Powerbook G4 display

Hello,
I have a powerbook G4. After boot up the display flickers and shakes. Jumping from the bottom menu bar allowing the top bar, apple, file edit etc show to show at the very bottom.
After an hour or so the display stabilizes.
Has any one had this before, if so what is the remedy.
Thanks

I have the same problem.. but it started after installing Nanosaur II from Pangea... it seems if i rest my hands on the trackpad the shaking increases.. but also happens after just a few minutes either way.. did you find a cure for your problem?? Did you reset the NVRAM?? http://developer.apple.com/qa/qa2001/qa1103.html
Does any know if this will help??
Uninstalling the Nanosaur did nothing..

Similar Messages

Connect the powerbook 15"-Display with a new G5 dual and a ACD?

hi
i wonder if i could connect the pb 15" display with a new G5 dual and turn the pb off, only the display on?
that would be fun.
i am working with a pb 15" and a ACD 20" with Photoshop mainly.
the 15" is the palettes‘ server and the ACD is the main working screen where i retouch my pics.
so if i buy a G5 dual now, i would have to buy a ACD30" for example to use one display for all the Photoshop Palettes and couldn use the pb 15" anymore?
any other less awkward solutions i am not aware of maybe?
thanks"

Hi purepeter --
i wonder if i could connect the pb 15" display with a new G5 dual and turn the pb off, only the display on?
that would be fun.
i am working with a pb 15" and a ACD 20" with Photoshop mainly.
the 15" is the palettes‘ server and the ACD is the main working screen where i retouch my pics.
so if i buy a G5 dual now, i would have to buy a ACD30" for example to use one display for all the Photoshop Palettes and couldn use the pb 15" anymore?
I'm pretty sure that you can't use a PowerBook for it's display only. You already know, of course, that you can use the PowerBook, as a computer, with an external monitor, with or without the PB's own display running, but so far as I know you cannot use a PB solely for its display.
So, if you bought a G5 dual now, and bought an ACD 30", you could use both your ACD's with your new G5 dual, the 20" and the 30" , but your PowerBook would have to watch the proceedings from the sidelines.
-- JDee

Powerbook detect displays doesn't work on LCD TV. Does on other TV.

Hello,
I recently purchased a telemprompter which uses an LCD TV with a composite input. (From here on out referred to as teleprompter) I set my powerbook up with the S-video to Composite adapter and hooked it up to my Big TV. The screen automatcially detected the external display and changed the settings and diplayed the screen.
When my teleprompter showed up, and was plugged in, nothing happened. I went to the display perferences and clicked detect displays and the image flickered once on the telemprompter. But it didn't show anything else and a second display box did not show up.
Then I plugged my TV in and it didn't auto detect, but when I clicked detect displays it did and all worked again. Then I plugged the telemprompter into the cable and IT WORKED. I could use the LCD TV.
I then clicked "detect displays" and the image disappeared from the teleprompter and the second display box disappeared.
For some reason it is not seeing this particular device. Is there a way to manually force a 2nd display? Everything would work, if I could tell OS X to output a display out the S-video port.
Is this possible? Manually set 2nd display?
I'm using 10.4.4 on a powerbook 1.67ghz. I'm going to try a cheap VGA scan converter in hopes that it will work that way, with a DVI to VGA to scan converter, to composite.

I don't know if my recent experience helps us understand your dilemna, but I just bought one of these NEC 20" all-in-one LCD monitors. It has DVI, VGA, YUV, S-Video, Composite video, and RF input. It's native resolution is 1600 x 1050 and can supposedly scale any input resolution up to 1920 x 1080i. I'm having issues very similar to yours... maybe we can solve them putting our 2 brains together.
I have (2) mini-macs. One of which detected the monitor just fine, and displays the 1600 x 1050 perfectly over DVI. The other seemed to only get a 'partial list' from the monitor when it did it's display detection. It seemed to only get the 'TV' style resolutions, because most of them are interlaced options, and the olny one that doesn't make the monitor twitch like an epoleptic is 1280 x 720p. There is no 1600 x 1050... there isn't even 1024 x 768, 800 x 600, or 640 x 480 listed!!! The funny thing is, if I output to the montior analog VGA (as opposed to DVI) I get the 'full list' of resolutions. This tells me that a 1-time preference/ registry is being made/ created when the detect displays is hit for the first time with a monitor. I can't figure out where the **** this preference information is stored either. It seems if we can find out where on these mini-macs this registry is made, we can solve both are issues... because it certainly is not an issue of the graphics not being able to output the desired resolution. It seems to be some bug in reading the DDC info from the monitor.
If anyone can help.... much appreciation would be had from this frustrated user.

Powerbook G3 Display Issue

Dear Forum Mac Guru's,
I know this has been asked a few times before but I thought all the comments I've read so far have not been quite my situation. So here I go...
I was wondering if you are able to help
diagnose a problem I am having with my Pismo Powerbook?
The LCD still has a good crisp colour to it with no dead pixels or dim
spots or bright spots. That is until things start to go wrong. If I leave
the powerbook off and turn it back on again the LCD is fine for a while.
Then it will start to flicker with horizontal white lines in random places
every time. The image that was last on the display freezes and eventually
the flikering lines will become solid and the white will wash away any
image that had previously been there. eventually this white will go a dull
grey colour. This will all happen very quickly. In a matter of about 30
seconds.
Initially it was only intermitant and would go away by pressing the back
of the screen or pushing down on the screen (down dosen't help all that often). This however rarely helps these days.
I initially thought it was the Inverter board but then came to the
conclusion it might be the display cable. After replacing the display
cable (making sure it was the same brand screen) it still started to
flicker and the same things happens.
I have been running an external display for the past year with this problem and the external display runs without an issue. When the laptop display gose blank the external display runs perfectly.
I did a number of test on the computer when the display gose funny. I tried to push pod and poke the main body of the computer but this has no affect on the problem at all. The backlight is not an issue, it remains on. The screen has a number of vertical lines that appear once its grey (these may be there straight away but don't become apparent until the screen is greyish). I have leff the screen in the greyish state for a while and generally a couple of white lines will remain and randomly flicker every now and again. The screen in this state sometimes seems to dim in light intensity, this comes in and out. If the machine has been off for a little while (off not sleep) then the screen generally will last alot longer before going to the bad state. Moving the screen from almost closed to almost open the screen can go to the faded state at any position but will generally change as the screen is moved. The screen is best I feel when the screen is in the full extension open. When the screen dims (properly whilst saving power) it dims correctly but just makes the greyish look darker. If i touch the screen in the right spot it will spring back to life and be as crisp as it ever was. It also seems to have a darker rectangle in the centre of the greyish area. I think that is all?
Other than this problem recently the computers battery died and has been replaced and the cd/dvd drive has been replced. The screen problem was happening before these became and issue though.
Would you have any ideas? Also any suggestions on parts to fix it with?
Thanks in Advance, Tre.

In terms of heat I'm not sure.
It isn't only one spot that you can push to get it to come back. I have to manipulate the screen carefully in a number of different combinations. Also if the screen brightness is down the and screen fully open with an external monitor on the screen can sometimes clear up even after 4 hours plus of use. If I then move the screen up it will take a few minutes to go bad again. Even if the brightness is left down.
I actually have a spare screen from an old 400mhz model which is identical brand. Its just not in as good condition and has to bright spots in the corners and one dull area middle bottom. Its just not in as good nic as the current one when its working. Is there a way to 'tighten' the LCD in case its a pressure problem or is still a heat issue?
Many Thanks, Tre.

Are All PowerBook G4 Display Assemblies swappable?

My PowerBook G4 1.5 Ghz display is cracked and needs to be replaced. I don't want to send it into a shop for the $700+ repair. I would like to attempt replacing my display assembly with a USED display assembly.
Does any one know if i can replace my display assemby with another PowerBook G4 17 such as a 1.0 GHz or the 1.33 or 1.67Ghz?
I plan to buy a brain dead 17" on eBay with a functioning display and swap it out. This is not my main computer and just a hobby project that i plan to give to a friend if I am successfull.
PowerBook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.8) 17" Display Assembly Swap

Hi Todd,
ifixit.com says a screen module will work in any of the 17 inch Powerbooks (except the high-res 1.67ghz one)
See also - http://www.ifixit.com/PowerBook-Parts/G4-Aluminum-17-Inch-1440x900-Display-Assem bly/IF155-011

Powerbook as display/HDD for Powermac????

I am wanting to know if I can buy a Powermac and effectively use my Powerbook Ti as display and hardrive.??
Is this possible.?
I am quite happy with the 15" LCD display of my Powerbook but the hardware needs updating. I want to buy a Powermac G4 and hook it up as the main computer (ie: Startup drive, apps etc). It just seems a waste to toss the Powerbook and buy a completely new display and tower.
I also want the flexibility of still having my laptop..
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks.

If you connect the two computers via ethernet, they remain two independent computers. If you wish, you can easily set them up so that each has access to all the files on the other's hard drive. But neither can use the other's hard drive as a startup disk, since each has to start up independently to be visible to the other over the network. And neither can use the other's processor, memory, audio or video circuitry, monitor, etc., under any circumstances.
Using Apple Remote Desktop, with which I'm not familiar, you might be able to control one computer from the other, but it would still be running as a separate computer from the one you were sitting at — you'd just be running it remotely.

Powerbook 17" display issues: posterization and other psychedelia

Hello,
My Powerbook 17" has, since it's purchase in June 2005, a problem with the display that occurs periodically whereby the display suddenly posterizes and becomes extremely hard to read. I have found that adjusting the display angle, that is, moving the Powerbook display hinge can make it worse or can cause it to revert to normal. It seems to me that there is a short in or interference with the wiring that must pass through this junction. Has anyone else had a similar experience with their Powerbook 17"?

Your PowerBook is the same generation as the one most people are complaining about, although the majority of affected users that have been reporting the problem have machines that were manufactured around the end of the first quarter of 2005 at the factory described as W8 in Shanghi. There are ways to find out if yours is one of these machines by doing some web searching. Stating site names here my go against Apple's usage policies for this discussion board ... sorry, but info is easy to find with a little searching.
I am glad to hear that you have not as yet experienced the dreaded lines or blanked-out areas. It is still a good idea to call Apple Care and get a case number if you have not already. Explain your problem and they may be able to help. Even if there is nothing they can do, your problem will be registered. This case number may come in handy if heaven forbid your machine starts developing more severe screen problems. Good luck!

Powerbook 12" display question

Hi all
I recently bought a 1.5 Powerbook computer from someone. I was told before I bought it; that the screen was dim and you can faintly see things in the Finder. The person that I bought it from told me that she took it to the apple store and they said that it was the inverter board that was the problem.
After I bought the computer, I took it home and started to troubleshoot the problem. Well, the display is definitely faint. However, about a third of the display (from about the middle to the lower part of the display) is completely black.
I haven't hooked up the powerbook to an external monitor. If I assume that the person who I bought it from told me the truth about the Apple Store looking at the computer, that they would have done that to eliminate that possibility.
My question is this. Since the lower portion of the screen is completely dark (and the upper half is faint), would the problem be the inverter board or the actual display?
Also, I have another 12" powerbook (it is the 867 model) that is disassembled at the moment. Would it be possible to take the connector from that display and somehow put it in the 1.5 model's logic board in order to see if the display would come on?
Another question: if it is the inverter board and not the screen, would I have to take the whole display out in order to get the inverter board? I noticed in the powerbook-medic's video take apart guide; that he only goes as far as to removing the display in his video and doesn't show the removal of the inverter. I know that after you take out the LCD, you have to disengage the airport part from the inverter from his take apart manual. Any thoughts on this for advance precautions?
Thanks in advance for your time in reading this.

Well, so much for the previous questions
Anyway, I decided to buy a used display on Ebay. The person I got it from has 100% feedback and has done many auctions.
In any event, after taking the powerbook apart once again, I put in the new (used) display in. I also put in my hard drive from another aluminum powerbook machine (12" 867). When I booted the machine, I didn't see anything on the screen. All I heard was a low long beep for a couple of seconds.
I decided to put in another RAM chip and the original hard drive from the 1.5 machine. I started up the machine and noticed that it was doing the SAME thing that it was doing with the other screen. It was giving me a faint desktop.
I took the machine to work and tried it again with an external monitor once again. It works with an external display.
So, before I email this woman and tell her that she gave me a display with a bad inverter board. Would it be possible that there is something else wrong other than the display.
BTW, I did the P RAM thing and reset the power manager.

PowerBook G4 display problems

A friend f mine wants me to fix her powerbook screen for her, problem is, I don't know if it is the screen itself, or the graphics card (maybe even the inverter, but most likely not). The symptom is the bottom third of the screen is solid whit, or solid black, if you press the screen/near the screen just right, it goes back to normal (which makes me think it is the screen). Anybody have a diagnoses?

sHEED-ra-
You may have better luck posting in the appropriate PowerBook forum.
It is not to say you won't find help here but this forum is dedicated to displays as connected to a Power mac G5.
Luck-
-DaddyPaycheck

Where to repair Powerbook G4 display

I have a powerbook G4 with screen problems. the lower half of the screen is grayed out but displays to an external screen fine (i.e. projector in a lecture hall). I have taken it in to an Apple Authorized re-seller/repair but they say the machine is vintage and can't be repaired. What exactly does this mean? I have tried the help line and they were incompetent and unable to answer the question. I searched high and low on the web page for an appropriate e-mail address to ask this question but was unsuccessful (which of course put me in a very foul mood that I had to call the help line which is not convenient FOR ME -THE CUSTOMER!). I have been a loyal customer of Apple for over 20 years and proudly display my Powerbook in front of 1000's of university students but right now, with the above recent experiences, I am seriously rethinking my apple loyalty. So does anyone have an alternative suggestion as to where to get my powerbook repaired if not an authorized apple re-seller/repair? And does anyone know how many years it is before Apple decides one of its products (laptop computer specifically) is vintage and can no longer be repaired? The answer to this question will determine whether or not I will ever buy Apple again.

You can buy a warranty extension plan from Apple anytime in the first year of ownership to extend your hardware and software warranty to 3 years from date of computer's purchase. AppleCare, which is this program can be reached here:
http://www.apple.com/contact/phone_contacts.html
Sometimes out of warranty Macs are eligible for a free extension/repair program listed here:
http://www.apple.com/support/exchange_repair/
Apple will repair any display of any age they have parts for but at a cost if it is obviously a non-warranty issue or beyond the warranty period.
7 years typically is a time frame for many Macs to reach end of life status, but it varies depending on the product. Some authorized service centers are better than others in keeping in stock old parts. AppleCare itself when you call them can often tell you if the parts are available for them to repair from. But because the parts cost so much to make, there comes a point of diminishing returns, where a high priced repair makes it cost more to repair than to replace. Apple does have a recycling program when you buy a new Mac:
http://www.apple.com/environment/recycling/
These vendors will repair Apple displays out of warranty often for less than Apple:
http://www.dttservice.com/
http://www.powerbookresq.com/
http://www.microdocusa.com/
http://www.macspecialist.com/
http://www.techrestore.com/
Apple has few e-mail addresses for programs such as MobileMe, and iTunes Music Store, but not for computer repairs. Their support phone numbers are available 7 days a week, 12 hours a day.
Message was edited by: a brody
Message was edited by: a brody

Powerbook 3400 display problem.

Everything was fine yesterday. But today, the 3400 had a new problem. The display has raised up (half an inch) and I can no longer see the top menu bar. The bottom half inch is black.
So far, I have tried the following:
Checked the appearance control panel to make sure a picture is not covering anything.
Checked display settings.
Enabled 9.1 base extension set.
Trashed any preference files that were modified between yesterday and today.
Zapped the pram and rebuilt the desktop.
Ran First aid from start up CD.
None of that helped, so I performed a clean install back to OS 9.04. and the problem still remained. Next, I opened the unit up and removed the keyboard. Then, removed the brightness and speaker grill and reseated the ribbon connections and pressed down firmly. All to no avail,
so I initialized the drive and again did a clean install, but that did not work either.
This forum has saved the 3400 in the past, and hopefully it can save it again. As always, any help is greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Powerbook 3400c 180 with 48 mb Mac OS 9.1.x
Powermac G4, Powerbook 3400c Mac OS X (10.3.3)

Hello Tom:
Thanks for the excellent suggestions. Unfortunately, it failed to correct the problem. I really appreciate your efforts.
Best regards, Ace
Powermac G4, Powerbook 3400c Mac OS X (10.3.3)
Powermac G4, Powerbook 3400c Mac OS X (10.3.3)
Powermac G4, Powerbook 3400c Mac OS 9.1.x

Powerbook 160 Display Problems...!

Alright, here's the Deal:
I have a Powerbook 160 I just bought from a Yard sale, and one off of eBay. Yes, it's another couple of powerbooks! Just last summer I bought a 180 with a dead drive which I regret throwing out. It turns out that the one from the yard sale was having problems with the screen, and every few seconds I need to adjust the contrast to see the screen better. after about 5 minutes, it goes wild and just keeps getting brighter and darker. That's why I bought the other one from eBay.
It belonged to some dude in Oregon, and seemed to have gotten upgraded sometime around 1995-1996. I could tell because when I opened it up, it had a 240MB hard drive with a 1994 copyright on it. Later investigation showed a 1995 copyright on the 8MB ram chip that was attached. The one from the yard sale belonged to a Math teacher at a high school in a neighbouring town. It was kept pretty simple, and had a 65.8MB hard drive with Clarisworks and stuff on it. I decided the best thing to do was to fuse them together to make a working one. Really all I did was replace the keyboard, mouse, and display with those from the yard sale laptop. This was because the display in the one form eBay ws messed up, the kayboard was sticky and the bottom button on the trackball mouse didn't work. But the screen problems remained.
I did a little more investigation, and found it to be the blue-colored brightness and contrast controller chip inside. This was really the main reason for fusing them together.
If anyone has any information on how to acquire another one of these (not used), it would be of great help. I plan on using this laptop for word processing among other things such as either setting it up as a terminal or perhaps updating my internet blog with it. Please help!
~~The Wishmkr

UPDATE
The flat wire between the screen and the logic board just ripped. I'm gonna need one of those too.

POWERBOOK G4: Display comes on for 1 second

PROBLEM:
I start it up my Powerbook and I get screen activity for about 1 second (see videos) and then it goes dim. You can still (barely) see the display.
STEPS TAKEN:
* Connected external monitor, pressed F7
* Repairing disk from PowerMac G5 failed in Target Disk mode.
* Reset PRAM.
* Tried starting up from disk.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=p_FshjTI3Mk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFaFP7L4x-w
http://www.youtube.com/v/U3BayWUWGRg
The screen fickers and goes to almost nothing... What is wrong with my PB?

Heres an update for anyone who's following this.
1) I forgot to mention that hooking it up to an external monitor did not work.
2) I get the "?" system folder icon upon startup. (it's very dim, but i can see it.)
3) Drive repair with Disk Utility fails.
AND THE BIGGEST UPDATE:
4) I took the hard drive out and popped it into an external enclosure and it won't read. It wants me to initialize the drive.
Thanks.

Powerbook G$ display problems

Hi all
I'm actuallu posting this on behalf of someone. They have a powerbook g4 and the display keeps going black. It isn't a sleep issue as i've checked all the settings and they're ok. The screen only goes back to normal after pressing return a couple of times. It might be a connection problem. Any ideas?
Thanks

Hi-
Welcome to Discussions!
Just so you get the proper help that you need, best to try a post in the Powerbook forum:
http://discussions.apple.com/category.jspa?categoryID=120
This is the Desktop tower forum, and everyone has different areas of interest/expertise.

Powerbook G4 display with PC

hI, Can you plug a PC into a powerbook and utilize the display for window?

Hi Vince,
Unfortunately you can't. You can plug a second monitor into a PowerBook, but you can not pass the video signal from a PC through to a PowerBook's monitor. The best you can do is use a remote desktop program to control the PC and see it's desktop.
Chicken of the VNC would allow you to do such a thing.
If you want to control a PC you need to instal the free version of RealVNC. There are other VNC solutions out there but I find RealVNC works well and is free.

Powerbook's display malfunctioned

About a week ago, the display on my 12" Powerbook (1.33GHz edition) suddenly stopped working. I honestly looked down at my shoe, and back up at the computer and instead of my desktop, I saw a whole bunch of dark lines, sort of like if one pixel's length of screen was stretched over the entire thing. If my mouse moved, I could kind of follow the cursor on screen, as the pixel lines would darken and lighten depending on where the cursor was, but I couldn't make out any shapes at all. Shutting down, resetting the PRAM and other fixes didn't work. The funny thing is, I can use my computer with an external display and the lid closed, as I am currently doing, but the minute I unplug it from my monitor, the lines show up again. Also, under "More Info" my Powerbook recognizes that I have an external display attached, but doesn't even see that I have an internal display connected. Help! Is anyone else seeing things like this, and if so, is there a solution? Thanks!
Powerbook G4 12" Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Just guessing... maybe the internal connector between the display and the logic board (graphic card) broke or is loose. Personally I wouldn't think that it is a more serious issue (since you can use the external display quite fine), but better to have a technician look at it for saying something definitive.

Powerbook G4 display

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for