# iBook won't boot; hard disk won't mount -- help!!



## beolab8000 (May 28, 2003)

My iBook 14" gives me a flashing question mark (within a folder icon) when I try starting up the computer.  I've tried running Norton, DiskWarrior, and TechToolPro ... Norton DiskDoctor has an error midway through its examination; DiskWarrior and TTP won't even start up.  

The bizzare thing is that when I use Norton, for example, its finds the hard disk drive to examine, so I've concluded that the real problem is that the computer can't seem to MOUNT the hard disk onto the desktop.  So my files are essentially inaccessible right now.

Also, I've attempted to reinstall OS 10.2 and OS 9.2, and neither can find a hard disk on which to install.  So Norton can find my disk to examine, but an OS install CD can't? ... i'm very confused ...

I even tried doing the FireWire disk (holding down T during startup) both to and from my G4 tower, and still no luck.

Am I doomed??  Any/all suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!


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## Cheryl (May 28, 2003)

When Norton Disk Doctor errors out, do you remember on which test it does this? 

Start up with one of the OS CD's and go to the utilitiy folder. Start up Disk First Aide or Disk Utility.  That should find the hard drive. If it does not right away, go to the menu and force it to scan for drives. Have it verify and repair the drive. 
Depending on what it finds, will depend on your next step.


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## drumly (Apr 11, 2005)

Hi. My ibook has decided it no longer wants to be nice. 

It is a iBook G4, @833 with 384 Ram on OS X

For the past couple of days, it has been acting funny, slowing down, not letting me run as much stuff. I could sense something was wrong, when I wasn't running any memory intensive programs, and it was skipping during playback of mp3's in iTunes. Last night, I had it plugged into my television because my friends and I wanted to watch a movie, and it froze. Nothing I did would bring it back, so for the maybe the second time since I've owned this (over a year) I had to hold down the power button. When I restarted, all that came up was a grey screen, no spinning wheel, no finder folder with a question mark. So I ran a hardware test of the cd. When I ran the extended test, it said there was a memory problem. I figured this might not require purchasing new ram, so I checked the forums today, saw the PRAM reset procedure (command+option+p+r) did that, and what came up was the finder folder with the question mark. I ran another hardware test, and this time it said there was an error with the mass storage, and didn't even test the memory. So I started up disk utility. It doesn't see the hardrive, the only image it mounts is the cd. I'm wondering if anyone knows the problem, and if you can be more elaborate on finding the drive, because the post suggests I can force it to recognize the drive, so I can try repairing it, but I'm not find the option. HELP


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## drumly (Apr 11, 2005)

Is using disk warrior an option, or should I just give up and hand it over to a mac technician?


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