Mac Virus - won't wake from sleep for more than a few seconds

[danamania]

That sounds very typical for a powerbook with a marginal inverter board - the screen will come on, then drop out - and it'll die quicker & quicker as time goes on - or as the inverter board warms.

Replacing that should fix it.

dana

[amigadave]

Dana, your diagnosis seems feasible as the longer I try to run the PB the shorter the screen displays anything.  If I wait several minutes, then reboot, the display will work long enough to maybe make it through the login.  After that, if I close the PB, wait for the sleep indicator light to come on and reopen it will display for a few seconds or just flash the screen.

I'll go looking for a description of inverter board you mentioned and see if it is something I can do or if I have to have a repair facility do it.

P.S. My Power supply is almost new and both batteries still provide power for an average of 2 hours so I don't think power is the problem.

[sboisvert]

You don't mention which Powerbook you have; I read a while back about loose heatsink/cooler parts make the 12" PB overheat easily, making it shutdown automatically as a protection measure. Look on MacBidouille.com (they've got an english version of the site too).

[amigadave]

one of the last Titanium Power Books made.  1gHz G4 w/1gb RAM, SuperDrive and 60 or 80 gb HD.

I have been disabled (back injury) since the end of May and have just realized how much I use my Power Book everyday, now that I can't use it.  It is like I have lost a friend or the use of one of my hands.

[danamania]

I'll go looking for a description of inverter board you mentioned and see if it is something I can do or if I have to have a repair facility do it.

P.S. My Power supply is almost new and both batteries still provide power for an average of 2 hours so I don't think power is the problem.

I'd recommend taking it to a mac repair shop - while the TiBooks from 400 to 1GHz all look pretty much the same, the insides varied all over the place, far more than I'm familiar with! Various parts are incompatible between models.

Power may also be a bit iffy deeper in the machine than the battery and the external power supply. The power from those goes through a DC-DC board, is controlled by a power management unit, is split between logic board, HD and Optical drive, and also goes to the screen's inverter board. Any point along there could have issues giving power related problems, even if the CPU is getting constant clean power from both Battery and the external power supply.

dana

[minator]

one of the last Titanium Power Books made. 1gHz G4 w/1gb RAM, SuperDrive and 60 or 80 gb HD.

I had a look on google to see if I could find any similar problems but didn't see anything specific.  However I did see the 1GHz TiBook did get a mention a few times in connection with screen problems.  I'd take it to a shop, sounds like a "known issue".

[Acill]

Have someone take it to an apple store for you. I am 100% sure its not a virus. As of now unless you have OS9 on it there is not a single virus knows for OSX. Its a hardware issue and its not going to be cheap to fix if you let Apple do it. I recomend looking at a few 3rd party repair shops. Its not under warrenty if its a Ti-Book.

I recomend http://powerbook.techrestore.com/ as they do a better job then even Apple for half the price in most cases. They will send a prepaid shipping box.

[amigadave]

Maybe it's not a virus and it is a hardware issue, but I don't believe the hype that there can't be any OS 10.4 virii out there.  I chose a Mac instead of a cheaper Windows machine because I believe it is superior hardware and software and don't regret that decision.  I wish we had more programmers keeping up the Mac version of UAE to where the WinUAE version is, but other than that, I do appreciate the differences, like a Porsche vs a Kia.

Unfortunately Porsche like design comes with Porsche like purchase and repair prices.

[amigadave]

Back on the Powerbook!!!  I found a site that described how to reset the motherboard and then the PMU, followed those directions exactly and so far so good.  I am so relieved that I don't have to take it in for repairs.

I hope this problem does not return.  I am still tempted to re-install the OS back to  10.3

Spoke to soon.  Damn!!!  I am typing this on a black screen.

[Acill]

The hype isnt hype, not a single virus. Its not worth making one because you cant make any system changes on OS X without the password and root isnt enabled by default. Send it to the place I posted the link for. Screen problems were common on the TI.