System freezes shortly after HD replacement on A1139 PowerBook

Hi. I followed the A1139 HD replacement guide which I managed to complete with some trouble but it didn't end there and now I am experiencing freezes and full system lock ups. Running OSX 10.5.8.

I had a bit of trouble reassembling the keyboard. At first when I was slotting it back in on the front side the tabs kept getting stuck and I had to wedge a flat blade in there to get it in. Then once I got past that I found keyboard ribbon was stuck in the hole! I couldn't pull it out so decided to call it a night. Next day I removed the keyboard to get at it but found every time I got the keyboard in position to slot down the cable was still stuck in a loop and wouldn't budge. It was frustrating! Eventually I got it through and even though I didn't force it I'm starting to think it may have fractured as I've had other trouble since.

My Mac, a hand me down, has been worked on before as some screws are missing under the ram slots and one screw is a wrong type underneath. I found the internal bracket of the security lock had broken off and the modem was unplugged. I removed the broken piece and replugged modem. Also the HD was missing the shield. I had to replace HD as it went catastrophic. Managed to Time Machine it in a nick of. Turns out it's a great tool, everything else just stopped at the first error, which is useless for backing up.

However, now I am getting major problems, some I have read about. The machine was fine for the first few days but then the sound started stuttering on a web site and it froze, I have rarely seen a Mac totally lock up without an Apple screen of death so this was a bad sign. Usually it won't restart. I can turn it on, it chimes, initial drive noises, then nothing except light on front button. Other times it will restart. OSX might last 5 minutes or 15 but by 30 it will freeze. I have found if I leave it five minutes after force shut down on power switch it sometimes restarts when I power back on.

Also to note, the keyboard can die before the machine does. It has gone dead, with signs of life such as cursor blinking on screen, then soon after total freeze. Once I was able to get into OF with external keyboard and do a reset-all. Also tried PRAM and PMC reset. Any clues? Lost cause? :-o

Machine was fine before I "fixed" it. Also tested Linux live CD, Ubuntu 10, eventually froze.

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Can you give us the make and model of your new HD

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Yes I can. I don't know exactly if it is a new drive as a friend got the HD for me after I was given the Mac. From the profiler:

WDC WD2500BEVE-00WZT0:

Capacity: 232.89 GB

Model: WDC WD2500BEVE-00WZT0

Revision: 01.01A01

Serial Number: WD-WXEX07079134

Removable Media: No

Detachable Drive: No

BSD Name: disk0

Protocol: ATA

Unit Number: 0

Socket Type: Internal

Low Power Polling: No

Mac OS 9 Drivers: No

Partition Map Type: APM (Apple Partition Map)

S.M.A.R.T. status: Verified

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Some info on memory below. The reversed one concerns me, that doesn't sound right. Though I suppose it wouldn't work at all if it had a problem. I'm not aware of being able to plug it in backwards. :-)

Memory:

SODIMM0/J20STANDARD:

Size: 1 GB

Type: DDR2 SDRAM

Speed: PC2-3200S-288

Status: OK

Manufacturer: Unknown

Part Number: Unknown

Serial Number: Unknown

SODIMM1/J23REVERSED:

Size: 1 GB

Type: DDR2 SDRAM

Speed: PC2-3200S-288

Status: OK

Manufacturer: Unknown

Part Number: Unknown

Serial Number: Unknown

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BTW why is the text bunched up? In preview
didn't line break. And first post lines were broken. :-?

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Okay I have done some more testing in order to isolate the problem and cancel out possible causes. First I pulled the memory stick out above the keyboard flat cable and tested, still froze. Then I removed the keyboard cable and tested, still froze. So cable must be okay there. Then I opened up, checked HD and found side bracket was loose as one screw went through bracket rubber. How did it work before? I ended up taping it on top to make sure it stuck. All seemed okay then. I also at this point removed the modem cable to duplicate how it was before the HD replacement. I put it back together and tested again. No change. Freeze within minutes. Sigh... Did see one thing, during one freeze, the display lit up and I could hear the HD make noises. At this point, I wonder if there is an overheating issue, as leaving it for a few minutes lets it boot again. OTOH, could the "broken lock" confuse it to the point of freezing?

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