Hello all,

After Googling around a lot I stumbled accross these forums and found them to be quite useful- so with that in mind I was hoping you may be able to solve my problem for me.

I may as well give a bit of background information to start *I also apologise as this is going to be quite a lengthly post- sorry!*

Well, on monday I turned up to my photography club gathering as usual and was presented with an old Powerbook G4 that had died on them and that they couldn't afford to fix at the moment, so I was given it and told to feel free to try and fix it... All they told me was that it had died some years ago and was probably the Logicboard.

Originally I thought it was an old Macbook Pro as this was the box it was given to me in- untill I opened it and realised that it wasn't. Anyway, after taking the battery out and looking on the inner side I discovered it put out 1.5GHz/512MB/80GB, and from the keyboard being silver figured it was the Al model.

Anyway, so when I was given it there was no charger with it, so I bought one off ebay which arrived about 20 minutes ago. I hurredly plugged it in and got one beep (meaning the RAM wasn't recognised- leading me to believe the lower slot has failed). When I boot it up I get no display (I'm yet to shine a torch through it to see if it's faint and I'm not able to hook it up to an external monitor yet) but the Apple logo on the case isn't lit either so I'm guessing there's no power to it anyway... The hard drive works, as does the Superdrive- there's a CD stuck in there, which I can get it to boot from when I held down "C". I can't eject the disc though.

So, my questions are as follows;

-Do you think it's just one of the RAM slots that has failed and if I swap the RAM to the other slot that it may work?

-I'm going to assume that it's either the video card or the ribbon has become worn, how easy are these to replace? And is it even likely that this is the problem- could it be something entirely different?

And finally (and I'm really dreading it if this IS the case) how likely is it that the Logicboard has failed? (Bearing in mind I got quoted nearly £400- yes, I'm aware it's the most expensive part , I'd rather avoid the hassle of finding one on ebay and replacing it myself...)

Are there any other things I might be able to try to shed anymore light on the situation?

Many thanks,

Jack

The RAM slot issue is fairly common on those, so I would try that first.

If you are able to get it to boot but just not able to see the screen, try shining the light through the back first to rule out an inverter board problem. If you aren't getting a picture or a backlight, that is usually going to be the logic board. It can possibly be the LCD, but it is doubtful.

You'll probably be stuck hooking it up to an external monitor and using it as a desktop or replacing the logic board.

Just opened it up and swapped the two sticks of RAM between each port each time separately (incase one was dud and one was fine) I'm guessing that it's rare for both sticks to be dud... I'm still getting one beep and no display. No luck with shining a light through either- getting no backlight or display.

Doesn't look too good really...

Any other possibilities before I try hunt down another Logicboard?

Regards,

Jack

Not really. You can send it off to us for a free diagnosis or there may be someone local that'll take a look at it, but odds are you'll be trying to find a good deal on a logic board.

Fair enough. I'll look into International Shipping in a second and toy with the idea. If not- do you know if any other Logicboards are compatible to give me more options? As far as I was aware- provided it's the same line, as long as it's the same GHz or lower it'll work? (or am I entirely wrong?) Might just be wishful thinking... I've googled around and got a lot of mixed answers on it...

Thanks anyway,

Jack.

The 1.5GHz was available in two different revisions. The first one with model number A1095 you'll need to either get the 1.33ghz or 1.5ghz like you have.

There was also the A1106 model that you can get a 1.5ghz like you have or upgrade it to the low-res 1.67GHz.

You can find the model number on the bottom towards the back of the machine.

Mine is the A1106. Thanks, I'll look into either of those Logic Boards.

I've sent for a quote from the repairs department on here so I'll see how much it is and go from there.

Regards,

Jack