Can somebody help me?

The screen on my 12" POWERBOOK G4 went blank. My friend hooked it up to his, and got files off so i know it still works. I bought a mini-VGA to VGA wire, so i could hook it up to an external monitor. But when I hook it up, it just turns my monitor off. and if I press the on button on the button, the green light comes on for like 2 seconds, and then goes orange again. Why wont anything appear? Any Ideas?

sounds like your graphics card s going out, or already went. if it were the display itself, the external would work, but this is most likely the graphics card, you might replace it with a better one.

Macman said:

sounds like your graphics card s going out, or already went. if it were the display itself, the external would work, but this is most likely the graphics card, you might replace it with a better one.

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but the graphics card would shut my external monitor off?

the external port is part of the graphics card. it is probably something on the graphics cars that controls both

yes, if the card is fried, anything connected to it, internally or externally is going to shut off, or appear so at least. if the external display was powered by the port on the graphics card, it would shut down.

Macman said:

yes, if the card is fried, anything connected to it, internally or externally is going to shut off, or appear so at least. if the external display was powered by the port on the graphics card, it would shut down.

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yea cause my external monitor's power shuts off, when its plugged in. But it works with my normal computer.

HOW MUCH WOULD IT COST TO FIX THIS PROBLEM?

or how would i even find out if this was the problem?

if you have the discs that came with it, run the apple hardware disc and that will allow you to test the graphics card, though the fact that no display connected will work, sort of makes no sense since you won't see what you are doing.
depending on whether you want the same or a better graphics card, it could be somewhere between 80 or 90 USD, up to $200 or so. try sites like OWC or newegg.com. you may be able to find something on ebay, but thats usually a personal risk/decision.

Macman said:

yes, if the card is fried, anything connected to it, internally or externally is going to shut off, or appear so at least. if the external display was powered by the port on the graphics card, it would shut down.

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MY EXTERNAL DISPLAY WAS NOT POWERED THRU THE PORT,, IT WAS PLUGED INTO THE WALL,, , ,, WOULD THE GRAPHICS CARD STILL BE THE REASON ITS TURNING OFF

unfortunately, yes, depending on what brand/type of display.

Macman said:

unfortunately, yes, depending on what brand/type of display.

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IS THERE A PLACE I CAN TAKE IT TO, TO GET IT FIXED?

OR A PLACE I CAN SEND IT TO, SO THEY COULD TELL ME WHATS WRONG WITH IT?

well, I must say, I am 99.999% sure its the graphics card, and I have rarely been wrong about these things, maybe once I think, if there is a local mac shop near you, or an apple store, you can take it there. what kind of connection is it you tried for the external display?

and please.. turn off your caps lock..
macman is trying to help..
and i happen to agree.. your card is going, if not gone

thelox714 said:

and please.. turn off your caps lock..
macman is trying to help..
and i happen to agree.. your card is going, if not gone

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my bad, heres the situation, my buddy had the laptop, he went to turn it on one day and he screen just wouldnt go on,,,, he needed stuff off of it so he took it to some repair shop, and the guy took files off it and told him the computer worked fine except for the screen, but said it would cost as much to repair as its worth (but i figure a 12" g4 powerbooks gotta be worth some dough),,, so he gave it to me, i bought the s video cable, couldnt get it to work,, i bought the VGA DISPLAY ADAPTER, and connected to an old monitor i got, no luck, tried my dell monitor, no luck,, it just turned them down. but like on a rare occasion, youll turn it on and the scren will be working, so im wondering if something is just going loose, but hope its what you say, the graphics card, but i dont want to buy a new one and have the scren not work.
thanks for all your time both macman and thelox

if it works once in a while, it is probably going out, very close to gone.
if you have a friend with an extra card or if you can get your hands on a card just to try, and that card works, its your card. Though as I said before, I am 99.999% sure its the card, its almost impossible its the display or something other than the card, another possibility would be the bus the card plugs into, though that is rarely going to be the case, so rarely that I'd bet money that its the graphics card, and I do not bet.