LCD display goes dark/power adapter flickering

C

chrononaut

Registered
i'm having a strange problem all of a sudden. my G4 1GHz Powerbook LCD screen goes dark intermittently. i can see the desktop if look very hard as though the backlight goes out. what is strange is i have noticed my fan blowing constantly also. with some research and experimentation i have found a strange almost solution. i noticed the power cord light would flicker when the battery had become fully charged. only then would my screen go dark. if i unplugged the computer and ran on battery the screen would stay lit. also if i take the battery out and work on the power cord the screen would also stay lit. but a few times my machine has just turned off, i'm assuming due to lack of power as perhaps the power cord lost power for a moment. i'm curious as to the problem lies within the computer power supply or the battery or the power cord or if i'm just off base.
 
I'm having the exact same problem with my G4 powerbook. I'm working (or playing) on my usual stuff, when the backlight suddenly goes dark. I have to squint and put my face close to the screen to see anything. It takes me about 10 minutes to find the mouse pointer under these circumstances. Its been driving me insane, and I registered onto this forum hoping to find a reason (and preferably a solution) to this problem.

There is one tiny difference between Chrononaut's problem and mine... He mentioned that his powerbook goes dark only after the powerbook was fully charged. My powerbook goes dark during all power levels, and at (seemingly) random and unpredictable times. The only way for me to get the screen lit properly again is to restart the blasted thing.

Did I mention how annoying the problem is?!!
 
my problem is probably different then yours. then again, maybe not. i traced back the problem (over two weeks) to a bad power adapter. the adapter is an older model with a protruding thin cable to the laptop. my computer was unable to be charged at all and kept going in to sleep mode. i started moving the cable around and found the short. not sure why but the power fluctuations i was having was due to the power supply's faulty cable and was making the screen go dark. the new adapter is shaped with a funnel like shape tunneling in to the adapter base. this may help with the cable fraying and shorting. i did at the end also smell that electricity smell and the cable was starting to brown from the heat. about two years ago the same style adapter fried out on me and started shooting sparks while my laptop was on. terrible design but it seems to have been changed for the better, i hope, as i was fretting having to get a new machine.

let me know if i need to make myself more clear.

i hope this helps you. good luck. :eek:
 
Hi Chrononaut,

I appreciate the help, but unfortunately your problem and my problem seems to be caused by different factors. After checking your e-mail, I (very carefully and thoroughly) checked the powerbook power-cord, but no sparks, no browning, no flickering or any indication of a electrical malfunction.

The problem probably lies deep within the powerbook itself, although I still have not come any closer to finding out why my screen is behaving so erratically... I'm still 'experimenting' just to find out what triggers the problem in the first place :p

Thanks again,
Sabrina
 
At least on G3 iBooks, the LCD cable that that goes through the hinge would become worn and ground out at times causing the display to go dark. If you can look closely and navigate to the monitors control panel and change the resolution, and the display pops back, then that is probably your problem.
 
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