Tried to upgrade Aluminum G4 Powerbook, now it won't start

[tthoms]

Howdy!  So I bought an ALuminum PB (1.5MHz),  The hard drive was small (80 GB) and only registered 512 MB of memory.  I Bought 2 GB memory and the MSATA to ATA Adapter with Samsung EVO MSATA.

Opening the memory, there was actually two 512MB sticks; I don't know why one wasn't recognized.  After opening up the notebook (not an easy task), I swapped out the ATA drive with the substitute, buttoned her up, and turned it on.

It beeped three times, and a light near the hinge release began flashing three times.  I put in a MACOS 9.2.2 cd and waited.  More flashing, but nothing else.

Tried rebooting and holding C.  Same response.  Tried ejecting the CD. Nope.  Flashing the PRAM.  Nada.  I finally opened it up and put all of the original parts back.  Same response.

Any tips?

[Greystash]

I think the beeping happens when there is no RAM detected? Check the ram slots for any dust/debris and try each stick individually.

[tthoms]

Regarding memory, I swapped in the memory that worked before, and even tried removing cards, installing individually, and swapping where they were plugged in.  Nothing.  I have noticed that in addition to the current issues, I get nothing at all if I try to run the computer without the battery installed (with the power cord).   Don't know if that is related.

 

[Greystash]

The PowerBooks are a little funny when their PMU and normal battery are fully depleted. Try taking the battery out, and unplugging it. Once it has no power source hold the power button for ~10 seconds, insert the power cable while holding and then press the power button to try booting.

[GaryN]

It's almost certain you have one of the many PBs of that era with failed connections on the RAM slots. That is why it only showed one DIMM when there were two installed - one slot was still working. Chances are you killed the other one just by disturbing the DIMM that was in there.

Whoever sold you this PB did NOT do you a favor. They almost certainly knew there was a bad slot. It's most often the top / outer one that goes first.
There's no practical repair for this. Info about this is on the net.

Google this: PowerBook G4 (15-inch 1.67/1.5GHz) Memory Slot Repair Extension Program

[tthoms]

It does seem that I have a powerbook RAM slot issues.. .  After testing both slots, cleaning them, and removing and inserting the RAM back into them. I got the outer slot working again.  I can see 1GB of my 2GB installed.

I was going to install OSX 10.4 onto it, but now I can't get the computer to recognized the MSATA to ATA drive (ABLECONN/Samsung 860 EVO) that I put into the computer.  Ugh....