IBook G3 OSX problems

[tigtan]

I've got an Ibook G3 - about 3 years old. I have just relocated from South Africa (where it was bought) to Scotland, and decided to do some Software Updates on it. My last update had brought my OS X system to 10.2.8. However, whilst doing a security update - the system very conveniently crashed on me, to the point that I could not force quit anything and I had to pull the plug...

Upon booting up again - no joy - just a "?". I put in the OSX installation CD, which it picked up fine - and I ran the Disk Utility and performed a repair. It did repair some kernels and not sure what else, as this was a first time repair for me. The system then conveniently crashed again, and so I tried to reboot.

This time however, I still only get the wonderful ?

So having done some reading and gathering information - I then tried the following suggestions:
Booting up while pressing the C button - to this the only response I get is that it sounds like the CD is being looked up by the mac, but then it sits on the spinning wheel for hours at a time if I leave it.
I then tried the alt/opt key - only to see the MAC installation disk (doesn't seem to pick up an icon for the hard drive), and upon pressing the arrow button, I still get the spinning wheel.
Safe boot is totally ignored, and nothing happens or the system shuts itself down.
I did the PRAM option, and now it does chime successfully each time I boot up but then reverts to the ? folder icon.

I sought some advice and was told that the motherboard may now be corrupt - much to my frustration as I'm still conveniently unemployed.

Is there anything else I can try before taking it to a techie support?

[tigtan]

Well, seeing as I've had no response....? and loads of readers, this is how far I've come so far for those that might have the same problem as me.

I managed to get Techtool Pro - which showed me where the problems the following - the File Attributes Table/Structure is missing, and there seem to be a few 'bad blocks' on the Mac.

However, for some reason my MAC does not want to boot up from the OSX Installation CD, although it reads Techtool Pro fine and has now more recently accepted the Apple Hardware Test disk - where everything passed.

I'm thinking there may be a problem with my installtion CD disk itself as it will not take me to the installation or even Disk Utility section.

Anyone know where I can get a startup disk in Scotland?

[powermac]

I am not sure how to get a restore CD in Scotland. Although, you may be able to search the web for used OSX disk, for example ebay.

The question mark, as you have suspected indicates the computer is trying to find a drive to boot from. If your HD has bad sectors, etc, it may need to be replaced.

I would suggest trying to boot up in verbose mode, and try FSCK.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214

If you have any third party hardware, remove it. For example, any added memory. If you have the opportunity to try install CD in another computer, give that a try, to determine if the CD is good.

[fryke]

1.) Connect a FireWire harddrive to backup to.
2.) Boot from the installation medium.
3.) Install OS X onto the FW drive.
4.) Boot from the FW drive and copy important stuff from the internal drive to the backup drive.
5.) Power down computer, remove FW drive.
6.) Boot from the installation medium by holding down the "c" key.
7.) Install onto the internal drive, _erasing_ the internal drive. (It's an option somewhere...)
8.) Get files back from the backup.
9.) Update through Software Update again.

The problem, I'd say, might not even be the harddrive as in hardware. Rather crashing the machine while updating probably simply hosed the system.

[tigtan]

Thanks for replying - powermac and fryke. I tried the fsck option, interestingly enough, the mac did not seem to recognise the diskutil info/ option. I tried to run fsck which it did for about a second, and I did not get any of the feedback that is offered off the support link you gave me (although am sure this will be useful in future). I will try fryke's option tonight/tomorrow and see if that brings me any joy. Incidentally, I also found some feedback on Techtool's site that over 500 bad blocks and was informed that anything over this could mean replacing the hard drive.
Will see what happens next.