Restart Message

At random times when im working on my 12 inch powerbook g4 my screen goes grey and a message in 4 different lanquages comes up
in english it says "You need to restart your computer, Hold down the power button to restart" or something like that.

this happens almost every time i use it
can anyone give me any insight on what it is and how it can be fixed

thanks

chrisj898 said:

At random times when im working on my 12 inch powerbook g4 my screen goes grey and a message in 4 different lanquages comes up
in english it says "You need to restart your computer, Hold down the power button to restart" or something like that.

this happens almost every time i use it
can anyone give me any insight on what it is and how it can be fixed

thanks

Click to expand...

You have just experienced a kernel panic, the mac and linux equivalent to a windows blue screen. This doesn't happen very often so there is something that is causing this it might be something that is not compatible with your system such as an app or something plugged into the computer. So is there anything that you have installed right before this started happening? What is plugged into your PB? If there is anything plugged in does it require drivers if so are they correctly installed and are they the right version?

I know that post made macs sound really bad and a lot of work they really arn't dont the the wrong impression.

its been doing it since i bought it
so i thought it was a software problem w/ the operating system or w.e
so i re-imaged and it still did it

as i recall the only thing ive pluged in to this computer ever...is my ipod

You might just have a lemon try calling AppleCare or taking it to a Genus Bar in an apple store. I personally would do the Genus Bar instead of the AppleCare in this case

a lemon
i knew i get a lemon with my luck
what is genus bar
what would genus bar do to it

chrisj898 said:

a lemon
i knew i get a lemon with my luck
what is genus bar
what would genus bar do to it

Click to expand...

A Genus Bar is in any apple store (except the mini ones that are just walk-in closets) and there they will look at your system decide what needs to be done to it to get it working they will also service it there or if you truly have a lemon they will get you a replacement. So there basically apple techs.

alright
i thikn im gonna take it in and hope they fix it
what exactly is a lemon
like a "dud"
that would suck

chrisj898 said:

what exactly is a lemon
like a "dud"

Click to expand...

thats exactly what it is

ok great
well ill take it in
thanks for your help

do you think they would replace it if it was in fact a lemon because i got it in like january i think

chrisj898 said:

ok great
well ill take it in
thanks for your help

do you think they would replace it if it was in fact a lemon because i got it in like january i think

Click to expand...

you have a one year warranty so yes they will.

You should run the hardware test routine before you bring it in.

(There was a grey Hardware Test CD included with the PowerBook manuals and restore disk when you bought it.)

It may or may not find anything wrong, but the Genius will probably want to run it anyway. You might save some time by running the full suite of tests beforehand. Or it might actually find something like a memory error that can help the Genius' diagnosis.

technologist said:

You should run the hardware test routine before you bring it in.

(There was a grey Hardware Test CD included with the PowerBook manuals and restore disk when you bought it.)

It may or may not find anything wrong, but the Genius will probably want to run it anyway. You might save some time by running the full suite of tests beforehand. Or it might actually find something like a memory error that can help the Genius' diagnosis.

Click to expand...

good point i forgot all about that

My bet goes to ram. Try taking out a stick and reseating it. Dumb yes, but this happened on my G3. It would kernel panic CONSTANTLY!!! Just removing and reseating the ram did the trick

it doesnt matter if it was bought like that then its still faulty and needs to be returned

Yeah, you can try all you want, but I highly doubt that if you bought it like that and its still happening anything you do to it will get it fixed, but then, I truly hope it does. Good luck and let us know how it goes!