Persistent missing system folder at boot (iMac TFT, 10.4)

[michaelsanford]

I've got an iMac TFT 70 MHz running 10.4.11 (8S165). I leave the Tiger install DVD in the machine at all times, just in case.

I left it alone, running, and came back to find the (stock Apple) screen saver active (normal). When I moved the cursor to invoke the password dialogue, no dialogue appeared, and I got a beachball. Trying to contact the machine to force a reboot via ARD didn't work. ssh was closed.

I had only one option: hard reboot.

Only then, I get a missing system folder icon at boot time. Oops. Ok, boot from the DVD and repair the disk.

No joy: the screen stays gray for a while, then goes back to the missing system folder icon.

Zapping the PRAM (via the keyboard boot combination) as well as open-firmware reset-nvram and reset-all have had no effect (though they were both successful).

Any ideas of what I can try now?

[Satcomer]

Either the hard drive or the logic board went up. Test those ideas.

[michaelsanford]

Took a while for me to get back!

How would I go about doing that (without an Apple Hardware Test CD, since I can't boot from the CD drive) ?

[dust541]

try holding down the option key when you boot, hopefully your hard drive will show up, select the drive then hit the right arrow key. This will hopefully boot up your machine. You could also try boot the machine in Target disk mode (by holding down the "T" key) and connect it to another mac to see if it pops up.

Hope this works for ya. If worse comes to worse, take it in to an authorized apple repair shop.

[michaelsanford]

I tried both of those.

Since I now have a new iMac, I'm wondering if it's even worth fixing...