Apple Powerbook G4 start up screen (Malf

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Alright so I bought a Powerbook G4 from my brother and hooked it up to its charger. When I turn the laptop on the start up music chime plays then a gray screen with a small folder in the center shows up. And within that folder is a flashing wierd face and a question mark. There is no mouse cursor or anything on the screen but it does continue to flash the face and the question mark. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
That flashing folder/? means that your Mac can't find the startup software. This could be a simple fix, repairing your hard drive with Disk Utility - or could also mean that the hard drive is failing, or has already failed.
Boot to your OS X installer DVD, and run Disk utility from the menus. See if you can do a Repair Disk (not Repair Disk Permissions)
 
...or, it could mean that there's no operating system installed on the hard drive at all.

That PowerBook G4 originally came with "Software Restore" CDs or DVDs, which contain the requisite operating system that the PowerBook originally shipped with. These CDs or DVDs can only be used with that particular PowerBook, and, therefore, should follow the PowerBook from owner to owner.

I recommend kindly asking your brother to give you those CDs or DVDs, as they're useless to anyone other than the current owner of the PowerBook.

There's a good chance that his reply will be, "I lost them." I'm still trying to figure out how people completely lose track of the original software CDs/DVDs that come with their computers: those CDs/DVDs are to your computer as keys are to your car, and people manage to keep track of those just fine.

Sometimes Apple is a great help in supplying you with new "Software Restore" CDs or DVDs -- other times, like when a computer is several years old, they're not.
 
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