Powerbook G4- dead USB and power outlet.

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Laxicababe15's picture
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Powerbook G4- dead USB and power outlet.

Hi guys, i bought a used powerbook G4, and i tried to put an external hardrive into the USB port, and it would not recognize that anything was in the USB port. Then, last night after the battery died, i tried to plug in the power cord and it would not work !! no green light/ orange light, nothing !! i then plugged the same powercord into my ibook, and it worked with taht computer. what is going on ?!

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Some info ...

What variation of the PowerBook G4 is this? Is it a 15" titanium, aluminum? 12"? 17"? From there, what speed is it?

Based on what I've seen in the field, this sounds like a 15" aluminum PowerBook G4 with a bad dc-in sound board. Since both USB and the power connector are on the same board (a relatively inexpensive part), a failure of both functions is possible and sometimes happens. It is also worth noting that on the 15" aluminum powerBooks - USB power is not terribly great because none of the USB ports are actually physically located on the logic board. Other than weird usb stuff, the 15" aluminum pbg4's are rock solid.

Laxicababe15's picture
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you're a mind reader

you're a life saver! it's a 1.25 GHz 15 inch.
it's such a let down, i bought it on ebay about a month ago for around $350. It came with no operating system, so once i installed that, it worked perfectly.. until the power outlet decided to not work. What should my maximun price for this part be? i just googled it and got around $80, sound reasonable ? thank youuu !!!

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Pricing of the sound/dc-in board

Should be no more than $40 from your local Apple service provider/reseller (i.e. not the apple store). It's not a simple repair, but can be done with enough patience and the right materials. PM me for the svc. manual.

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Here's some helpful laptop sites.

Fix It Guides for Mac Laptops & Mini
http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/
The guides can be viewed on-line or you can download a PDF file.

How to Upgrade, Repair, Disassemble an Apple/Macintosh Laptop or Notebook
http://repair4laptop.org/disassembly_apple.html

PowerBookTech
http://www.powerbooktech.com/
(Note - PowerBookTech has some good info, however, some Mac users in other forums were having difficulty getting delivery on parts from them.)

Cheers, Tom

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service manual

if you need the official apple service manual for this machine, PM either me... or *cough* someone who offered earlier. Smile

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thanks !

thanks guys ! you're all very helpful, i really appreciate it. I may end up messaging one of you for the manual (don't have the part yet though, so not yet Smile )
anyway, i have a few questions
-i was wondering if i should buy one with the wires and ribbons all attached? is there any chance that those have broken as well ?
-i have one on ebay for 20 something dollars that ends in about 5 days- taken from a laptop with a dead logic board, and there is a brand one from welovemacs.com for $69. Any other sites that would be cheaper ?
- should replacing the soundboard really stabilize the battery meter? because mine was going a little crazy before.

Thanks guys !! Biggrin

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