external monitor for single user mode???

macattack600

Registered
I have some ibooks with cracked screens they will work with an external monitor but only when the os loads. I tried starting in single user mode and the boot option menu using the external monitor but it does'nt kick in only when loaded to the os. Anyone know a way to use single user mode or the boot option menu to display on my external monitor? Is that possible?
 
Screen Spanning Doctor will enable clamshell mode on an iBook.
http://www.rutemoeller.com/mp/ibook/ibook_e.html
Clamshell mode allows you to use an external display with the iBook lid closed, and the only display used is the external. So, you would get both single-user mode, and the boot-option screen, with the lid staying closed.
Read the read-me with that patch software. It doesn't work completely on every machine, even if supported.
But, in your situation, it could be worth trying.
 
so one of the ibooks i have has no os I can't install screen spanning doctor is there a way I could put the os cd in and do it blind like hit keys to enable it to select it in the boot option menu. LOL pretend your blind
 
I think that site has the commands that you would use in the Open Firmware screen.
But, I think you need to have a working screen to actually do that...

what are you going to do with those iBooks with broken screens?
You don't need to have a working screen to install OS X on that iBook. Just use a Firewire cable to install to that iBook from another iBook that _is_ working. Do you know how to do that using Firewire target boot mode?
 
well I was told it's best to have an external hard drive in t mode to install on another ibook I tried dragging the source dvd os x in to the ibook destination and i would get the installer to come up when i booted it on and it would'nt bring up the picture of the harddrive to select to install to. Could you tell me how to install from ibook to ibook in t mode?
 
Here's a couple of different methods:
Connect both iBooks together with a Firewire cable.
Boot one iBook with an OS X installer disk.
Boot the other to target disk mode (TDM).
Choose the hard drive in that TDM-booted iBook as the destination for the OS X install, and continue with a normal install.

Or, another choice: boot an iBook normally, that already has OS X installed. Open Disk Utility. Restore the hard drive to the other iBook (booted in TDM mode).
That will give you an identical copy of the system on the other iBook.
So, one method installs OS X, and the other simply copies the complete hard drive to another.
 
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