IBook G4 800MHz crash...

Kallun

Registered
Hi all,

My iBook has crashed and will not even start anymore. I have erased the whole disk and reinstalled OSX. I have run /sbin/fsck -fy in single user mode. However it crashed again and now it won´t even boot up from a disk but leaves me at the grey window before login. When running the hrdware check disc the followig error came up: 2STF/8/3:ATA-100 ata-6-Master. This says me nothing!

Grateful for any help!

PS. I have taken out my third-part RAM and have no externals connected to the machine.

/Kalle
 
Sounds like your hard drive is gone. As long as you get to the grey screen with the dark grey apple on it, I'd say it cannot access the hard drive to load anything.
 
Anything to do or shall I just bin the machine?

Advice on the new 12" iBook with maxed our RAM vs. the 12" PBook for a new computer?

My main apps are Illustrator and Photoshop working with abou 20MB files.

Thanks,

/Kalle
 
The hard drive is a small part of the entire computer. Scrapping the computer over a dead hard drive would be like scrapping an entire car over a flat tire (at least, I'm assuming that's what "bin the machine" means).

Whether or not you wish to purchase a new hard drive and have it installed or purchase a new machine is up to you to decide -- I would suggest replacing the hard drive in the current iBook (as long as it's a fairly recent iBook, not some 300MHz clamshell model) and using it for as long as possible.

If you've got $1500 burning a hole in your pocket, the 12" PowerBooks are quite nice.
 
Thanks,

I will go for a new harddrive then! How much is one and what shall I look for? I am not experienced in this area at all.

Help is much appreciated!

/Kalle
 
While your crashes may be related to a failed hard disk drive, or it's motherboard controller chip ...

... turn ON the iBook with the 'T' key pressed. If the Firewire symbol appears - you are in 'Target Mode'. Turn OFF the iBook

01. Connect the iBook to another Mac (both turned OFF) via a Firewire cable.
02. Turn ON the iBook with the 'T' key pressed - until it displays the Firewire (Targer mode) symbol.
03. Turn ON the other Mac.
04. When the (other Mac's) 'Desktop' appears, so should the iBook as a volume. Try to copy any needed files from the iBook to the other Mac.
05. Insert the iBook's 'Mac OS X Install Disc' disc, and start the installation process.
06. As you are navigating through the installation set up process - click on the 'Options...' button and make sure to select 'Erase and Install'; and then, continue through the process.
07. After the installation and during the restart (reboot) that follows - disconnect the Firewire cable from both Macs. You may have to reboot your iBook manually.
Does the iBook's 'Desktop' appear?, if so - run 'Disk Utility's 'Repair Disk Permissions'.
 
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