Ticket Options
Question Profile
| DATE | Oct 28, 2007 |
| TICKET | #334811 |
| STATUS | Closed |
| SUBJECT | PowerBook G4 12-inch DVI, ModelNo. A1010 |
| CAT | Computers, Operating Systems, Applications or Connected Devices |
| TYPE | Operating System Features, Bugs and Problems |
| DESC | Apple |
| DESC | 10.4.X (Tiger) |
| PLATFORM | Apple Macintosh (PowerPC G3,G4,G5) |
| MODEL | Number A1010 |
| PROC | |
| RAM | |
| DRIVE | 1 Gb |
| NAME | Larry |
| USERNAME | Larry E. |
| TECHNICAL | Little Experience |
| ISSUE | Need Advice |
Question Details
TICKET ARCHIVE -> PowerBook G4 12-inch DVI, ModelNo. A1010
Larry E. - Oct 28, 2007 - 5:59 am
To: Technical Support,
I have installed updates on a Mac OSX 10.4, including GarageBand that was 1.2 Gb. in size and later discoverd my system only is rated for a total of 1 Gb.
Before installing updates and while browsing the PowerBook G4 would change to a dim blue shade, stop responding and a black small window with white lettering would say: Computer has quit responding, press restart button or manual off power button to restart.
After installing updates, the PowerBook G4 performed better at first, then gave the same message as described above. Later when trying to restart, it has a light blue screen with message:
No.1 Invalid memory access at SRRO: ff8483e4 SRR1: 00003030
Welcome to Open Firmware, the system time and date is :09
:08:58 10/28/2007
No.2: To continue booting, type "mac-boot" and press return.
No.3: To shut down, type "shut-down" and press return.
When performing No.1: a white 1/2in. sq. window flashes alternately with side view of a person's face and then a ? (question mark) with no cursor on screen.
When performing No.2: the system shuts down. When restarted it goes back to the No.1 message.
Your help will be truly appreciated,
Larry E.
I have installed updates on a Mac OSX 10.4, including GarageBand that was 1.2 Gb. in size and later discoverd my system only is rated for a total of 1 Gb.
Before installing updates and while browsing the PowerBook G4 would change to a dim blue shade, stop responding and a black small window with white lettering would say: Computer has quit responding, press restart button or manual off power button to restart.
After installing updates, the PowerBook G4 performed better at first, then gave the same message as described above. Later when trying to restart, it has a light blue screen with message:
No.1 Invalid memory access at SRRO: ff8483e4 SRR1: 00003030
Welcome to Open Firmware, the system time and date is :09
:08:58 10/28/2007
No.2: To continue booting, type "mac-boot" and press return.
No.3: To shut down, type "shut-down" and press return.
When performing No.1: a white 1/2in. sq. window flashes alternately with side view of a person's face and then a ? (question mark) with no cursor on screen.
When performing No.2: the system shuts down. When restarted it goes back to the No.1 message.
Your help will be truly appreciated,
Larry E.
Serenak - Oct 28, 2007 - 9:13 am
Larry
Thanks for choosing macosx.com and I will see if I cannot shed some light on the matter for you.
"I have installed updates on a Mac OSX 10.4, including GarageBand that was 1.2 Gb. in size and later discoverd my system only is rated for a total of 1 Gb." - I don't understand this comment Larry what do you mean your iBook is only "rated for 1Gb"? Do you mean the update was 1.2Gb in size and you have 1Gb of RAM?
If so these are totally unrelated to each other one is a matter of Hard Disk storage required - the other a measure of how much "stuff" your Mac can do at once as it were - think of it like this the HDD is the equivalent of the cargo space in a pick up truck - how much stuff it can have loaded on board, the RAM is like the engine capacity the more there is the more power the truck has.
OK moving on: the screen you describe with the white writing in several languages is known as a Kernel Panic... This is caused when something causes the operating system to reach an unresolvable state and seize up completely. This is a bad thing and should very rarely if ever occur the commonest causes of repeated panics are either something bad or corrupt in your OS or a hardware fault - commonly poor RAM or a failing Hard Disk.
The pale screen saying Open Firmware... OK this is what is know as the Open Firmware (strangely enough
) Firstly it is distinctly telling you that a memory error has occurred - though I don't know enough to know if it is telling you hardware or software or both/neither.
Other than mac-boot the only other useful command I know for this screen is
reset-nvram [and hit return]
reset-all [hit return]
this will reset the PRAM and restart the Mac...
I am not familiar with the Profile/Question Mark but I would hazard a guess at it meaning the Mac cannot locate any user accounts
My first step would be to attempt to boot the Mac with an installer CD/DVD and at the first screen look under the menus for the Disk Utility
Use the Disk Utility to repair permissions and to check and attempt to repair the Hard Drive. If it reports repairs were made, repair it again until it says no repairs were needed.
Restart the Mac and keep your fingers crossed...
If you get in great... back up all your data asap and consider doing an archive and install preserving users.
If you don't then you are in deeper waters - you could just restart from the installer again and see if you can get an Archive and Install - if so I would attempt that if it only offers a clean install then I would hold hard for a few last hopes of getting back your data.
Do you have another Mac or a friend with one?
If so you could attempt to boot the iBook into Firewire Target Disk mode... start up the Mac holding down the T key till you see a bouncing Firewire Symbol (you will need a Firewire 400 cable for the following) Connect the iBook to another Mac with the firewire cable and its hard drive should show up on the other Mac as an external drive... you could attempt to retrieve your data from there if you have no other back ups. In that situation I would then go for a clean install of the OS from Disk.
How much RAM do you have Larry? I am guessing 1Gb from the first comment... if that is 512Mb on the Mac and 512Mb in the slot under the keyboard try running the Mac with the module under the keyboard removed... In fact I would go so far as to say take it out before you do anything else.
Hopefully once you have the Mac back up and running you can run it for a while and if no further panics occur try putting back the extra RAM... if that causes panics to return remove it immediately
I hope some of this is of help - and I hope you get the Mac back up and running.
Come back and let me know what happens or if you get no joy come back and I will try to help some more
Thanks for choosing macosx.com and I will see if I cannot shed some light on the matter for you.
"I have installed updates on a Mac OSX 10.4, including GarageBand that was 1.2 Gb. in size and later discoverd my system only is rated for a total of 1 Gb." - I don't understand this comment Larry what do you mean your iBook is only "rated for 1Gb"? Do you mean the update was 1.2Gb in size and you have 1Gb of RAM?
If so these are totally unrelated to each other one is a matter of Hard Disk storage required - the other a measure of how much "stuff" your Mac can do at once as it were - think of it like this the HDD is the equivalent of the cargo space in a pick up truck - how much stuff it can have loaded on board, the RAM is like the engine capacity the more there is the more power the truck has.
OK moving on: the screen you describe with the white writing in several languages is known as a Kernel Panic... This is caused when something causes the operating system to reach an unresolvable state and seize up completely. This is a bad thing and should very rarely if ever occur the commonest causes of repeated panics are either something bad or corrupt in your OS or a hardware fault - commonly poor RAM or a failing Hard Disk.
The pale screen saying Open Firmware... OK this is what is know as the Open Firmware (strangely enough
) Firstly it is distinctly telling you that a memory error has occurred - though I don't know enough to know if it is telling you hardware or software or both/neither.Other than mac-boot the only other useful command I know for this screen is
reset-nvram [and hit return]
reset-all [hit return]
this will reset the PRAM and restart the Mac...
I am not familiar with the Profile/Question Mark but I would hazard a guess at it meaning the Mac cannot locate any user accounts
My first step would be to attempt to boot the Mac with an installer CD/DVD and at the first screen look under the menus for the Disk Utility
Use the Disk Utility to repair permissions and to check and attempt to repair the Hard Drive. If it reports repairs were made, repair it again until it says no repairs were needed.
Restart the Mac and keep your fingers crossed...
If you get in great... back up all your data asap and consider doing an archive and install preserving users.
If you don't then you are in deeper waters - you could just restart from the installer again and see if you can get an Archive and Install - if so I would attempt that if it only offers a clean install then I would hold hard for a few last hopes of getting back your data.
Do you have another Mac or a friend with one?
If so you could attempt to boot the iBook into Firewire Target Disk mode... start up the Mac holding down the T key till you see a bouncing Firewire Symbol (you will need a Firewire 400 cable for the following) Connect the iBook to another Mac with the firewire cable and its hard drive should show up on the other Mac as an external drive... you could attempt to retrieve your data from there if you have no other back ups. In that situation I would then go for a clean install of the OS from Disk.
How much RAM do you have Larry? I am guessing 1Gb from the first comment... if that is 512Mb on the Mac and 512Mb in the slot under the keyboard try running the Mac with the module under the keyboard removed... In fact I would go so far as to say take it out before you do anything else.
Hopefully once you have the Mac back up and running you can run it for a while and if no further panics occur try putting back the extra RAM... if that causes panics to return remove it immediately
I hope some of this is of help - and I hope you get the Mac back up and running.
Come back and let me know what happens or if you get no joy come back and I will try to help some more
Larry E. - Oct 29, 2007 - 5:29 am
To: mac.osx.com/tech-support,
Thank you! You truly have shed much light on this problem.
Yesterday, while randomly trying to boot up the PowerBook by pressing the power button on, to my surprise, it did boot up and I managed to gather more specified information from this PowerBook that could be useful for you to diagnose these problems.
HARDWARE OVERVIEW:
Machine Name: PowerBook G4 12"
Machine Model: PowerBook 6,2
CPU Type: PowerPc G4 (1.1)
Number of CPUS: 1
CPU Speed: 1 GHz
L2 Cache (per CPU): 512KB
Memory: 512MB
Bus Speed: 133 MHz
Boot Rom Version: 4.7.5 f1
Serial Number: UV406048Q77
Sales Order Number:
To locate Serial Number, it involved shutting down PowerBook and removing the Battery. Currently, when pressing the "Power" button on, PowerBook will not respond. When holding down the "Power" button for a few seconds and then pressing "Power" button, PowerBook attempts to reboot, there is a short musical sound and the screen is black.
Thank you for your responsive help, it truly is appreciated.
Larry E.
Larry E. - Oct 29, 2007 - 7:46 am
Oct. 29,2007
To: mac.osx.com/tech-support,
You will have to provide information on how to remove the module under the keyboard, as my first attempt failed.
The following information was listed inside:
hnnix KOREA 04
PC21005-25330 0334
HYMD232M646C6-H AA
256 DDR 266MHz CL2-5
and on module:
DA1940300885 256+256 3201CD AMP
Thanks,
Larry E.
Serenak - Oct 29, 2007 - 7:14 pm
Hmmm
I do not like the sound of the symptoms much Larry
It looks like you have 512Mb of RAM - Usually 256Mb on the motherboard and a second 256Mb under the keyboard on those models
To remove the RAM chip under the keyboard - if one is fitted - pull the little spring clips at the top edge of the keyboard free (they slide towards you a couple of mm) then gently lift the keyboard from the screenward edge up towards you a small way (if it won't lift look at the little screw lock/Num Lock light... try turning it 90 degrees anti clockwise with a very small screwdriver and try gently lifting again). Once the fore edge is free you can gently lift the front edge up until you can free the back edge. Be careful of the ribbon cable.
Once the keyboard is flipped out you will see either an Airport card or a metal plate with 4 little screws. Remove the Airport card (if fitted) by unplugging the aerial and using the tag pull it towards the screen. Take out the screws and put somewhere safe (some models have captive screws which is helpful.
If there is a RAM chip it will now be exposed - gently release the side catches by easing them outwards with a fingernail or other non metal object. The Chip should spring free - lift it from the back (free edge on the Right) to about 45 degrees and then lightly pull to the right and it should come free - at no point should any amount of force be required.
At this point I would just lay the keyboard back in and attempt to restart the Mac.
By the way the "musical tone" you heard is I believe either the power manager resetting or the firmware checking for an update - I would have to check on that but is caused by holding the power button down and then pressing it again.
If you still have no luck I think I would be inclined to take the Mac to an Apple Hardware repairer - I am beginning to suspect some sort of hardware fault possibly in the HDD or more possibly the motherboard - but without having my hands on the Mac myself it is hard to be certain.
Sorry I can't shed much more light at the moment - let me know what happens.
I do not like the sound of the symptoms much Larry
It looks like you have 512Mb of RAM - Usually 256Mb on the motherboard and a second 256Mb under the keyboard on those models
To remove the RAM chip under the keyboard - if one is fitted - pull the little spring clips at the top edge of the keyboard free (they slide towards you a couple of mm) then gently lift the keyboard from the screenward edge up towards you a small way (if it won't lift look at the little screw lock/Num Lock light... try turning it 90 degrees anti clockwise with a very small screwdriver and try gently lifting again). Once the fore edge is free you can gently lift the front edge up until you can free the back edge. Be careful of the ribbon cable.
Once the keyboard is flipped out you will see either an Airport card or a metal plate with 4 little screws. Remove the Airport card (if fitted) by unplugging the aerial and using the tag pull it towards the screen. Take out the screws and put somewhere safe (some models have captive screws which is helpful.
If there is a RAM chip it will now be exposed - gently release the side catches by easing them outwards with a fingernail or other non metal object. The Chip should spring free - lift it from the back (free edge on the Right) to about 45 degrees and then lightly pull to the right and it should come free - at no point should any amount of force be required.
At this point I would just lay the keyboard back in and attempt to restart the Mac.
By the way the "musical tone" you heard is I believe either the power manager resetting or the firmware checking for an update - I would have to check on that but is caused by holding the power button down and then pressing it again.
If you still have no luck I think I would be inclined to take the Mac to an Apple Hardware repairer - I am beginning to suspect some sort of hardware fault possibly in the HDD or more possibly the motherboard - but without having my hands on the Mac myself it is hard to be certain.
Sorry I can't shed much more light at the moment - let me know what happens.
TechSupport - Nov 1, 2007 - 7:40 pm
We apologize for not being able to resolve the issue you asked of us. It is the absolute worst case scenario for us to do this. In our review of why this happens, it generally is related to either the particular issue being addressed or frequently, incomplete or incorrect information provided. We hope by moving your request to the public forums that you will be able to get a solution without leaving you empty handed.
Your ticket has been closed with our support team. Your request has just been posted to Mac OS X System & Mac Software and is available for your viewing at:
http://macosx.com/forums/showthread.php?t=296122
Again, thank you for using Macosx.com. We hope you will consider using us again in the future.
Your ticket has been closed with our support team. Your request has just been posted to Mac OS X System & Mac Software and is available for your viewing at:
http://macosx.com/forums/showthread.php?t=296122
Again, thank you for using Macosx.com. We hope you will consider using us again in the future.
TechSupport - Nov 1, 2007 - 9:40 pm
We apologize for not being able to resolve the issue you asked of us. It is the absolute worst case scenario for us to do this. In our review of why this happens, it generally is related to either the particular issue being addressed or frequently, incomplete or incorrect information provided. We hope by moving your request to the public forums that you will be able to get a solution without leaving you empty handed.
Your ticket has been closed with our support team. Your request has just been posted to Mac OS X System & Mac Software and is available for your viewing at:
http://macosx.com/forums/showthread.php?t=296124
Again, thank you for using Macosx.com. We hope you will consider using us again in the future.
Your ticket has been closed with our support team. Your request has just been posted to Mac OS X System & Mac Software and is available for your viewing at:
http://macosx.com/forums/showthread.php?t=296124
Again, thank you for using Macosx.com. We hope you will consider using us again in the future.
TechSupport - Nov 2, 2007 - 11:20 am
We apologize for not being able to resolve the issue you asked of us. It is the absolute worst case scenario for us to do this. In our review of why this happens, it generally is related to either the particular issue being addressed or frequently, incomplete or incorrect information provided. We hope by moving your request to the public forums that you will be able to get a solution without leaving you empty handed.
Your ticket has been closed with our support team. Your request has just been posted to Mac OS X System & Mac Software and is available for your viewing at:
http://macosx.com/forums/showthread.php?t=296135
Again, thank you for using Macosx.com. We hope you will consider using us again in the future.
Your ticket has been closed with our support team. Your request has just been posted to Mac OS X System & Mac Software and is available for your viewing at:
http://macosx.com/forums/showthread.php?t=296135
Again, thank you for using Macosx.com. We hope you will consider using us again in the future.
Larry E. - Nov 2, 2007 - 11:22 am
Nov. 1 2007
To: Serenak,
Sorry for the delay in returning my response, I have been short on time.
The layout of my Daughter’s PowerBook G4 may not be exactly as your references. The 256MB memory module (chip) was found on the bottom of PowerBook after removing a small plate that is fastened by four (4) screws and removal was very easy by moving tension clips outward as you instructed.
You made PowerBook very happy as it powered up using the remaining 256MB memory module (chip) without any appearing errors or loss of information. As instructed, I re-installed the 256MB memory module (chip) and proceeded to re-boot. Again, you made PowerBook very happy as it powered up without any appearing errors or loss of information. Next, I received a message that the clock needed to be set from the year 2001, to the correct time, although the time that was showing did match the time that I received this message. I checked the time and clicked “OK”. The next message received was the opportunity to update Microsoft Word 2004 and I chose to update.
PowerBook was happy and went to Bible College with my Daughter on Tuesday and worked fine for two (2) days and then, while using PowerBook the small black screen with white letters with the message: “Computer has quit responding, press restart button or manual off power button to restart appeared. (I was unable to locate the RESTART BUTTON, and restarted using manual off POWER BUTTON.
At this point, when turning on PowerBook the same small screen, asking to “RESTART COMPUTER”, appeared . Then, after randomly attempting to RESTART COMPUTER, PowerBook will not respond with anything except an all BLACK screen.
Going back for a minute to October 28, 2007, I would like to ask a question in regards to the light blue screen with message:
No. 1: Invalid memory access at SRRO: ff8483e4 SRR1: 00003030
Welcome to Open Firmware, the system time and date is: 09:08:58 10/28/2007
To continue booting, type “mac-boot” and press return
No. 2: To shut down, type “shut-down” and press return
(and as I had explained to you that)
When performing No. 1: a white ˝ inch square window flashes alternately with side view of a person’s face and then a ? (question mark) and there was no cursor on the screen.
When performing No. 2: the system shuts down. When restarted it goes back to the No. 1 message.
PLEASE EXPLAIN No. 1: at one time when I had “system properties” open could it be possible that I could have put the “cursor” (when using the track pad) over this “Symbol” (or Icon) and received a description of that this is a “start-up disk symbol”.
No. 2: your opinion of using a “Start-Up Disk”. Would this make PowerBook happy and if so, I would like to know the cost involved and your suggestions of where to get one.
No. 3: the maximum size of “memory ram modules” that can be installed in PowerBook and is it difficult to locate and change the second “memory ram module”.
Thank You with regards,
Larry E.
To: Serenak,
Sorry for the delay in returning my response, I have been short on time.
The layout of my Daughter’s PowerBook G4 may not be exactly as your references. The 256MB memory module (chip) was found on the bottom of PowerBook after removing a small plate that is fastened by four (4) screws and removal was very easy by moving tension clips outward as you instructed.
You made PowerBook very happy as it powered up using the remaining 256MB memory module (chip) without any appearing errors or loss of information. As instructed, I re-installed the 256MB memory module (chip) and proceeded to re-boot. Again, you made PowerBook very happy as it powered up without any appearing errors or loss of information. Next, I received a message that the clock needed to be set from the year 2001, to the correct time, although the time that was showing did match the time that I received this message. I checked the time and clicked “OK”. The next message received was the opportunity to update Microsoft Word 2004 and I chose to update.
PowerBook was happy and went to Bible College with my Daughter on Tuesday and worked fine for two (2) days and then, while using PowerBook the small black screen with white letters with the message: “Computer has quit responding, press restart button or manual off power button to restart appeared. (I was unable to locate the RESTART BUTTON, and restarted using manual off POWER BUTTON.
At this point, when turning on PowerBook the same small screen, asking to “RESTART COMPUTER”, appeared . Then, after randomly attempting to RESTART COMPUTER, PowerBook will not respond with anything except an all BLACK screen.
Going back for a minute to October 28, 2007, I would like to ask a question in regards to the light blue screen with message:
No. 1: Invalid memory access at SRRO: ff8483e4 SRR1: 00003030
Welcome to Open Firmware, the system time and date is: 09:08:58 10/28/2007
To continue booting, type “mac-boot” and press return
No. 2: To shut down, type “shut-down” and press return
(and as I had explained to you that)
When performing No. 1: a white ˝ inch square window flashes alternately with side view of a person’s face and then a ? (question mark) and there was no cursor on the screen.
When performing No. 2: the system shuts down. When restarted it goes back to the No. 1 message.
PLEASE EXPLAIN No. 1: at one time when I had “system properties” open could it be possible that I could have put the “cursor” (when using the track pad) over this “Symbol” (or Icon) and received a description of that this is a “start-up disk symbol”.
No. 2: your opinion of using a “Start-Up Disk”. Would this make PowerBook happy and if so, I would like to know the cost involved and your suggestions of where to get one.
No. 3: the maximum size of “memory ram modules” that can be installed in PowerBook and is it difficult to locate and change the second “memory ram module”.
Thank You with regards,
Larry E.
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