Ibook G4 No boot No restore disk

herbcohen · #1 October 22nd, 2008, 01:23 PM

I have acquired an ibook G 4(late 2004). It did not come with the start up disk (OSX 10.3 Panther). This is the first time I have tied to use a Mac.

I tried several times to boot. Finally it booted to the desk top. The HD was full (30 MB).
I sent several .JPG files to the waste basket , but I could not empty it. I did not have permissions.

I went to the osx website to see if others had this problem. I tried several times to get into the single user mode and create a new password. no luck, but I did manage to get into setup. It would boot to a language screen. After I selected English it would go to several
Other screens and lockup. I suspected the full drive was defective so I used the apple - s combo to check the hard drive. It reported OK.

Tried again to change user name but no luck. Reset everything to try to get to desktop but when I reboot I get the blue screen after I get the gray screen..
My question is. Is there any way to get access to the HD by using firmware so I can remove files from it. Or can I get I get access using another mac( Remember OSX does not load.)? If so how.

Herb

**Giaguara** · #2 October 22nd, 2008, 02:46 PM

Contact the seller to get the install discs. You will ALWAYS want the install discs that came with the Mac you bought.

You can do target mode with another Mac to get these files. What you want to do is get enough space on this system. OS X (and other Unix systems) want to always have minimum 10 % free space on the HD, ideally at least 15 %.

You could also try this to create a new user on your system.

For Mac OS X 10.3 we can't use dscl (which in 10.5 hints we would find easily) but dscl should work. Maybe passwd username allows also to change the password in single user mode, otherwise create a new user that will be an admin user;

niutil -create . /users/fred
niutil -createprop . /users/fred gid [groupID]
niutil -createprop . /users/fred uid [uniqueNumberOver1000]
niutil -createprop . /users/fred shell /bin/tcsh
niutil -createprop . /users/fred home /Users/fred
niutil -createprop . /users/fred realname "fred jones"
niutil -createprop . /users/fred passwd '*'
mkdir /Users/fred
mkdir /Users/fred/.ssh
chown -R fred /Users/fred
chgrp -R [groupID] /Users/fred
chmod 755 /Users/fred

replacing each fred and uid etc with appropriate names and fields.

herbcohen · #3 October 22nd, 2008, 02:59 PM

Hi Giagura:
Thanks for the info I will try to get another Mac to use the target mode.
Will I be able to unload some files even though Osx is not loaded on the target Mac.
Thanks
Herb

**Giaguara** · #4 October 22nd, 2008, 04:14 PM

The source Mac that we put to target mode, will not be booting. command-t will get it to load as an external hard drive. So you can remove files from it as if it was just an external hard drive. But be careful of the parts you would not not touch on your system, so e.g. /System and /Library should be left as they are when in target mode, or you would risk losing your system.

herbcohen · #5 October 23rd, 2008, 11:33 AM

Thanks for the info:
I am trying to locate someone with another mac to try the target mode.
Also My daughter found one disk for her Ibook G4. I am told there were two disk. It will take a few days to get here disk, she's on the other coast.
Thanks again. I will keep you informed

Herb

herbcohen · #6 October 25th, 2008, 02:08 AM

Hi:Giaguara
I expect OSX10.3 panther Monday. The problem is I will only have disk one of two. do you think I will be able to clean out the waste basket with the one disk?
When I booted to the desktop I moved a lot of files to it but I could not empty it. I tried the single user mode and it starts to setup then goes to blue screen.
I reset every thing but can no longer go to the desktop.
I should have a firewire cable wed or thur and hopfully the use of another Mac.
Do you think I should wait for the Mac or should I try disk one first?

Herb