apple news/media reports
05/14/2007, 12:20pm, EDT
Monday, May 14th
PowerBook G4 memory slot failure woes
Numerous PowerBook G4 owners are crying out to Apple for recognition of an apparently unfixed memory slot failure. Thousands of PowerBook owners have already signed an online petition requesting that Apple acknowledge the issue and repair it, and many users report that they previously had their PowerBooks repaired to fix the same problem but that their notebooks failed a second time after the alleged fix was administered. The problem seems to affect PowerBook G4 15-inch models with 1GHz, 1.25GHz, 1.33GHz, 1.5GHz, and 1.67GHz processor speeds.
Apple notes that the symptoms may only occur intermittently and lists the 1.5GHz as well as 1.67GHz PowerBook models as candidates for its Memory Slot Repair Extension Program, notably leaving out other models which are experiencing widespread failures, according to owners.
Apple has posted a frequently asked questions page regarding its PowerBook G4 15-inch 1.67GHz/1.5GHz Memory Slot Repair Extension Program which, according to various users, worked for some time but ultimately resulted in the failure of their lower memory slot again, listing symptoms as well as those PowerBook models entitled to repairs by the Cupertino-based company.
Symptoms of a PowerBook G4 lower memory slot failure include:
- The computer does not start up; instead, there are three short beeps (typically) followed by the the sleep LED flashing periodically.
- When both SO-DIMM memory slots are filled (populated), only one slot's memory is recognized.
- System performance may be degraded because the memory in only one slot is not recognized.
Apple notes that the symptoms may only occur intermittently and lists the 1.5GHz as well as 1.67GHz PowerBook models as candidates for its Memory Slot Repair Extension Program, notably leaving out other models which are experiencing widespread failures, according to owners.
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Isn't this sort of thing always solved by the good old class action lawsuit? You know, the kind where the lawyers get rich and the users get a $10 coupon for the Apple Store.
why not just rename the 'macnn' website to 'macBASHINGnn'...
afterall this is the true purpose of macnn, bet you guys don't even use mac servers or workstations, if fact I bet you loosers are dell owners...
My evidence is the lack of 'fair reporting' about on apple issues including 'promotions and ads' for those 'other pc companies' ; the always negative sentiment on apple products (usually the headlines are slanted negative and always misleading)...
besides I'm tired of reading all the articles that bounce me over to your other 'BS' websites that contain NO apple articles ever and promote 'those other worthless grey boxes'...and want me to join to post comments, not interested in sub-computing at all...
For contrast, I only ever saw 2 of the non-magsafe power plugs broken off in the port (requiring service).
The fix involved nothing more than removing the keyboard, checking that the ribbon cable hadn't slipped left-wards and was stuck up against the laptop chassis (cable to chassis connection = memory short). I could see that the cable had slid between two parts of the chassis, so I gently pulled it back out from between the two parts, and then tightened the screws that were readily visible under the keyboard to properly secure everything and keep the cable from sliding back under the chassis.
It took *ages* to diagnose (random freezes, failure to boot with three loud beeps indicating memory issues, etc.) but less than three minutes to fix for good. I'm still using the PBG4 as a backup system now.
Hope this helps,
jon
Oh well, I broke down and purchased a macbook pro 2.33, Sure would be nice to get a kickback though.
I am wondering if this issue could have damaged the memory card. The replacement is working fine and everything is stable again.
Btw, always own a current version of DiskWarrior
PBG4 1GHz 1GB 10.4.9
Cheers!