Mac 17" Powerbook G4 won't start up after being opened up

Question

A friend's taken the keyboard off his 17" Mac G4 Powerbook, screwed it back on and now nothing happens when presses the power button. I don't have 'eyes-on' but he says he didn't do anything else apart from unscrew it, look around then screw it back on. Has anyone been inside a Powerbook or have any idea what the problem could be?

Cheers

Answer 1

He probably just disconnected keyboard's ribbon. Unscrew it again and check ribbon connection. In worst case scenario, he pulled it little bit harder so you will need to unscrew half of computer in order to reach keyboard ribbon socket.

Answer 2

Having gone through many G4 Powerbook dismantlings myself, your friend might have not properly re-connected either

1) the keyboard ribbon 2) the power cable connecting

It happens to me a few times too - dismantled everything, then only to reassemble back and find it's not powering on.

At this point in time, since you have no "eyes-on" as you said, I recommend that you suggest to your friend to once again dismantle everything, and reassemble everything, according to schematics and pictures that could assist him (choose the appropriate model for his 17"). However, when it comes to finally reconnecting the keyboard - do not fasten the screws - just connect the ribbon and press the power button to ensure it is working. If not, troubleshoot from there by reseating RAM, plugging in power (be sure to ground yourself), etc.

Cheers, let us know what happens.

Answer 3

Try re-seating the battery -- that's the easy one to check. Otherwise he might have shocked something on the board when he was undoing the ribbon? It may be better for your friend to post the question so we can get some more details.

Answer 4

I had this same problem but I observed that my PowerBook G4 1GHz came back when I prayed and detached the trackpad ribbon and took the RAM out and put it back in again. Hope this helps.