Powerbook g3 Pismo won't boot

Hi guys i just got myself a pismo (always wanted one) but it won't boot at all !!
I get power to the battery the keyboard and the HD spins but thats it, no chime and nothing on screen !! also the power light does not light ...
Can anyone shed any light on what the problem may be

A dead PRAM battery can cause this. So disconnect the battery connector (it's under the kbd). This site has instructions. http://www.ifixit.com/Device/PowerBook_G3_Pismo If you get it booted, reconnect the battery. It's a rechargable battery so it may take a charge.
You can also try pressing the reset button on the back panel neat the tel line connector.
 Cheers, Tom

Similar Messages

Pismo won't boot, can't find the cause

I have a Pismo 500 that won't boot and I've torn this thing apart more times than I'd care to count and replaced every part I can think of. When I first got it it was working fine, but occasionally wouldn't boot properly or wake from sleep. When it wouldn't boot, I would press the power button and there'd be no chime, the fans would not spin up, and there was no sign of life other than the Num Lock or Caps Lock keys lighting up if pressed. What was an occasional thing is now permanent; it does this all the time now.
I have replaced the logic board, the PMU board, the AC/Sound board, and the PRAM battery. It continues to do exactly the same thing. It does this whether the PRAM battery is plugged in or not, so I have no way of knowing if the "New" replacement battery I got off eBay is actually any good or not.
Any help on this matter would be immensely appreciated as I would really love to get this unit working after the time and money put into it. Thank you.
Powerbook G3 500 (Pismo) Mac OS X (10.4)

Brash,
I take from your post that you can get the Pismo running...it is not totally dead. When up and running, open the System Profiler and see if it reports the presence of your 1MB backside L2 cache; failed L2 cache can cause no-starts.
Also, if you had a bootable 9.x CD, a cold start will present a dialogue box indicating a problem with RAM or cache memory if this is the case; this test does not run through a restart.
You can test the health of your backup battery although it is unrelated to your startup problems as you have verified:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=30017
The only component left to replace is the microprocessor card. These do go bad plus it also contains the backside L2 cache.
If you have both memory slots filled, test each memory module separately.

Pismo won't boot from install disks

Hi! I've looked to find the answer elsewhere, but no luck... apologies if this has already been answered.
I have a Powerbook G3 Pismo which I now need to use to run Hypercard. (Yes!)
It has been sitting unused for over a year.
It didn't start up.
I found an article that explained how to remove the PRAM battery. I did so. It starts up fine when connected to power.
I have ordered a new PRAM battery, but it hasn't arrived yet. I decided to go ahead and try to get it to boot.
When I powered up, I got the alternating icon saying it couldn't find an installed system.
I guessed that the hard drive had become corrupt, so I rebooted into Target Disk mode. It worked!
I connected it via FireWire to a MacBook Pro. The Pismo did show up as an external firewire hard drive. Good!
Using OS X Disk Utility, I erased the Pismo drive.
I couldn't decide whether to use OS X Extended, or OS X Extended (Journaled).
I didn't know about any options to install drivers for OS 9, so I probably did the wrong thing. (Pismo can boot into either OS 9 or OS X, I think.)
I tried to fix this later (see below).
I disconnected the Firewire and shut down.
I finally got the Pismo to boot up from a MacWarrior CD (a 3rd-party disk utility that fixes directory problems). I used it to fix the directory.
It still wouldn't boot from the original disks that came with the Pismo. The optical reader whirred away, I got a blank gray screen, it whirred again, I got another blank gray screen, but the cursor never showed up in the upper left corner. After half an hour, it had made no progress.
I reconnected the Pismo to the Macbook Pro using Firewire.
I tried to install Tiger on the Pismo using my officially purchased, large-box Tiger software. The Macbook Pro mounted the disk, but when I ran the installer, it told me I couldn't install Tiger on this machine (the Macbook Pro, duh!) and only gave me the option to quit.I thought that I could use an all-model install disk to install OS X on ANY external hard drive! What gives???!???
I tried to boot from the AppleCare Protection Plan's TechTool Deluxe.
It seemed to be booting fine into 9.1. Yippee!
It halted with a System Error (address error) telling me to restart holding down the Shift key.
I do so. It seemed to be booting fine into 9.1 again, Extensions Off.
But it halted with the same System Error.
I read about OS 9 drivers and went back into Disk Utility using the Macbook Pro.
Using Firewire to access my Pismo hard drive, I re-erased everything and made the partition have an Apple Partition Map.
I did not see any option to check or uncheck that mentioned installing OS 9 drivers. Did I miss it? Was it not there because I'm using a recent version of Disk Utility?
Same problems. Can't boot from the original Pismo "Software Restore" or "Software Install" disks, nor the TechTool Deluxe...
VERY FRUSTRATING! Have I tried everything? Has the hard drive gone bad?
Any help would be appreciated.

My new PRAM battery has been installed. I reset PRAM by doing a command-option-P-R.
The problem remains, but it's getting more consistent, which I guess is progress. With the Pismo connected to AC power (all my batteries are, of course, dead by now), the following has happened:
When I start up with the Tiger installation disk, everything goes smoothly, the gray Apple logo appears, and then, suddenly, a flurry of white text on an irregular black background floods the screen. Darwin says there's a kernel panic and they're in a loop ("we are hanging here").
When I start up with the original Software Restore disk, the blank gray screen blinks, turns a different shade of gray, the cursor arrow shows up in the upper left-hand corner, and it hangs. The cursor arrow doesn't respond to the trackpad; it's frozen.
When I start with the original Software Install disk, the same sequence takes place, but there is no cursor arrow that shows up. It just has the gray screen, a blink with a slightly different shade of gray, then it hangs.
The behavior is exactly the same for all 3 disks (respectively) when I use the MacBook Pro to start up:
Insert Pismo or Tiger disk into MacBook Pro (counterintuitively).
Start up the Pro in Target mode. Connect to Pismo using Firewire cable.
Start up Pismo. Pismo takes awhile to notice the Firewire disk, but eventually does.
Then it tries to use the disk in the Pro, but ends up acting case-by-case as it did when each disk was in the Pismo's drive (kernel panic hanging, gray screen with arrow, gray screen without arrow).
Helllllp!
My last chance will be to take a hard drive from a defunct ice iBook (dual USB) and use it to replace the factory-supplied Pismo drive. That iBook was a G4; the Pismo is a G3 (I believe). If there has developed a deep, difficult problem with the Pismo's hard drive, hopefully this will solve it:
I will try to boot from the iBook-drive-in-the-Pismo. I doubt this will work. If it does, great! If not...
I will try to boot from the Tiger installation disk, and if that works, try to install the Tiger software on it.
If that doesn't work, I will try to boot from the Software Restore and the Software Install disks.
If that doesn't work, I give up!!!! Unless someone here has a better idea.

Pismo won't boot after screen replacement?

I just replaced the screen on one of my Pismos with the iFixit guide. Now, when I hit the power button, I get the boot chime and I hear the fan whir, but that's it. No hard drive noises and nothing on the screen. It won't boot off another Pismo in TDM and the iBook doesn't see it if I try to put it in TDM. I've tried reseating the processor and the hard drive. Anyone got any idea what I did wrong? This was my first computer surgery, I really don't want to lose my patient...

pikacane:
I've tried reseating the processor
I suggest trying it again as it is the most frequent cause of the kind of non-startup you describe. With the keyboard and shield removed, remove the RAM module in the upper slot. Lift off the processor card. Replace processor card and press down with thumb(s) on the side toward palm-rest until you feel/hear the card snap into place. Press hard, don't be shy, you won't break it.
If you are satisfied you have the processor card is properly seated and it still won't startup, please post back and let us know.
cornelius

Powerbook 12 inch won't boot and I need to create a startup CD/DVD

My son's PB 12" won't boot up. We are on vacation and I have my 13 macbook with me, but none of the support disks.. I am wondering if there is a way to create a boot CD/DVD from mine to use with his, to hopefully get his computer working again. Any help would be great!

Hi, Ross. No, there isn't. The OS that runs your Intel-based MacBook won't run at all on the PPC-based Powerbook.
Hold down the Command and S keys on the Powerbook while turning it on, and use fsck in Single-User Mode to attempt file system repairs, as described in this article.

Powerbook G3 Pismo will not boot.

Could anyone help me with a Powerbook G3 Pismo which will not boot?
I bought this machine a few months ago for my daughter (to stop squabbles over who gets to use the MacBook). I have added more RAM, an Airport Card and have upgraded the OS to 10.3.9. Everything has been working well until yesterday.
My daughter has just had a disaster with the Powerbook. I'll try to describe what happened.
She was 'playing' with the Powerbook (unplugged), using several applications (MS Word & Safari possibly). She left the applications running, went to close the lid and liked the effect of the screen turning off (she liked it so much that she moved the screen up and down many times making the screen turn on and off).
She then left the computer while she went upstairs to do something else. On her return the screen was black. She moved her finger across the track pad (no response), she touched the space bar (no response), she pushed the return button (no response); she then pushed the power button (again no response). At this point she started to panic and then plugged the Powerbook back into the mains.
She tried to turn the computer on using the power button (again no response). She then left the computer until I got home.
On my return, the Powerbook would light up the screen (bright grey screen) and nothing else. I tried pressing the restart button; I got a 'chime' sound and the screen lit up but that was all. I couldn't hear any obvious sounds of life.
I tried pushing the start button and holding down apple, option, P and R and waiting for two chime sounds but again the furthest I got was the screen lighting up.
I have had a brief look at some of the troubleshooting tips on iFixit but I am at a loss to know why the computer failed in the first place.
My daughters description of what she was doing with the screen didn't sound good to me. Could a component have failed or come loose?
I can't hear any 'whirring' sound to suggest that a fan or the HD is spinning.
Does anyone have any suggestions?
I would be very grateful if you could get back to me.
I was thinking of opening up the Powerbook tomorrow and checking some of the connections; after that I was thinking of looking at the PRAM battery and so on.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Best regards
Mal (Parters)
Mac OS X 10.3.9
MS Office 2004 (Student & Teacher Edition)
Norton Antivirus for Mac 10.0
Mac OS X Cocktail

I have just spent part of my lunch break with the Powerbook on my desk, connected up to my PC's monitor.
I decided to try out several things, to see if I could finally get to the root of the problem.
1) When I tried to boot up the Powerbook as before (with the PC monitor connected to the Powerbook), the monitor had a message saying "VGA NO SIGNAL INPUT" and it then promptly powered down.
2) I followed a tip from the iFixit site by booting the Powerbook with my Jaguar installation disk in the optical drive and with the hard drive removed. When I fired up the Powerbook, the monitor showed the same background colour as the laptop screen (grey screen). The monitor screen remained grey, whereas the laptop screen showed the Apple icon. The laptop screen then turned blue, the monitor did the same but no icons or text were showing, whereas the laptop showed dialogue boxes for Mac OS X install.
The Jaguar disk was working in the optical drive and I was propmpted to install Mac OS X; obviously I did not proceed.
It would appear that the hard drive has failed.
When I looked at the underside of the hard drive, I noticed that there was a wear mark on the flexible cable; it would be close to where the cable connects to the drive itself. The wear was on the widest circuit on the left had side (looking from above). I'm not sure if this has happened previously, or with the repeated removal and replacement of the drive in recent days.
Looking into the laptop casing, there did appear to be a 'lip' in the plastic casing which may have rubbed against the cable (just a guess on my part). I wasn't sure if it was my imagination but it almost looked like a heat mark.
Has anyone got thoughts on this?
I think that the hard drive must have failed, although I do wonder about that cable.

Pismo won't boot

Hello,
My Powerbook G3 firewire Pismo 500 mHz froze yesterday and stopped booting up. (running Tiger 10.4.8 for about 6 months)
I zapped the PRAM and it worked, and then booted up but froze again. I haven't gotten it back up since.
I have tried booting from CD, in Target Disk mode with my Powerbook G4, and zapping again.
I still get the startup sound, but no display - it basically does the startup sound, then just does nothing.
Any other tips or things to try?
Thinking the HD might have died. (I was just thinking of replacing it with a bigger one, too.) Any tips on places to send it?
thanks!

clarkovsaturn, welcome to Apple Discussions.
Look at these links. Try a PMU reset.
Troubleshooting: My computer won't turn on
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=300552
PowerBook G3 Getting Started: The Computer Doesn't Start Up
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=51203
Resetting PowerBook and iBook Power Management Unit (PMU)
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=14449
Here's some helpful laptop sites if you replace the HD.
Fix It Guides for Mac Laptops & Mini
http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/
The guides can be viewed on-line or you can download a PDF file.
How to Upgrade, Repair, Disassemble an Apple/Macintosh Laptop or Notebook
http://repair4laptop.org/disassembly_apple.html
PowerBookTech
http://www.powerbooktech.com/
(Note - PowerBookTech has some good info, however, some Mac users in other forums were having difficulty getting delivery on parts from them.)
How to Upgrade, Repair, Disassemble an Apple/Macintosh Laptop or Notebook
http://repair4laptop.org/disassembly_apple.html
Laptop Repair Guides
http://www.applerepairmanuals.com/#portables
 Cheers, Tom

Pismo won't boot into Os 9.

Hello,
Recently I dusted off my Pismo to use today while my wife used the MacBook Pro. Everything was working fine on it OS X was running smoothly and such. I needed to use an application in OS 9 and was forced to boot into 0S 9 (it's not yet updated to 9.2.2). Anyways, after telling the Pismo to use the OS 9 System folder as the start up disk the computer refuses to boot past the 'happy mac' screen.
I've tried everything, Zapping PRAM, Going into OPen firmware and reseting the NVRAM and tried to boot using the boot cd:9,\System\Library\CoreServices\BootX command (all I got in return with the command was that the path couldn't be found). I even tried holding CMD-X (and just X). I've even removed all 3rd party hardware and memory from the machine. However NOTHING helps, all the computer does is boots to the Happy Mac screen and waits... waits for what I don't know!
I'd really be happy if I can just reboot into Os X.
Any clues!
Thanks!

I have tried holding Shift to get into Safe Mode. It does the same thing. When I turn the machine on, it chimes and then the screen flickers. Once I beleive for the OS X Boot screen and then it goes right to the grey screen for Os 9 where the devilsh happy mac taunts me. I can do almost all commands on boot Open Firmware, PRAM Zap, and Firewire Target Disk Mode. However, Safemode and holding X(CMD-X) to boot into Os X does not. I'm thinking I'm just out of luck with this machien and will be forced to reformat it when I get home.

Wiping Hard Drive on PowerBook 1400 that won't boot from CD

A colleague has a PowerBook 1400 and would like to erase the hard disk drive. The problem is that I can't get another drive attached to the machine, Startup Disk crashes whenever I try to start it, and command-alt-shift-delete doesn't enable booting from the CD (the 1400 doesn't work with the C key on startup).
So, I can't get it to boot from the original media (which has OS 8.6, I think); I also tried booting from DBAN, but that didn't work.
I also can't get the installer on the original media to run. So I tried to create the Disk Tools disks using the original (CD) media, copying the folder to the desktop and then removing the CD and putting in the floppy drive, thinking that Disk Tools might very well have a formatting tool, but that failed, claiming that the image for Disk 1 is bad (I imagine it's not the image, but a problem with the computer).
We're not interested in getting the computer running, really (though it runs ok), just in wiping the HD. Any suggestions? Are the Disk Tool images something that Disk Utility on an OS X machine will recognize as a floppy disk image?

Well, I thought that wouldn't work. Guess what? It did. After zapping the PRAM, had no trouble booting into the CD. However, the disk tools didn't seem to include a secure wipe tool, so I finally ended up removing the hard drive and plugging that into my MacBook with a 2.5 in. USB enclosure and using Disk Utility to do a secure wipe, then putting the drive back in the machine and reinstalling OS 8.6.
In case anyone else is looking for a solution to this problem, to remove the drive: unplug the laptop, remove the battery, unscrew the three phillips screws on the edge of the battery slot, then the screw nearest the PCMCIA card slot, then remove the speaker grill, slide out the keyboard, unscrew the two screws at the top of the hard disk drive tray, separate the case slightly from the left front corner just enough to slip the hard drive ribbon out from underneath the top of the case, unplug the drive, then unscrew it from the drive tray.
Thank you all for your help.

Powerbook G4 17" won't boot...failed drive or logic board??? HELP!!!!

I am in need of some assistance. My Powerbook no longer works although it chimes when powered up. I have reformatted the hardrive and reinstalled a new operating but still there is no booting up.
**The question that I pose is: hardrive failure or logic board failure.**
I have tried to the Command-Option O+F, I have tried holding down the Option key (which starts the machine sporadically), I have tried the Shift key and also the DVD...nada squada on all of these.
Please help.

Have you inserted the first OS X DVD and rebooted holding the C key down? This would boot from the DVD. Are you able to do that?
Have you run the Apple hardware test? With the OS X DVD that says 'AHT Version x.x' in small print, insert it, and reboot holding the option key down. Choose the Apple hardware test, click on the arrow pointing to the right, and follow directions. Choose the extended test. Does that tell you anything?

Powerbook G4 15" won't boot ... sometimes

Hi,
My daughters friend needed to upgrade the hard drive on his 15" Powerbook G4. We installed a new WD WD2500BEVSRTL drive, and installed Leopard from scratch. All worked great until he took it home, and it started not wanting to boot consistently. When you press the power button, sometimes it will do nothing and sometimes you'll get the startup sound and then a black screen. If you unplug the power and battery and let it set for a few minutes, it will many times go ahead and boot. The only thing that is consistent is that it's not consistent. Another thing we noticed is that there is a several second delay between the startup sound and when the gray screen with the Apple logo appears (that is when it boots). The gray screen used to appear pretty quickly.
Any help would be appreciated!

try zapping the pram and reset the power manager.

Powerbook G3 (Bronze) Won't Boot! Exec Fromat Error

Recently, I started a software update from Apple. During the update, my PBG3 froze. After a hard boot, I get these three line that keeps repeating.
(Current Date and Time) init: can't exec/bin/sh for single user: Exec format error
(Current Date and Time) init: can't exec/bin/sh for single user: Exec format error
(Current Date and Time) init: can't exec/bin/sh for /etc/rc: Exec format error
This keeps happening. I have reset Pram, PMU, etc. I have had this machine for over 8 years and I have upgraded RAM and the Hard Drive. I fear that I have tried for one too many updates. Please Help!
Joe

Maybe I should elaborate. I am using a PowerBook G3 Bronze keyboard, running 10.2 (Was at 10.3.9)
A few weeks ago I was online (wirelessly through Verizon DSL) and everything froze. Tried to restart over and over and kept getting Darwin. Reinstalled the system software (back to 10.2) from original disks. Same problem. Now when I turn on the machine I get the MAC OSX start up screen where I log in. I hit log-in and type in my password from the pop up and then it goes to the Darwin/BSD screen. So, after looking though the help and threads I have come to this point of starting up in single user mode and this is what happens:
@ the sh-2.05a# I typed in /sbin/fsck -y (then here is the rest as it shows on screen)
/dev/rdisk0s5
Root file system
Checking HFS Plus volume
fsck_hfs: Volume is journaled. No checking performed.
fsck_hfs: Use the -f option to force checking.
sh-2.05a# sbin/fsck -fy
/dev/rdisk0s5
Root file system
Checking HFS Plus volume.
Checking Extents Overflow file.
Checking Catalog file.
Invalid sibling link
(4, 38934)
Invalid B-tree Header
Invalid map node
(4, 0)
Checking multi-linked files.
Checking Catalog hierarchy.
Missing thread record (id = 2127165)
Missing thread record (id = 2127168)
Missing thread record (id = 2127257)
Missing thread record (id = 2127283)
Missing thread record (id = 2127304)
Invalid volume directory count
(It should be 94867 instead of 92322)
Invalid volume file count
(It should be 331255 instead of 321746)
Checking volume bitmap.
Volume Bit Map needs minor repair
Checking volume information.
Invalid volume free block count
(It should be 1845465 instead of 1787864)
Repairing volume.
That's it. Then it sits there. Sounds like it's working for a while then like goes to sleep. This is the 2nd time I have done it. The first time I let it sit for like 1 hour and a half. Then I shut it off with the power button and restarted it, got the same results and so I started it in single user mode and tried this again. The only thing that changed from the first time to the second was the volume free block count the first time it said "(It should be 1844564 instead of 1786963) It is currently 12:59 and it has been since 12:06 when it said "Repairing volume." Can't hear anything. Can someone please take pity on me and let me know what I should do before I ruin this thing? I have been the only owner of this thing and have never had a history of problems. (Except for battery drainage, but now I use the adapter)
One other thing: When I get to the Darwin screen and it asks for my login and then password, I haven't got that right either. It says
Darwin/BSD (G3computer.local.) (console)
login:
haven't a clue what they want. Tried a bunch of things, but with no success.
Message was edited by: Nyati585

PowerBook G4 froze, won't boot, black screen

I have a PowerBook G4 1.67GHz (DL-Hi Res) running OS 10.5.8 with 1GB of RAM. It has been a great machine; reliable with no major issues throughout the years and still fast for its age. Unfortunately two days ago the screen came to a complete freeze and since then I haven't been able to boot into its OS.
In particular, that afternoon I visited the Weather Channel web site and then left the house. When I came back three hours later, I found the screen frozen at the Weather Channel site. The mouse cursor would not move, the clock (on upper right side of the screen) was also stuck at 4:10pm, which was about the time when I last used the computer, and the fan was running faster than normal but not spinning out of control; moreover, the laptop felt as warm as when I stream live video from the Web, not hot though. Since the computer was unresponsive I decided to turn it off by pressing and holding its power button for several seconds. I should mention that there was nothing connected to the computer when this happened and that there was nothing that was installed, updated or upgraded recently.
When I attempted to turn it back on, the sleep light came and stayed on, the startup tone was heard once, the fan started running at normal speed and the optical drive did its normal startup spin; meanwhile, the screen was pitch black and stayed like that. Five seconds later the optical drive did its normal startup spin again; five seconds later it did it again and then again and again.... and it kept doing it every five seconds until I shut the computer off by pressing and holding its power button. I am not sure whether or not the hard drive was spinning during the startup.
Any ideas what the problem might and how to revive my powerbook (if possible)? Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Tom, thank you very much for replying.
I read the links you provided and here is everything I've done so far to revive my powerbook:
- Started up without the battery (though the battery is fully functional)
- Started up with the battery installed
- Started up in Single-user Mode
- Attempted to reset the PRAM
- Started up in Safe Mode
- Tried to get into the Startup Manager
- Attempted to reset the PMU
- Started up in Open Firmware
All of the above attempts failed to produce any good results. Each time I tried to start up the laptop, the sleep light indicator would come and stay on, then came the chime (except for two times), the fan would run at normal speed and the optical drive would keep doing its startup spin every 5 seconds until I would shut the computer off.
Here is the last thing I tried... Since I was even unable to get into Open Firmware I decided to press and hold the power button, as suggested by one of the Apple Support documents, until the computer is forced to boot into Open Firmware. Instead of the Open Firmware what I got was a brief high-speed spin of the fan, fast blinking of the sleep light indicator and a single deep, somewhat loud and long beep. What I just described lasted for a few (maybe several) seconds and then the sleep light stabilized, the chime came on and the optical drive started doing its thing every 5 seconds.
Any more ideas / suggestions?

Powerbook G4 500 won't boot from battery only

Hi,
I have a Powerbook G4 500 Ti (running OS 10.4.8 that will not boot from just the battery without the powercord attached. I have tried several different batteries and the same results.
Sometimes under "About this Mac" the battery show's it's there but most of the time it doesn't show a battery and an X appears on the desktop.
What I've done - replaced the battery with a fully charged one from a working PB, reset the PMU, Reset the Pram, Cleaned the contacts on all batteries and in the battery bay, Reseated the Airport card, Down loaded the latest Apple updates today and loaded them.The computer runs great with just the powerchord and sometimes the battery icon shows a picture of a plug, but then it reverts to the X.
Another problem, I have a working Airport card installed from another machine and it doesn't show up in the About this Mac window I get Airport Card: No INFORMATION FOUND that it is installed. Could this be related and also can a dead PRAM battery cause this? Any help would really be appreciated I've tried everything. Thanks for your response in advance.

Hi, Opie. A dead PRAM battery will generally prevent a Tibook from starting at all, with or without the AC adapter or a main battery in place. Therefore, I doubt that that's your problem.
Your Airport card cage and your battery are both connected (separately) to the Powerbook's main logic board. it is possible for those connections to work loose over time, or to be hindered by oxidation on the contact surfaces. You can try disconnecting and then reconnecting each of them several times to wear away oxidation and make sure the connectors are properly seated.
This page is the starting point for a complete, well-illustrated set of take-apart instructions for the 500MHz Tibook. The bottom illustration on the page that shows how to remove the keyboard shows the battery connector: a large white plug with several multicolored wires attached, directly beneath the keyboard's left-hand Command (Apple) key. The last illustration in the instructions for removing the Airport card shows the card's connector: a rectangular tan or orange tab at the right-hand end of the flex cable that is connected to the Airport card socket. While you have the bottom cover of your Tibook off, check to make sure the card is firmly seated in its socket and that the flex cable is solidly connected to the logic board.
Another possible reason for the battery's not being detected sometimes: Some 400MHz and 500MHz Tibooks had an ill-fitting battery: it slopped around in the battery compartment and could lose contact. Apple offered for some time to install free of charge a small shim that took up the slack inside the battery compartment and kept the battery pressed against its contacts. If that correction was never made in your Tibook, or if the shim has fallen out or shifted from its proper position, your Tibook may be suffering from the original problem now. Check to see that there is no movement of the battery once you snap it into position in the battery compartment. If there is any, post back for guidance on making and installing a shim. (Apple long since discontinued the repair program, and it's a simple thing to make yourself.)

Powerbook g4 dvi won't boot

when powered on, the light on the power adapter is green, the battery charges, if i press the caps lock on keyboard it light up green, but there is no chime and no further boot.
so i changed the ram, switched the slots- no differnce and the ram works in my pc based laptop.
took the bottom apart and removed the logic board. cleaned the dust, put it back together without the screws and bottom case. boots and works fine for few times, sufficient enough to run diagnostics with apple hardware test and the logic board passes along with ram etc., boots into os with hard drive, the airport card works. behaves as if nothing is wrong.
happily i put together the screws and the case cover-- same problem. does not boot. when powered on -- no cd start, no chime, no boot.
my guess-- the lid close switch is stuck but i could not find it?
any other suggestions are welcome.

Hi t,
I believe eww is correct that it is not the sleep switch. As he mentioned earlier, you need to look closely at the bottom cover to see where something is coming in contact with it. Note: it may be that the short (as you have surmised, I'm quite sure that's what it is, the question is where it is) may be a conductor coming into contact with the bottom cover, OR it may be that the bottom cover is pushing something else up, causing a short in another area. The fact that you have to remove/install the logic board to get it to boot again after installing the bottom cover seems to suggest this latter possibility, that once something is forced out of place by the bottom cover, then it must be "dislodged." Tolerances in these PBs are very tight.
Or, it may be your theory that a circuit has to be reset is correct. To test, try resetting the PMU, and if that doesn't do it, try unplugging the power adapter, removing the main battery, removing the bottom cover, and letting it sit for about 10 minutes, then, without the bottom cover on and without removing/installing the LB, power up again and see if it will boot. If it does, this would seem to confirm the "circuit reset" idea. If not, I would lean towards the idea that the bottom cover has pushed something out of place, causing a short.
As for a fix, to start, I would lay the PB upside down, display closed, bottom cover off, static precautions in place, and lay a straight edge across the bottom to see if you can determine where contact is being made. Also take a look at the bottom cover itself to see if it has been pushed in at any point. Post back with results.

Powerbook g3 Pismo won't boot

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