PowerBook G4 Problem

Hi, another newbie to the forum,
my Powerbook G4 gave up on me this morning, after running rather slowly last night.
It chimes and goes to the usual apple logo page, but just stays on that page with no 'gear' loading sign like usual.
Please help as I have no clue what this could mean and dont have the cash to splash out on another new one. I really need my beloved laptop back!!

Thanks
Jay

jaybone said:

Hi, another newbie to the forum,
my Powerbook G4 gave up on me this morning, after running rather slowly last night.
It chimes and goes to the usual apple logo page, but just stays on that page with no 'gear' loading sign like usual.
Please help as I have no clue what this could mean and dont have the cash to splash out on another new one. I really need my beloved laptop back!!

Thanks
Jay

Click to expand...

What's the hard drive doing...and "weird" noises?

Have you tried booting from a CD/DVD?

Do you have the disks that came with the computer when it was new? One of the disks has a "hardware test" program on it.

Hope this helps,

- Nick

Thanks Nick,
unfortunately I dont have any disks that came with the laptop as I bought it second hand around 6 months ago.
There are not really any weird noises, only a very subtle one that almost sounds like when a cd player keeps trying to read a cd it cannot.
Thanks

jaybone said:

Thanks Nick,
unfortunately I dont have any disks that came with the laptop as I bought it second hand around 6 months ago.
There are not really any weird noises, only a very subtle one that almost sounds like when a cd player keeps trying to read a cd it cannot.
Thanks

Click to expand...

If you were able to "boot" from a CD/DVD...that would help to determine if you have a hard drive problem, a logic board problem, or maybe a software problem.

The only other thing you can do to troubleshoot is "swap in" known good parts (such as a hard drive) for possible bad parts in the laptop...but then you need the extra parts, and be able & confident to open your laptop to do the work.

This might be a long shot...have you tried "zapping the PRAM"?

You hold down 4 keys at the same time while booting:

Command + Option + P + R.

Hold the keys down until you hear 2-3 "startup bongs" (2-3 "boot-up cycles").

Hope this helps,

- Nick