ibook G3 only restarts following PMU reset?!

[EMNv2]

I have a dual usb ibook G3 which seems to be failing.

Recently it began taking longer and longer to start-up... ending up with taking 15-20mins to progress through the various screens.

I ran the disk utility, re-set the PRAM, ran the apple hardware test (all fine), repaired permissions, and re-set the PMU - nothing seemed to improve the situation. I finally did an archive/reinstall of OSX (10.3.9). For a week or two the computer started up normally but now it gets stuck either on the inital plain grey screen or at the next Apple screen.

Now the ibook will now only start following a re-set of the PMU (depression of the hard reset button). The battery on this machine has not held charge for several years - and I am now running the machine without the defunct battery in place.

Any suggestions on what is wrong and how to fix it?! Once the machine has started it runs well and has no problem.

Many thanks.

 

[jmgalvin]

The battery on a notebook supplies the charge to maintain PRAM, unlike a desktop which uses a separate little pram battery. If you still have the battery, leaving it in the machine and the machine plugged in but turned off when not using it might help.

I had a similar problem this past summer with one of the original orange/silver ibooks. After 8-9 years I bought a new macbook.

If you want, you can get a new battery from owcomputing.com - a good mac specialist - but is a good chunk of change for an old machine.

Using OSX 10.3.9 on a G4 & G5

 

[chiph]

Replacement batteries seem to be in the $100-$150 range.
Only you can decide if it's worth spending that much on a laptop that is several years old.

Chip H.


____________________________________________________________________
If you want to get the best response to a question, please read FAQ222-2244 first

 

[SYQUEST]

Check out

http://www.batteryrefill.com

for replacement battery packs, they also reuse the original housing.

....JIM....

 

[macmend]

I have had luck getting mac parts through freecycle, the free exchange system

http://www.freecycle.org/

more answers can be found at:

http://www.macmend.com