IBook g4 not working - date 1969

A

Alliebaba

Registered
After installing an iTunes update and restarting, I received a message that the date was set to before 2001, and that this may cause problems. After that, I can only see the toolbar at the top of the screen, but cannot click on any of the items. All the desktop icons are gone and nothing is accessible. The rainbow cursor just keeps spinning and that's it.

I restarted in terminal and could see the date was 1969. Did some googling, reset the date, tried fsck -fy. Computer still not working. Have read this may be a battery problem, but it was not clear if this was the notebook battery, or a small one that is on the logic board? I don't know what I'm doing. Can anyone help me?
 
An iBook does not have a separate, small PRAM/clock/backup battery as other Macs have.

All iBooks have only the main battery.

If the main battery is temporarily removed for any reason, or is simply not holding a charge any longer, then the date would easily revert to the default date for your iBook, which is 1-1-1969.

Sounds like you had some glitch happen to your system, perhaps the itunes update might have contributed, or the install exacerbated an already existing problem - does happen occasionally.
If the fsck test passed with no problems, and you still can't boot properly, boot to your OS X installer DVD, and reinstall OS X. Choose Options at the screen where you select the hard drive. Change the Options to Archive & Install, along with the sub-option to save your files and network settings. You will get a safe install of your system, which keeps all your files and apps intact.
 
Eric, Thank you for responding. The first thing I did was to reboot in safe mode with the shift key, but everything was still the same. I just went back into terminal and saw that the date was back at 1969. So I reset the date again and rebooted in safe mode from there. Still a no go. Is the PRAM battery easy to replace (something a novice like myself could do?) Is it like a watch battery or some other kind of specialty battery?
 
Delta Mac, OK, so there is no PRAM battery. Sadly, I don't have the installer DVD, and the DVD player is not working anyway, so not much I can do there. I know for sure that the other (only) battery was run down. Any chance that replacing that will fix the problem? Or am I screwed?
 
I know that you likely missed my post, so I'll clarify here:
iBooks do not have PRAM batteries. The main battery is the only device that works to keep track your time & date.
Does your battery hold a charge, and can you use your iBook on battery only?


- If the main battery does not hold a charge, then unplugging from the power adapter would likely cause you to lose time & date immediately.
Replacing the main battery would fix that issue.

The problem with missing icons sounds like the system is not booting properly. You will likely need to reinstall the system, which means that you will need to find an installer disk somewhere. You COULD do that reinstall by connecting an external drive, or connecting to another Mac using a FireWire cable, and using that other Mac's drive to reinstall OS X on your iBook. You won't get too far with that if you don't have any installer disk. Even an older OS X version (say 10.3, instead of 10.4) would be better than nothing - assuming that your iBook can also boot from that older system.
 
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