Powerbook won't turn on after replacing the HDD

M

MarkA_Ireland

Registered
Hi!

I'm having a MAJOR difficulty with my Powerbook G4 17" (1.67GHz) after replacing the Hard Disk...

I replaced the hard disk with a new 250GB one, and after putting everything back in place I put the OSX install CD in the harddrive and tried to turn the computer on...it wouldn't turn on so I left it for about 10 minutes. When I came back I tried again and it worked this time, and booted into the Open Firmware...then it suddenly turned off again. Then, about 2 minutes later again, it turned on again, and it went into the OSX installer. I partitioned the hard drive and was about to start the installation process, but before I could press the install button the computer turned off again. Now it has been like this for over 2 hours and refuses to turn on at all. I have tried resetting the PRAM but it makes no difference. I've tried taking out the battery and all sorts of things but nothing works. I'm at my wits end now :(

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what might be wrong?

Thanks!
Mark
 
If the hard drive wasn't connected properly, all you would get would be a flashing "?". Make sure all the cables are connected inside. Look at iFixit's guide to verify you put everything back correctly.
 
Thanks for your comments Eric!

Found the problem anyway, at first I thought it might have been dodgy RAM because I replaced it and it turned on and worked fine, for 2 hours anyway, I turned on and off the computer a few times and it was fine, and then was able to install OS X! then before I was able to use the system it shut down again...wouldn't work for another half hour and it turned on again then, was using OS X for about an hour then it shut down again...but this time ever so briefly the little shut down message box appeared on the screen...which gave me the clue that there was something wrong with the power button...

So..opening it up I discovered that the cable leading from the power button to the logic board was snagging against one of the corners inside, and was screwed in so that it was actually cutting through the insulation..it was shorting against the case itself, which was making the machine turn off...

So I wrapped a bit of tape around it and made sure to route it carefully so nothing snagged when I closed the case up again, has been running without a problem now for 2 hours or so :)

Problem solved (I hope, time will tell!)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top