G4 won't boot!Stalls @ gray apple screen

[beatlesfan]

I am having major issues with my G4 mac. 400 mhz. Running on OS X 10.4 (10.4.8, I believe). I left on vacation & came back 7 days later. As I booted & began to try to download my vacation pics from my camera, it seemed really slow, so I had to force shut down. When I tried to reboot, it doesn't get past the gray screen with the apple & progress indicator. It just spins & spins but goes nowhere. I have seen where people have posted that they came back after a couple hours & their computer was working. No luck here, I left it on all day while I was at a work, & it was still stalled at the same spot when I came home. Below are the things I have tried:

1. DiskWarrior. (I can get it to boot from the CD using the C command on startup.) It ran through replacing the directory. Found a bunch of errors but fixed them. Shows the hard drive is fine. After rebooting & the computer still stalling, I tried DiskWarrior again but it showed nothing wrong.

2. Tried zapping PRAM & NVRAM. No luck.

3. Disk Utility. I ran disk utility. It found no disk errors. Tried again, still stalls.

4. Tried holding down shift key to start in safe mode, but it does nothing at all.

5. I did a search on Apple.com & found where it said to find the file BaseSystem.pkg & get it into /Library/Receipts. Replaed the file with the one from the Tiger install CD. Still stalls.

6. Decided to just go do an Archive & Install to replace the old system, but it won't let me. Says I have a newer version & have to do a clean install. This would cause me to loose a bunch of important files that I haven't backed up lately (I know! I know! I'm bad!!!). Freaked a bit.... It would take me forever to burn cds of all my files...

7. OS 9. So I thought I would try to startup in OS 9.2, & that works. So I am assuming that it is an issue with OS X Tiger.

8. I also tried to boot up without anything plugged in but the keyboard & mouse. Still stalled.

9. I also tried repairing the permissions using Disk Utility from the Tiger CD, but it gave me an error "No Valid Packages".

10. Also, I also held down Command V & this is the jabberwacky that come up:
copywright info

using 655 buffer headers and 655 cluster IO buffer headers
Extension "com.apple.driver.KeyLargoATA" has no kernal dependency.
Firewire (OHCI) TI ID 8019 built-in now active, GUID 000a27ff feaea2b8; max speed s400.
Extension "com.apple.driver.iTunesPhoneDriver" has no kernal dependency.
Security auditying service present
BSM auditing present
disabled
rooting via boot-uuid from /chosen: 8B36B553-732C-3892-81EO-252A7972BAB7
Waiting on <dict ID="0"><key>IOProviderClass</key><string ID="1">IO Resources</string><key>IO ResourceMatch</key><string ID="2">boot-uuid-media</string></dict>
Got boot drive device=IO Service:/core99PE/pcief2000000/AppleMacRiscPCI/pci-bridge@1f000/KeyLargoATA/ATADeviceNub@1/IOATABlock Storage Driver/Maxter 5T040H4 Media/IO Apple Partition Scheme/G4/400@9
BSD root:disk Os9, major 14, minor 9
jnl: journal start/end pointers reset! (jnl Ox12a6e60; s Ox5cd200 e ox5cd200)
Load of /sbin/launchd, errno 2, trying /sbin/mach_init
Load of /sbin/launchd failed, errno 2

Hope this info helps explain what's wrong!! Help please!

Anyway, so there you have it. I am truely hoping that someone will come along & rescue me from the nightmare & time it would take for a clean install!! You'd be my hero forever!

Please let me know right away if there is anything else I can try or should do. Again, thank you.
Heidi

[Yesurbius]

Can you get into single user mode (hold command+S after turning on)

If you can, try running the fsck command listed when you boot into single user mode.

[beatlesfan]

I believe I tried that with no luck. I ended up restarting & trying & trying until it let me do an archive & install. Now it's up & running but still having some problems.

I keep getting the folder & ? when I boot up. Then I will restart & open the CD drive & then close it & it will start up!! It will be fine then all of the sudden freeze on me.

I have ran DiskWarrior & Disk 1st Aid & both are saying the HD is fine.

Is it because of the "previous system" folder? Should I trash it?

Any help is greatly appreciated!!!

Heidi

[andychrist]

Make sure you have selected OS X as your Startup Disk from System Preferences. Once you are sure you don't need anything from Previous System, by all means go and trash it.

[Debaser626]

6. Decided to just go do an Archive & Install to replace the old system, but it won't let me. Says I have a newer version & have to do a clean install. This would cause me to loose a bunch of important files that I haven't backed up lately (I know! I know! I'm bad!!!). Freaked a bit.... It would take me forever to burn cds of all my files...

it's not supposed to do that. an archive and reinstalll should supercede all other commands. i.e. installing 10.3 on a 10.4 system. I would back up all my files and have my hardware checked.

[billbaloney]

Just to reiterate: this would really be a fantastic time to back up all of your files.

[beatlesfan]

I thought I was getting it fixed but now it's crapped out I think! I got most of my files off, but still don't have my music or photos off, just mostly my business files. I left if off for 2 days, & now it won't boot up. Sometimes the hard drive shows up when I boot from DiskWarrior, but when I go to replace the directory, it comes up with the error: "The directory of the disk "Winston" Cannont be rebuilt. The disk is still in use. Quit all other applications or restart from DiskWarrior CD and then try rebuilding again. (2153, 4200)"

I get an error trying to run Disk Utility trying to verify the hard drive, saying that it can't unmount the disk.

I have zapped the pram & nvram. No luck.

Here is what shows up when I hold down command v at startup:
Using 655 buffer headers and 655 cluster IO bufferheads
Rom ndrv for ATY, Rage 128 Pd is too old (0x659217fe)
obtaining ID
from Registry
ATIRage 128:using AGP
ApplescriptRs232serieal: 0 0 AppleRS23232Serial:start-returning false early, connector or machine incorrect
Local firewire GUID=0xa27ff:0xfeaea2b8
Security auditing service present
BSM auditing present
From path:"/pc8if2......etc...
.....
...Got Boot Device=IO Service..........

.....

BSD root: disk1s1s3, major 14, minor 14
Mar 5 00:18:50 mach_init [2]: Started with uid=0 audit-uid=-1
Root device is mounted read-only
Filesystem checks skipped
Mon Mar 5 00:18:51 PST 2007


Any info would be greatly appreciated. Is this a PRAM battery issue or a HD issue? I am going to pick up a newer computer today, I hope. I am heading to ebay now. I hope I can get my photos off though, Please help!

Thanks in advance,
Heidi

[newmacuser1982]

I am having problems getting past the gray screen with the apple and progress indicator...I've looked and followed the troubleshooting directions on the website. I've resetted the computer and everything. I tried to open the cd/dvd slot bu5 it won't let me. There are no messages on the gray screen telling me I'm out of memory or anything. I needs my computer for work and am unable to use it. Please help.

Thank You
Lena