Several Issues Concerning my PB

[pixelharmony]

Hi everyone, I'm new to this forum and this is my first post. What brought me to this place started from a few issues I had with my powerbook.

I bought 15in powerbook Spring of 2004

Since then I have noticed a few problems. I've noticed that my latptop gets unusually hot while idling. I don't remember if it was always like this, but it's hot enough where I can't keep my hands on the bottom of the laptop. Also for a period of time (2 months or so) my hard drive light was constantly on, but that resolved itself somehow.

Secondly, I never noticed this until tonight that my backlit keyboard no longer works. Also the autodimming of the screen does not work as well.

From what I remember I can change the settings of backlit keyboards from the keyboard / mouse section in the CP also the autodim is changed in the displays section of the CP... when I go in my CP and check for those options, they are no longer there.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Joolz34]

Hi, most things that Ive read on the internet about this suggest that a reboot or repairing permissions fixes the problem. Did you try a repair?

Joolz

[pixelharmony]

Hi, most things that Ive read on the internet about this suggest that a reboot or repairing permissions fixes the problem. Did you try a repair?

Joolz

No repair was tried, how do I go about repairing my computer?

[Biturbo V12 AMG]

No repair was tried, how do I go about repairing my computer?

go to hard drive, applications, utilities,then disk utility.

for the backlight keyboard to work it has to be turned on F8 key and try the F10 just to make sure you brightness isnt all the way down. also cover your hands over the speakers and see if the keyboard goes on and your screen should also dim.

[iWhat]

For the backlight keyboard, try reseting the PMU:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=14449

[menace3054]

and yes, they get hot. the other day i carried my laptop from the kitchen to my office, and almost dropped it because it was so hot.. (i left it on all day)

[Merlinblack]

go to hard drive, applications, utilities,then disk utility.

for the backlight keyboard to work it has to be turned on F8 key and try the F10 just to make sure you brightness isnt all the way down. also cover your hands over the speakers and see if the keyboard goes on and your screen should also dim.

Cool I didn't realise you could cover the speakers like that...

Yes the PB is extremly hot, I worked for a few hours on the couch just the other day and after words I was convinced my legs were burnt.

[pixelharmony]

For the backlight keyboard, try reseting the PMU:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=14449

Okay, I did the PMU reset and it did fix several problems I had with my powerbook. The harddrive light stopped flickering on whenever there was vibration or impact on the powerbook. Also now when i go to my display and keyboard/mouse settings the option of backlit keyboard and autodimming turned back on.

Now the problem is when I press f8 There's a cancel mark and the backlit option will not turn on. Also when I set my hands over the speakers or turn off the lights, the display will not autodim. Does this mean that the light sensor is broken?

[ed724]

The sensors are sensivtive. You may not be blocking them enough. Try a dark room, like and inside bathroom or a closet and see what happens.

ed724