Powerbook G4 power issues

I acquired a gimped Powerbook G4 from one of our 'daughter' companies. The laptop works fine when using the A/C adapter. If I unplug the A/C adapter while the power is on, the screen/keyboard lights will go off. However, the hard drive is still spinning. If I plug the A/C adapter back in, the LCD backlight comes back on, but it does not display what was on the screen. I have to hold the power button down for a few seconds to power it down completely. Upon turning it back on, everything works fine again. Does this sound like a battery issue or motherboard problem? I have checked the battery serial number against the recall list and this one is supposably good.

Thanks in advance!

 

first thought: the battery is really old and doesn't have much capacity left, and when you try to use it, doesn't have enough power to power the computer.

2nd thought: maybe logic board problem.

 

Well, my first thought was the battery also. However, the battery is max 2 years old. The powerbook is a 1.67GHz with DDR2, so it's the latest G4 revision I believe. It was used in an office, so it stayed on AC power most of the time. This isn't supposed to be ideal for a battery, but all of my laptop users at work leave theirs plugged in all day with no ill after effects.

I was just wondering if there was a known point of failure that may cause the problem. The only motherboard I found on Ebay was $425. I don't want to sink that much money in this thing.

 

Maybe there isnt any problem at all. The screen just goes blank because its running on battery. Tap the touch-pad or hit a key and the screen should pop up again. I use a Powerbook G4 (1.25GHz) at work too and this happens when I remove the AC power cord.

 

That doesn't work, and when I plug the AC power cord back in, the backlight comes on, on the screen, but shows nothing. I think I'll just settle for the fact I'll have to use it plugged in. Besides, It was a freebie anyway. I was just hoping I could fix it up for cheap so my wife could use it. She's wanted a Mac for a while. I was trying to cheapskate my way out of a new one =)

 

You cheapy

Try some searching, not just here but on Google too.

 

Haha.. I was always kinda cheap, but I'm going to start college again in January. At 23 y/o, it's time for me to go! We're paying for my wife's tuition right now.. thank goodness she only has 6 classes left, and we'll be paying for mine as well. It's time to cut corners around the house now!

Thanks for the replies though =) I'll see what I can find on 'the googles'