20 Most Recent Apple Powerbook G4 17" 1.67 GHz SuperDrive Mac Notebook Questions & Answers

If this is an external Apple superdrive, then it won't work with any Apple laptops with an internal drive as the firmware detects the internal drive and will not run the external Apple device

Replace the drive. Unless you already have and disc stuck inside, in which case eject that one :-)

Hi Jason, It depends on the Macbook model.Some are changed through the battery compartment and it's very easy to do. Some have to be comprehensively dismantled and need a great degree of skill and patience and some have to go back to Apple.

All right people have a bunch of really short solutions to these problems that aren't really solutions on this site. They just seem to be like yo somethings wrong with your computer. It might be your firmware. Well try this... Zap the PRAM

1. Shut Down.
2. Start up and hold cmd + opt. + p + r
3. While holding this the computer should start up and
automatically restart your computer again while still holding it.

Upon the second start it should Make a Chime and the sound should come back. If not then its not your firmware. It Might be that you threw away your built in speaker prefs. or the speaker shorted and u need a new one. To test this plug in your headphones to see if they work. If not then you have an internal software problem and you should take it to a technician. He may have to reload your system so back everything up. And be ready with the Mac start up discs that were given with the computer. Hope this helps. I'm going through the same thing right now with my G4 and am at the point where I need a tech. I may just buy a new Comp. (I love my G4 though)

Mac do not waste space, I recommend you to use an external hard drive. Try to find one with twice capacity that your computer's hard drive.I mean, if your computer hard drive is 500Gb, then find an external drive with 1Tb

This computer sounds like it has died. You can try to see if Apple will fix it for you, but I doubt that they will. It may be time to buy a new computer.

Hi Gerard, You probably can but it's not a method I would recommend unless the two computers are identical.On the Target computer, start it up while holding down the T key on the keyboard.It should start up very quickly and give you a blue screem with a large FireWire symbol floating around. Now take a suitable FW cable and connect the two computers together. Afdter a moment you should see the target cpomputer'sd HD appear on the opther's desktop. It is now acting like an external drive. See what happens if you try to copy the OS over. It may work but then again it may not.You may found you will have more success if you use CarbonCopy Cloner on the source machine. You can theyn clone the OS across.

Restart your computer after you are done exporting a project and burning it to a DVD. For some odd reason the whole computer lags after exporting/rendering projects. Same thing happens to me when I do video editing/special effects work.
Once you have restarted your computer, try watching the DVD again. If the problem still persists, try using a different codec when you export the FCP project as a SELF-CONTAINED movie and make sure to RE-COMPRESS ALL FRAMES if the problem still persists.

In Applications there should be a "DVD Player"

If you are not using the AC adapter (you are using only the battery), then the battery may be dead - simply replace the battery. If you are plugged into the wall, and the light on the power cord, where it meets the computer, is green, the unit is receiving power. If the unit is receiving power and it will not boot at all, then either the motherboard or the hard drive is most likely problem. You can replace the board, but it may end up being more expensive on an older G4 than it is worth. Once you are able to determine if the unit is receiving power, the only thing you can really do from there is take it to a repair shop and have them perform a test on the power supply, hard drive and/or the motherboard to see which one of those is causing the problem. If the hard drive is fine, you will most likely be able to recover your files.

Are you sure the drive is capable of doing this? Have you read/wrote DVDs before or had this just happened?

the laser for buring dvd's is out or goiing out you need a new optical drive

Your hard drive is probably defective. Try to reinstall OS first. If that fails, you need a new hard drive. If you want to do it yourself, the good news is, it'snot too hard to open it. Here is an Macbook Repair Guide that shows how to open an Powerbook. Just open it and let it try, clean off any corrosion you can find. If you want somebody else to do it for you go to iPad Repair NYC.

hello;)
ok! put a empty cd in the cd reader restart the computer and wait. ------------------- if it's not working you need a local expert intervention
good luck

restart your computer. When the first white screen comes up, hold down command+s keys. the screen will change to white on black and some code writing will load. DONT FREAK OUT OR PRESS ANYTHING UNTIL AT THE BOTTOM OF THE SCREEN IT SAYS "root". then type in exactly:"/sbin/mount -uw /" hit return once then type in "passwd [username]" and hit return. where it says "type in new password" type in the password u want. hit return and retype the password. hit return one more time and wait for the codes to say "root". then type in "exit" and hit return. the computer should continue to start up and u should be able to log in.

Sounds like you may just have your numlock on. Just press function key plus F6 (on a macboook) and the numlock is off. If not you may have a broken keyboard. You can try to replace the keyboard yourself using an Apple Tablet Repair Guide or send it to a third party service Apple Tablet Repair.

reinstall the o.s

Do you have this machine plugged into AC power? If not, you may just have a depleted battery, which would fit these symptoms perfectly.
The problem is not software related, because with a missing or empty internal drive you would get a flashing question mark folder icon instead.
Does the machine power off when the screen goes black, or does it continue to run with a dark screen? Common solution for the latter is to wait two minutes until the boot sequence sounds complete, then press the F2 button to raise the screen brightness. Failing that, you may have a blown-out backlight tube in the screen itself, which can be addressed.

Never a good sign.... usually means that your video adapter is shot.
Most laptop video is built on the motherboard, so that would entail the entire motherboard being replaced. Any chance it is still under warranty???

One other thing it could be... do the lines chnage at all when you tilt the screen back and forth? If so, it might be a loose connection between the moterboard and the monitor. That would be significantly cheaper to fix!

Go to system preferences-to- universal access and turn off "zoom".