Hi. My poor old (2004) iBook G4 seems to have died on me. I turn it on and all I get is a blank gray screen - no apple, no little swirly thing, just dead (it does make the startup noise though). To make matters worse, my startup disk is already inside and I can't eject it. What should I do?
Horrible problem with Tiger
- Thread starter Chrlyon
- Start date
SGilbert
Registered
First thing I'd try is holding the power button until all goes black. You are now "shut down".
Now hold down the 'C' key and power on. Keep holding the key down until you hear the startup disk working. Release the key and pray that the iBool starts up from your disk.
If it does, go to Utilities on top and then to Disk Utility. Highlight your HD and click Repair Disk. Let it do 'it's thing' and hope for the best.
Now hold down the 'C' key and power on. Keep holding the key down until you hear the startup disk working. Release the key and pray that the iBool starts up from your disk.
If it does, go to Utilities on top and then to Disk Utility. Highlight your HD and click Repair Disk. Let it do 'it's thing' and hope for the best.
Okay, I did that, and it worked... but apparently my hard drive is damaged to the point that it's not even showing up in disk utility. What is showing up, though, is a 23.9 GB Hitachi internal HD (which it will not let me repair), and that is really weird as my hard drive is a 60 GB drive. What do you think?
Doctor X
Registered
If you stick with Mac you may consider adding two things:
Parte the First: I do not remember if your version of Time Machine makes a "bootable" clone--one you can actually "boot up" the computer from. I believe the more recent for the Intel Macs--like OS 10.5+ do. The reason is IF your HD dies, you now have a dead computer until you get a new HD, put it in, reload the OS from your disk . . . then transfer yourself over. With a bootable clone you simply boot off the attached HD and use your computer until the new Int HD come in. You can then clone yourself to the new Int HD. If Time Machine you have does not do that you need to buy a program like SuperDuper!--which I have--or CarbonCopyCloner--one a few people here recommended. However, if you plan to get a "better" Mac that is Intel some time--or just use the Mac periodically--you may not wish to spend the $20-40 on that.
Parte the Second: Get DiskWarrior. This is a powerful volume fixer that has recovered damaged volumes that Disk Utility cannot. Now if you clone/back up that is not so much an issue, though I did have a problem happen before my daily cloning so my clones had the damage. Anyways, I had a HD failing--and they can fail like THAT BOOM!--and DW was able to make a disk image of my data--which I could then back up--before everything went to crapola.
Again, if you are just an occasional user, it may not be worth the $100 for that! If you do consider getting it, ask for a version that is "Universal"--will work Power PC and Intel so if you do upgrade your computer someday, you have a working version of DW. If you consider that a good idea I would suggest you get it now and check your volume to correct things Disk Utility may have missed.
Oh and rotate your tires. . . .
--J.D.
Parte the First: I do not remember if your version of Time Machine makes a "bootable" clone--one you can actually "boot up" the computer from. I believe the more recent for the Intel Macs--like OS 10.5+ do. The reason is IF your HD dies, you now have a dead computer until you get a new HD, put it in, reload the OS from your disk . . . then transfer yourself over. With a bootable clone you simply boot off the attached HD and use your computer until the new Int HD come in. You can then clone yourself to the new Int HD. If Time Machine you have does not do that you need to buy a program like SuperDuper!--which I have--or CarbonCopyCloner--one a few people here recommended. However, if you plan to get a "better" Mac that is Intel some time--or just use the Mac periodically--you may not wish to spend the $20-40 on that.
Parte the Second: Get DiskWarrior. This is a powerful volume fixer that has recovered damaged volumes that Disk Utility cannot. Now if you clone/back up that is not so much an issue, though I did have a problem happen before my daily cloning so my clones had the damage. Anyways, I had a HD failing--and they can fail like THAT BOOM!--and DW was able to make a disk image of my data--which I could then back up--before everything went to crapola.
Again, if you are just an occasional user, it may not be worth the $100 for that! If you do consider getting it, ask for a version that is "Universal"--will work Power PC and Intel so if you do upgrade your computer someday, you have a working version of DW. If you consider that a good idea I would suggest you get it now and check your volume to correct things Disk Utility may have missed.
Oh and rotate your tires. . . .
--J.D.
jbarley
One more, for the road!
Time Machine the backup application included in OS X 10.5 and newer does not create a bootable system.
For this you need one of the many other cloning type backup apps such as you mentioned, SuperDuper, CarbonCopy, Chronosync, Data Backup etc., and there are also others I'm sure.
All good apps, the choice is yours.
For this you need one of the many other cloning type backup apps such as you mentioned, SuperDuper, CarbonCopy, Chronosync, Data Backup etc., and there are also others I'm sure.
All good apps, the choice is yours.
Doctor X
Registered
Really? I thought that had changed. Of course, I never use it since I have a different program. Pretty useless if it is not "bootable." Okay, I suppose if you can "go back" after doing something stupid quickly and easily, that might be an advantage, but I prefer a clean clone.
--J.D.