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| Author | 3400c Screen Scramble? (Read 15326 times) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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pikacane
4 MB  Posts: 6 
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on: December 24, 2010, 05:30
My 3400c running 7.6 had been working perfectly well, and even held a decent charge. I left it sitting off-charger with about a half charge two weeks ago, and today it wouldn't start off the battery, so I plugged it in, at which point it would start, but the screen was completely scrambled. Every image was mirrored at least twice and lines of pixels were hashed around randomly. The first boot, the cursor responded, and I managed to reboot it, but it didn't help. I tried to get the control panels up trying to fix the date and time (hard to see, but afaict it lost them), and the cursor froze; it hasn't responded since. Booting with extensions off hasn't helped. Right now I've left it plugged in and off in the hopes that charging will somehow help. Anyone have any other ideas? I don't have a set of rescue disks at the moment, although if someone would be so kind as to share where to get or how to make them I will do so very quickly! Thanks 
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24bit
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64 MB Posts: 91
Reply #1 on: December 24, 2010, 14:53
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Do you have a PB with CD drive? In that case you might try Norton Disk Doctor5. I think, there is an image hosted at Macintoshgarden. If you are looking for floppies, you might try here: http://home.earthlink.net/~gamba2/bootdisks.html Good luck!
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dpaanlka
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1024 MB Posts: 1646
Reply #2 on: December 24, 2010, 15:55
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Um yeah, I don't think Norton Disk Doctor is going to help him with that. This sounds like either somehow your display was set to the wrong refresh rate, or you have a hardware failure somewhere. Try zapping the PRAM following the instructions here: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1379 Try resetting the PMU following the instructions here: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1781
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wove
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1024 MB Posts: 1363
Reply #3 on: December 24, 2010, 15:58
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Multi images side by side are generally a sign of a bad connection somewhere between the graphics chip and the display. You could check it on an external monitor and see what sort of image you get. Images that are marred by some repeating pattern(s)are caused by defective memory. Check to make sure that an add on memory is properly seated, or remove it to see if that clears the image problems. If you can change the image or make it dance by pressing on a part of the screen houseing or the laptop case, then you definely have a loose connection. Video settings are held in the PRAM corrupt settings of course are cured by resetting the PRAM. You can stare the PB3400 in Target mode (SCSI disk mode) and check the disk from another machine, or use it as a disk to boot another system. Good luck, keep everyone posted about how it turns out and what finally fixed the problem. bill
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pikacane
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4 MB Posts: 6
Reply #4 on: December 24, 2010, 17:47
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The PRAM zap (man I must have been tired last night!) helped a tad with reducing the amount of 'hashing', but when I reset the PMU it not only went back, I'm now getting Error 11's during boot. Ouch. It also does carry over bits of the images from boot to boot, which is odd, and makes it hard to tell what's really going on. Nothing like having a shredded bomb in four places! Starting to think I have a RAM issue of some sort? I don't have time to open it up now, especially since I haven't opened this series before-anyone have a link? I don't have an external monitor here, but I should be able to pick one up, along with a few other things, this afternoon and do some more testing later. Happy Whatever Holiday You Prefer, or have a good day if you prefer none! Sarah
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dpaanlka
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1024 MB Posts: 1646
Reply #5 on: December 25, 2010, 00:25
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Hmm, maybe... it's super simple to get to the memory. Simply unscrew the bottom three Torx-8 screws, and the keyboard flips out and that's it. You'll also then have access to the LCD ribbon cable, so check that too. http://www.powerbookmedic.com/xcart1/files/3400kangag3.pdf I've gotten so used to doing it I can do it in like 30 seconds.
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pikacane
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4 MB Posts: 6
Reply #6 on: December 30, 2010, 23:15
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Well, resetting the ram did clear the error 11's I was getting, but did little or nothing to fix the screen. I've left it sitting with the battery out and unplugged, left it with the battery on the charger for two days, reset the PMU off the reset button a number of times, zapped the pram at least as many, and I have reseated the LCD cable. Just now I tried zapping the pram three times in a row and it went back to the error 11's. Oh, and some Norton thing is trying to run on restart and locks it up hard. I usually have to use the reset button because no set of keys will restart it. I've actually started the poor thing off the reset button a few times! I'm getting frustrated, and starting to worry that one of my favorite machines has gone to Parts Land. If someone could help me figure out what I'm missing, I would be much obliged. I have not as yet managed to get my hands on an external monitor.
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wove
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1024 MB Posts: 1363
Reply #7 on: December 31, 2010, 13:49
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A type 11 error is a hardware exception error. It is often generated by the processor trying to run some errant application. You mention something "Norton". Older Norton software was know for installed add-ons to the system that often caused problems. I would look at removing everything Norton at least until you resolve the problem. (Granted if you can not get the system started this is not as easy to do as it is to say.) Have you tried running the system with the memory module removed? Doing this would eliminate the memory as the source of the problem. Powerbook 3400s are one of Apple's most trouble free, and rugged models. I would remain confident that the problem will eventually be solved and the 3400 will live on. bill
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pikacane
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4 MB Posts: 6
Reply #8 on: January 10, 2011, 20:40
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Finally managed to get my parents' old AppleColor down here, and found out that I don't have the cable to match the port on the computer. Argh. Resetting the memory and LCD ribbon cable hasn't helped. I'm working on this one as I have the time, but since that's not too often, and I don't have all the parts I need to hand, it's slow going. Sorry!
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