LR=0x9000B15C; R1=0xBFFFF100; XCP=0x00000030 (0xC00 - System call)
Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 8.4.0: Tue Jan 3 18:22:10 PST 2006; root:xnu-792.6.56.obj~1/RELEASE_PPC
panic(cpu 0 caller 0xFFFF0003): 0x300 - Data access
Latest stack backtrace for cpu 0:
Backtrace:
0x00095718 0x00095C30 0x0002683C 0x000A8384 0x000ABD00
Proceeding back via exception chain:
Exception state (sv=0x2E9CC780)
PC=0x00081F1C; MSR=0x00009030; DAR=0x17FCBA10; DSISR=0x42000000; LR=0x0008223C; R1=0x17FC3A60; XCP=0x0000000C (0x300 - Data access)
Backtrace:
0x0008223C 0x00062D04 0x000A81F8 0x000ABD00
Exception state (sv=0x2E9CB000)
PC=0x00013110; MSR=0x00009030; DAR=0x006D55FC; DSISR=0x40000000; LR=0x0001227C; R1=0x17FC3DA0; XCP=0x0000000C (0x300 - Data access)
Backtrace:
0x00000002 0x0001227C 0x00022864 0x000AC02C 0x1E010000
Exception state (sv=0x2EA7A780)
PC=0x9000B208; MSR=0x0200D030; DAR=0x901A640C; DSISR=0x40000000; LR=0x9000B15C; R1=0xBFFFF100; XCP=0x00000030 (0xC00 - System call)
Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 8.4.0: Tue Jan 3 18:22:10 PST 2006; root:xnu-792.6.56.obj~1/RELEASE_PPC
I hope this might help. Thanks again.

Is it possible to run my computer if the logic board is dead?

Some water spilled in my computer a week ago and it stopped running. I sent it to repair to an authorized dealer and they said the Top Case and the Logic Board where broken. Anyhow, they gave me an expensive budget and I didn't fix my MacBook Pro.
I have bootcamp installed. When I came home I turned it as Mac and it turns out the screen is working but it got stuck at the grey apple icon with the loading wheel. I turned it off and booted as Windows. Everything went fine with Windows. I'm actually writing this from windows. Sound is working, keyboard is working, screen is working. It seems fine.
Is it possible that they gave a wrong diagnosis? How can I fix my Mac partition without format?
Cheers

xavest wrote:
I recently upgraded to OSx 6 around two months ago.
No such OS for Macs
OS 10.5.x = Leopard
OS 10.6.x = Snow Leopard
OS 10.7.x = Lion
OS 10.8.x = Mountain Lion
Which one are you using?

Dead logic board. Lemon?

hey all,
Ive had my 15 inch PB G4 (1.33 Ghz) for about a year and a half. I recently got some strange graphical corruption on the computer ( vertical rows of black and white squares all over the screen - at the apple logo at start up) and called apple. The tech diagnosed it over the phone as a logic board issue and asked that i send it in. I dont have apple care... i realize what a mistake this was, but its too late and ive already heard about it from all my friends so i dont need to hear about what a mistake i made again :P
my question is, this is the second logic board, as well as the third keyboard repair ( the keyboard was 'peeling up' off the computer) and my second screen. I was in the middle of playing neverwinter nights and the screen got all corrupted - it was like an instant logic board failure.
my question: is it feasable to even approach a customer relations representative and ask for a replacement when i effectively have no more warranty? i feel like this computer was a lemon. Im a student and i spent about 1700 dollars on this when it was new. it doesnt exactly feel like a superior machine... ive always had problems with it. thanks in advance for any advice.
-Aaron

im just finishing up with apple on the phone right now, the customer relations person said they would have apple pay for this repair in full, and this is actually my first logic board replacement, so im pretty **** happy!
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Logic Board a1226 Dead Price to fix

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Powerbook G4 17" 1.67ghz found in trash

About a month ago I found this laptop in a trash can all in pieces. When I saw it I gathered up all the pieces I could find and took it home. I managed to piece it together nicely. I am only missing the sound ribbon cable. As well as the superdrive, hdd, ram, battery, and charger ...
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The internal backup battery is what keeps the notebook running when the main battery runs dry. It gives you the few minutes needed to get the computer onto the a/c adaptor without losing data. The ones listed here:
http://www.powerbookguy.com/xcart/catalog/USB-Boards-price0-p-1-c-786.html
are all "used/pulled." I try not to buy used batteries.
I love resurrecting older Macs as much as anyone; they don't deserve dumpster death. This one sounds like you can spend a whole lot of money to get it limping only to find other, much more expensive problems. So please consider this as from one rebuilder to another--this one could be trouble due to how delicate the parts are (compared to a desktop model). I've overhauled three G3 Powerbooks (Wallstreet) and their inside parts are HUGE compared to the G4 PB.
As long as the case is open, start looking at all the little logic board connectors--a good light and modest magnification will help. I don't have a picture of what broken connectors looks like, but you're not a newb at this by any means.
This should be a great help:
http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Mac/PowerBook-G4-Al-17-Inch/55
Click any picture and see a nice enlargement for telling what's "normal."
Best of luck! Here's hoping you succeed.

Powerbook 17" G4 1.67ghz - dead logic board, or dead DC board?

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