Hardware problem

[pmp]

After leaving my PowerBook G4 1.67Gh 512Mb RAM turned on and unattended for ~ 5min, I found it completely dead. The light on the power cord was not illuminated, the battery completely drained out and the computer seemed turned off. After charging the battery I tried to restart it but generally nothing happens. It seems not to respond to commands from the keyboard and I get the following message (in four different languages):
"You need to restart your computer. Hold down the Power button for several seconds or press the Restart button."
Any ideas what could be the problem?
Thanks in advance!

 

[michaelsanford]

I'm curious: if the power light on your adaptor was off, how did you charge your computer? Did you giggle the cable, replug the adaptor, etc? Are you writing on that computer now? If so, just boot to your Mac OS Install DVD,or Mac OS Restore CD (whichever applies to your most recent version of Mac OS X) and run Disk Utility's Repair Volume on your hard drive. Repair permissions can't hurt either.

The technical term for the screen you are seeing is a "kernel panic", which is a fatal error in the core of Mac OS X. It can be caused by a number of things, and so diagnostically not usually interesting. That is, until it's combined with your description of a failing power system. It could mean that you have a hardware problem. Have you dropped your MacBook, left it in temperature extremes, or otherwise 'abused' it in any way?

If you still have the original Hardware Test CD that came with your MacBook (I assume they still do, any way) use it by inserting the CD and booting holding down the C key. Test your system and see if you have any hardware problems.