Laptop Problems, Please help with whatever you can!

[Joshmcmillan]

Hi,
I got this laptop for free coz it doesn't work and I want to make it work again. It's a 400mhz G4 Mac with 128mb pc100, 10gb hd and dvd drive. It was my friends and I remember when it did work the battery was old and only lasted like a minute so you had to use it when plugged in to the wall and then it worked fine. For some reason now it just doesn't power on at all, I left it plugged in all night and in the morning it just didn't power on, I can press/hold in the button or whatever and it just won't turn on.
I have tried taking the ram out and putting it back in although I knew that wouldn't stop it from powering on at all. Is there anything I could try?

Thanks in advance.

[Polaris573]

My theory is that the battery is so dead that there is too much resistance for enough electricity to make it to the computer. Similar to when a car battery is so dead that you can't even jump start it. Does that make sense to anyone or am I just blowing smoke?

[theonetruewill]

Remove the battery and power it from the mains directy to see if Polaris is indeed onto sometihng.
Otherwise - it's f*cked

[Dippyskoodlez]

Remove the battery and power it from the mains directy to see if Polaris is indeed onto sometihng.
Otherwise - it's f*cked

Yes, remove the battery first. It should operate perfectly fine w/out a battery.

And what exactly doesn't power on? Does the Power cable have a power light? What color is it? What exactly happens when you press the power button, does it make any noises? "attempt" to power up? just flat out not do anything? Monitor flicker?


:)


I'm assuming this is a revision 1 ibook G4. It should have a light up power connector, and yes chances are the battery of that age is beyond dead :)


If it does power on when the battery is removed you can 1.) get a new battery from apple ($100.) But its probably not worth it. You could maybe find a second hand battery cheaper if you want to use it.

Otherwise, it makes a great battery-less portable :D

[Joshmcmillan]

Hi,
I was testing at my friends house before I took it home because the plug is a canadian power plug and he had the adapter but I dont, he said he would give it too me but he couldn't find his other one and he needs it for his ipod. I will try all this and let you know after I get an adapter.