# CD won't boot & question mark flashing



## ginzu98 (Feb 14, 2006)

I took a chance on an Ebay bought G4 Agp 500mhz DVDROM 512mb ram(new) new batt 40g HD good PSU good keyboard and mouse no scsi no zip Dell Flat panel monitor

Came with with out any OS. Firm Ware is 4.2.8. I bought a PowerMac G4 oem Grey CD set 9.0.4

I've done the PRAM, NVRAM, the CUDA.

I put the install CD in and hold the C key until my folder with the picasso face and question mark blinks. I also have held the option key and get a curved arrow on the left and a right pointing arrow on the right, the left one makes the wristwatch appear the left one doesn't do anything. I have tried holding T and using my external FW/USB Sony DVD RAM but didn't work with either usb or fw -not surprised.

Is there some way to verify the DVD and HD drives are ok? What commands in open firm ware might these be? The DVD led lights up and the disc spins but nothing else really happens- maybe the optic is out of whack? HD makes a few normal noises and that's it.

My guess is the DVD Rom is bad. I have also tried a different install CD OS8.x
Is 9.0.4 to old to boot with? do I need 9.1 instead? Some one suggested booting with 10X via firewire on my external DVDRam, would that work? Is that a 10x benefit exclusive of 9.0.4?

Thoughts????


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## ginzu98 (Feb 15, 2006)

for other's benefit...firm ware 4.2.8 requires os9.1 and I have 9.0.4 mystery solved.


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## Cheryl (Feb 18, 2006)

Do you hear the chimes when it starts up? 
Have you tried using an OS X CD to start up? 
Do you have Disk Warrior or other disk utility on CD? You can try using that to check out the hard drive. 

Is the keyboard wired (usb) to the unit or is it wireless? The wireless won't work until an OS is installed.


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