PowerBook — RDKLinc Answers

PowerBook G4 - Impossible to remove PRAM/Firmware lock?

profington — Sat, 22 Feb 2025 18:04:11 +0000

Hi guys,

I recently brought a lovely example of the modern classic -- The PowerBook G4.

Sadly, this machine has both a PRAM and Open Firmware lock making it extremely locked-down.

I contacted the eBay seller and the reply basically was this is just a random machine they picked up at a trash site and mildly restored so the history behind it to our knowledge doesn't extend much beyond that at the moment.

I've tried all of the tricks like removing a stick of RAM, trying the reset the PRAM after etc etc to no avail. I've also tried to put a fresh version of Tiger on the machine by taking the HDD out of the PowerBook and installing Tiger on it using an iBook but the PowerBook just sits there going between a happy mac and a question mark folder, refusing to do much else. I know the drive works, as it works fine in the iBook, and I know it's the right drive as it brought me to a login screen before I wiped the drive to do a fresh install meaning it also works fine in the PowerBook so, it's just being annoying.

Any other thoughts or solutions? I've basically done everything public online under the sun to no avail so I'm hoping for a technician or someone who's familiar with these and just hasn't published a guide on how to properly remove this yet to come through. I did also watch John's video but that didn't do much either sadly.

Thanks, much appreciated, Profington.

*I should clarify this is a 15" 2003 Backlit Keyboard model, would help somewhat lol.

Looking for Titanium Powerbook that can boot OS9

fancher — Sun, 19 May 2024 14:52:17 +0000

I tried eBay without much luck. Also, Mac of All trades. They did not have anything that old. Any other places i might look?

Powerbook G4 Titanium, where to get new battery and PRAM battery

ulrik — Thu, 14 Nov 2019 15:29:00 +0000

Hi John, just booted my trusty old G4 after watching your very informative PRAM battery fix video. Thank you!!!
I use the machine for programming slide projectors, and would like to keep it running. Do you have any tips on how to get a new PRAM battery and a battery for it? IT would be a great help.
Thank you, Ulrik

I have a Powerbook 140 that won't power on

js3 — Thu, 29 Apr 2021 23:11:21 +0000

I've had this machine for a number of years. Recently I got inside of it -- it looks pretty pristine. From other videos I've watched I think the issue might be PRAM and I can't tell how to remove or replace it. I think the regular battery can hold a charge and I have both the original and an aftermarket AC adapter that I think work, though I did blow out a multimeter testing them. My main interest at the moment is that it was the only machine that could read both my old Macintosh as well as PC floppies and I've got a lot of both disks I'd love to view, and maybe even potential print from.

Sell for parts or Repair?

Mishkapus — Sun, 06 Oct 2019 20:33:37 +0000

I have a 2004 Titanium G4 laptop. Was top of the line when I bought it for use with Protools. Now, I have to keep it plugged in all the time or it will not turn on. Is the battery easy to replace or is it better just to throw it away? Also the way my apartment is set up I can’t run an ethernet cable and I’m not sure if that computer will pick up Wi-Fi.

Thanks!

Powerbook G4 17" não liga

franciscofaleiro — Tue, 17 May 2016 11:07:00 +0000

Muito boa tarde estou lhe a escrever se saber o que fazer mais, eu tenho um powerbook G4 de 17 polegadas mas não liga nem com bateria nem só com o carregador a bateria carrega mas não dá ecra e o teclado parece que não trabalha o que poderá ser.. Agradecia uma resposta o quão mais rapido possivel Obrigado

Powerbook G4 15" 1.67 Battery issue

mtnman5280 — Mon, 02 May 2016 17:18:34 +0000

I'm having an issue the my G4 Battery taking a charge. I have bought replacement batteries (2), replaced the charger (2) and ordered a Battery Connector from Ifixit and replaced. The computer will power-up if connected to any for the chargers and detects the charger but I get a battery "not charging". I've spent quite a bit of time on goggle trying to figure it out and ran across your PRAM video, but my machine is powering up. So my question is this fixable and worth fixing?

PowerBook G4 Titanium Mercury

Max — Wed, 30 Mar 2016 18:51:49 +0000

Hi John, On the PowerBook G4 Titanium Mercury (400 MHz), I did the procedure in your video for disconnecting and then reconnecting the PRAM Battery connection, which worked and so I was able to start up successfully (thank you), and then shut down and restart it again several times, however, after a few days, I was not able to restart it again with the PRAM Battery connected. So, I disconnected the PRAM Battery again, and was able to successfully restart it again, but this time I am going to leave the PRAM Battery disconnected and wait a few days to see if it will restart again with the PRAM Battery staying disconnected... Do you know of any problems that may be caused by leaving the PRAM Battery disconnected permanently? Thank you for all your help, Max

PowerBook Titanium black screen

GregorPQ — Tue, 22 Dec 2015 01:34:06 +0000

Hi! I got a PowerBook Titanium 1GHz via eBay. It’s got a black screen. Here are the symptoms: TargetDiskMode works. Booting up works. Boot chime is working. It seems to run the OS just as normal, but the screen stays totally black. I do not see a faint image on the screen. Caps look and Num-LED, volume buttons and volume feedback works. Sleep works - I can (invisibly) activate the panel with ctrl-eject and then the disk stops, but no sleeping LED. I can awake it by pressing a button. ShutDown works. The charger LED changes between orange and green as you would expect.. External Monitor via DVI doesn’t work. I did the reset PRAM routine and reset the PMU. It does run with only one RAM slot filled. I didn’t disconnect the PRAM battery yet. One cold think the graphic chip is the problem, but wouldn't the TiBook complain at startup about that? Thanks for your help, Greg

Powerbook G4 12" Not runing, only beep !!!

adibg — Thu, 27 Aug 2015 20:26:43 +0000

Powerbook G4 12" Not runing, only 3-4 beep and flash sleep light. A friend gave it to me, no charger. I bought but he does not want to run. Its model A1010, 867mhz I uploaded the video, look at it. Please help !!!? I want do I apply a a link to the video that I shot Powerbook G4 !!!?

Powerbook G4 Lower Memory Problem

EJSDAD — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 11:45:02 +0000

Hello, my name is eddie and I just got a Powerbook G4 1.5 ghz 15" which had a few problems. First, I had to replace the hard drive which only took about a 1/2 hour. Then I wanted to update the memory to it's max, which is 2gb! When I installed the memory and started the machine, it only shows 1gb although both stick are in. When I looked into it I have a problem with the lower memory slot, which seems to be common for this model! I tried to reset the pram using the key strokes, but nothing happen? So I don't know what else to do?? Can you give me some suggestions on how I can fix this issue... Thanks....

Powerbook G4 aluminum 15-inch/167MHz/2GB won't charge battery

MikeDrew — Sun, 07 Sep 2014 04:53:27 +0000

Hi John--Just stumbled across your website after doing a Youtube search. I have a G4 aluminum powerbook that I bought used from a friend about seven years ago. It’s absolutely bulging with expensive software so I don’t want to get rid of it; I do desktop publishing using PageMaker which mandates the use of OS9, so I’m determined to keep this old machine running. A couple of years ago it started developing problems charging. The original A/C adapter failed (I thought) so I bought a replacement on Amazon, which showed as having the illuminated ring, but sadly it doesn’t. Still, it seemed to work fine for a couple of years (even though I just discovered it’s only 45 watts). Last year, the battery seemed to fail; I would regularly run it up and down from fully charged down to 15 percent or less, and it would always recover, but then it only recovered to 50 percent, then 25, and finally it only went up to about 4 percent. I presumed it was a bad battery. Bought a replacement (again on Amazon) and it worked for a few weeks, then exhibited the same symptoms. Battery level is very low, battery icon shows plugged in but NOT charging. One day, the machine refused to reboot and I dragged it around on a two-week vacation without using it. I learned the trick of removing the battery, unplugging the power and holding the power button for 5 seconds to reset it, and that worked--it allowed the machine to boot up once everything was plugged in, and the battery charged up to about 14% (with a ‘battery charging’ icon), then it stopped charging. It has stayed at 14% for the past month or so. I now keep it as a home-computer only, plugged in all the time, and while I occasionally reboot it, mostly I just put it to sleep. Today I came home from work to find the machine totally dead even though the battery was at 14% when I left this morning. After sweating bullets, I stumbled across the technique of reset the power manager with Shift-CTRL-OPT-Power / wait 5 seconds / Power, the system comes on. But the clock is back to 1970 (until it automatically resets). The battery icon shows 0% charge, power adapter plugged in, and not charging. Searching the internet, I’ve seen several different theories as to a possible cause. I don’t think the problem lies with the power input (although could the fact that I have a 45-watt power adapter be significant?). Could it simply be that my PRAM battery is dead and needs replacing? Or do you think the problem is more serious? While I could always buy another Powerbook G4 and transfer my hard drive over, there’s no reason to believe that one that somebody is selling would be any better than mine. Care to hazard a guess as to what the problem might be, and what you might charge to fix it for me? I drive 30-40 year old cars to work every day, and plan to keep using this Powerbook as my only computer until…well, forever if I can! Thanks in advance for your help! Mike

Blue Folder Smiley Face and Question Mark

lalinzki — Wed, 10 Sep 2014 16:27:10 +0000

I have a Powerbook G4 A1107 aluminum and it does not boot up only gives me the folder, I change hardrive, hardrive cable and nothing works. I just want to give it to my 10th grader. I'm ready to give up please help

Powerbook G4, A1095 will only boot if I Reset Power Manager every time

NickPGSmith — Fri, 20 Jun 2014 12:08:08 +0000

Powerbook G4, A1095 left unused for 1 year+ I rescued from storage, but had no PSU. I obtained a non-apple PSU that claims to be a model A1021 rated 24.5V/2.65A. Of course there is no charge in the main battery, even after leaving it connected to PSU. No lights when I press the button on the battery. I sometimes get a quick flash of one light when inserting the battery while connected to PSU. Computer wouldn't turn on unless I remove the PRAM battery/board that sits on the DVD drive. I bought another PRAM board, but no change. Now, (with PRAM board installed) if I reset the power manager with Shift-CTRL-OPT-Power / wait 5s / Power, the system comes on. But the clock is back to 1970 (until NTP resets it). The battery icon shows 0% charge and not charging. What are your thoughts on this? What is most likely problem: - DC Board problem (but why does power the main system OK?) - Mainboard problem - PRAM board/battery (have I just got a second duff one?) - I would expect the main battery of this age to be dead but is there some interaction with the system I don't understand? Any other tests you can think of to narrow down further? Thanks!

pwrbook G4 1.67 boots, screen goes black, wiggle mouse, screen lights (10 sec) , repeat, repeat

gil — Fri, 06 Dec 2013 01:55:24 +0000

Greetings! 15" silver, SN ends: V4RG4 Dual boots to 9.2.2 and 10.4.11 This is a sudden onset situation. Ran fine for about 1.5 yrs. Battery will not charge or hold a charge but OK on AC adapter. Press start...boots OK - launch screen is "normal", i.e., initial gray screen is solid color rendition, illumination, etc. Gets to blue OS start screen - screen brightness sometimes flutters. boot finishes, finder (desktop) appears. desktop for about 10 seconds then display goes to BLACK (yes, I shouted that!) move mouse (no problem here), depress space bar, display relights - screen displays same info as when it went black - illumination is sometimes strong, sometimes w/ bit of flicker. wait 10 seconds REPEAT, wait 10 seconds REPEAT...and REPEAT... and REPEAT,,,, during those precious 10 seconds, system accepts mouse and mouse click commands OK When screen relights, CD drive spins up and immediately shuts down SAFE start-up works fine - but display & drive have same behaviors No clue what to attempt next. Not smart enuf to know what to eliminate in a diagnostic effort. All assistance welcome. THANK YOU!

m5884 powerbook 4g does not turn on

figone77 — Tue, 22 Oct 2013 19:10:05 +0000

m5884 powerbook 4g does not turn on. The battery charges. The connector light is green. It just does not want to power on. I've changed adapters. Did what you did on the video about the PRAM. I push the power button and nothing happens. The battery is fully charged. I even tried to power on with and without the battery. I've left it unplugged with nothing for weeks at a time. It was working fine. I put it away for a few month. I was overseas. When I got back, I plugged it in and that's when it didn't turn on. Hope you can help me. Thanks!

Powerbook G4 start up problem

anieborg — Mon, 22 Jul 2013 11:37:45 +0000

I have watched your video on this topic, but it seems my problem is different. My Powerbook G4 will try to boot with the charging cabling inside and also when I disconnect the charge cable, it will try to boot. When I say 'try to boot' I mean it will try and make noise for about 5 seconds and then die. I have tried taking out the ram and putting it in the bottom slot (it was in the upper slot). This did not help. Do you have any suggestion on what I could try next?

Upgrade my 17" G4 PowerBook

bmill — Sat, 03 Aug 2013 21:30:08 +0000

I would like the communities feedback. I have a 17" G4 PowerBook with a 1ghz processor and 1 gig ram and a 60 gig hard drive. The machine is running OS 10.3.9 and I would like to upgrade to OS 10.5; I understand this is the most current OS I can move to as I am running a Motorola chip. My research has lead me to the following: I should "try" a single stick of 1 gig ram and see if the machine "recognizes" the additional memory. If so buy a second and move from 1 gig of ram to two. Next are optional items that I believe would give more life for this machine. A new larger hard drive, new cooling fan, new mother board and power supply, and last some new batteries as the current ones are shot. Besides purchasing the OS what else should I purchase to get the maximum life out of this machine? Your thoughts are greatly appreciated. Best, B.

PowerBook Titanium shows faint image on screen

JohnS — Thu, 06 May 2010 13:17:48 +0000

My PowerBook turns on and appears to work, but the image on the screen is very faint. It sometimes does come on when the screen is at a certain angle. Please help!