ibook G4 freezes up, restarts to blue

R

ryestarr

Registered
I was working on my iBook G4 and it froze up on me. When I restart, it goes to the apple and spinning wheel then goes to a blue screen and sits there. If I restart it does the same thing.
The only thing I have done for it to go to the login screen and not the blue screen is let it sit of a long time then try again.

I have done a hardware test and everything passed.

After much troubleshooting I figured I would erase the entire disk on the OS install and start over. I get about a quarter of the way through the OS install ( i have tried Leopard and after many freezes, reverted back to the original OS disk Panther) but I get the same thing everytime it just freezes. Usually everything freezes including the mouse pointer.

My only option is to restart which gets me back to the blue screen.

I have gone into the hard drive via firewire target disk mode and backed everything up. ANd everything seems fine in TDM. I also erased the disk through disk utility figuring if nothing is on the disk there should be nothing left to be causing this error.
So i erased everything but still freezes up on the OS install.

Thoughts?
 
I am having this exact same problem with my iBook G4. It kept freezing on startup so I ran a hardware test. Both long and short hardware tests passed although they also froze once or twice. I tried reinstalling the OS but it gets stuck about 30% through the install. What to do??
 
Get the install disc 1 that came with your computer, insert that and restart computer; hold down alt (option on some keyboards) and select to boot to the hardware test, (for intel based Macs, hold down letter "d" at boot).
After language selection, get the test to loop with ctrl-L key combination, and select extended test. It will find until it's either stopped (same key combo) or it finds an error. For testing RAM let it run at least all evening or preferably overnight.

Rye, do these blue hangs occur even before you install any third party software?
Did you try safe boot before the reinstalls?
 
What's weird is I noticed your post was on March 27th. That's the same day I had my issue. In looking around there's been a recent spread of this problem. I wonder if it could be the latest OS update? If so what can you even do about that?

I have done a complete erase and install and during the install it restarts before finishing to the blue screen. I can still Safe Boot and run off of install disc. I can verify and repair with no issues. Very strange.
 
Now I just reinstalled again with erase. It made it all the way through. Asked if I want to restart. I restarted. Same blue screen.

Ahhhh
 
Anyone have any luck?
I;ve ried everything - I tried a different mac tech, here is the response-
Hi,
I have a ibook G4 Laptop which is having problems starting up.
When I restart I get the apple logo and the spinning wheel, after that it goes to a blue screen and just sits there.

I have tried restarting numerous times - at first it would start up and I'd be able to work for a few moments, but then the computer would just freeze (mouse pointer and all). So I would have to restart, Now when I restart, nothing. Just the blue screen after the gray screen apple logo.

I tried inserting the Leopard OS disk to upgrade the OS, or at least get to disk utlilites while holding C but nothing, it won't get past the blue screen. I don't have the original OS disk to try (Tiger).

I have not tried Safe boot yet, nor Hardware repair disk yet.

Any ideas?

tubajensen - Mar 14, 2008 - 9:16 am


Try to repair the disk:

Start your computer holding the ⌘ and S key on your keyboard. When the black screen turns up and the "writing" stops, you will see something like:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
If you want to make modifications to files:
/sbin/fsck -fy
/sbin/mount -uw /

If you wish to boot the system:
exit

:/ root#
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Now to check your filesystem, type:

/sbin/fsck -fy

and press the return key on your keyboard and wait for the process to finish. If any errors are found repeat the above mentioned command until you get something like:

** The volume some_name appears to be OK.

(The term "some_name" is just to indicate that I don't know the precise name). Now type:

exit

and hit the return key. Hopefully after some more terminal text your mac will boot into the login screen.

Allan
ryestarr - Mar 16, 2008 - 9:09 pm


hey
I did the fsck thingy and it did repair a volume , so I ran the fsck command again and it gave me the 'appears to be ok' prompt.
so I typed exit and return key

But then it went back to the blue screen and sat there

Any more ideas?

tubajensen - Mar 17, 2008 - 3:16 am


Apparently something was wrong with the file system.
Sorry, I don't have any more ideas. Let me re-open the ticket.

Allan
MACBOY29 - Mar 18, 2008 - 11:43 am


can i get more info on this ?

ryestarr - Mar 18, 2008 - 1:48 pm


What do you need to know?

G4 ibook running Tiger OS
Worked fine, all of a sudden starts freezing up.
I can eventually get it to work, but it just freezes up again (everything mouse pointer and all, my only option is to restart.)

AFter it freezes I restart and it usually goes to the gray apple screen and spinning wheel then goes to a blue screen and sits there. I can't do anything.
I have tried installing Leopard- well I put the disk in held down C and the one time I got past the blue screen it opened the Leopard install page but it was frozen and couldn't do anything - so I restarted and it went back to the blue screen again.
It did hold long enough for me to do a repair disk permissions - it did repair a few permissions etc, finished then a minute later froze up on me.

OS failure? I havent run the hardware repair disk yet. I dont have the original Tiger disk which it is running now, but I dont think it would help if it wouldnt take the Leopard disk...

Does this help? ANy ideas? Ever get any problems like this?

MACBOY29 - Mar 18, 2008 - 2:06 pm


you do not need the tiger install dvd since leopard does the same thing as the tiger cd would do insert your cd and restart using the d key run a hardware test to see if there are issues. get back to me on the results.
ryestarr - Mar 21, 2008 - 9:25 am


I ran the hardware test and everything passed.
I actually erased the entire hard drive disk from disk utilitiy, and tried installing Leopard and it got almost half way installed then froze up. This has happened a few times.
I have gotten the error Mac OSX unexpectedly quit etc
So I tried installing the new OS, but I am unable to install it! When I try installing the Leopard OS it says "you will install Mac OS for the first time, so I know the hard drive got erased.
What could be the problem if there's nothing on the hard drive itself (including the OS) to be causing errors?

ANy thoughts?

MACBOY29 - Mar 22, 2008 - 1:01 pm


the only thing is you do not have enough ram thats all i can think of either then the install disk is defective.
ryestarr - Mar 22, 2008 - 7:16 pm


Here's the deal.
THe disk is fine as I have installed it on my G5 laptop...

I have completely erased everything via firewire from my desktop computer.
I was also thinking it may not have enough ram etc, so I just tried installing the original OS it came with (Panther). It gets so far then just freezes up.
The same it did when I was trying to install Leopard.
If it doesn't even have an OS on it it can't be an OS failure, or something like that.
I ran a hardware test and everything passed.

Do you think maybe resetting the power manager would work?
Could you tell me how to do that?

Any more ideas as to why the thing keeps freezing up? Or what I can do?

Thanks for your help.

MACBOY29 - Mar 22, 2008 - 7:52 pm


before we reset the power pop your panther cd in and boot from it. open disk utility and format the drive using disk utility. if i uderstand this corectly this is an external or internal drive if it is an internal then you are i n serious dodo cause removing the drive back and forth will coorupt the hd and you will need to buy a new one try disk utility and the last resort will be a reset of power management i do not wanna go there till we have tried every possible solution o.k.
ryestarr - Mar 24, 2008 - 8:35 am


Hi again

The problem is my comp freezes up whenever I try doing ANYTHING. INcluding putting ANY install disk in trying to do disk utilities installing the OS, etc.
I cant so anything without it freezing up after a few minutes. After it freezes up - if I restart it just goes to a blue screen and I cant do anything. If I shut down and let it sit for a few hours I am able to get to the login screen and do whatever but then it freezes up after a few minutes. Happens every time.
I have tried resetting the power manager because I think that is my only option right now - but am not sure if i did it correctly.
shift - option - apple - power?

ANy ideas?

MACBOY29 - Mar 25, 2008 - 11:20 am


the key combation is correct try it and tell me what happens cause if this does not work you'll need to take it in for repairs

I did the power manager reset and no luck. still trying to install the OS. let me know if you peeps get anywhere.

Thanks
 
I have noticed that when I use someone elses power cord it freezes much much less frequently. But it still freezes eventually. With my power cord it always freezes before it boots. I brought it to a mac genius who told me that there was no way it could be an issue with the power cord (which im not completely convinced of.) He said I would need to pay $300 to send it in to get it fixed since it was a hardware issue and not under applecare anymore. I have read online about people applying pressure to a certain spot on the logic board and it fixing some problems so I have been thinking about trying this but I dont want to do this until it is the last possible solution since I will probably end up breaking it on accident.
 
Tried resetting the power manager a while ago. Sorry boys but I got fed up and sold my laptop on ebay for $110. Good luck
 
I have the same problem.

A tech guy told me it may be dirt and a lack of gel between the fan and the processor chip. Told me to clean out the inside, disconnect/reconnect hd etc and apply new gel. I do throw my iBook into my backpack without a sleeve (forgive me, I know, "always use a condom").

Has anyone tried this?
 
I found that connector you were looking for
Cindy, is this the thing you were looking for?
www.liangdianup.com/computeraccessories_1.htm
It's on the list of computer accessories and parts. They have the DVI video thing to convert that jap monitor to work with your other computer. Just about any other kind of wire adaptor, usb connectors, monitor extension wires, ps2 extention wires, and all kinds of female and male swap connectors and things that I think would help your shop. If that above link don't work then goto www.lducompany.com and click on computer accessories. Let me know if that is what you need and give me your email address again.
 
I have read somewhere that iBooks have a shelf life of about five years. After that they conk out and then you're stuffed. Period.

(Sorry this is anecdotal. I can't remember where I read this).
 
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