Ibook G4 wont boot

iNoob

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Today, my dream came true. Next to my PC is a 2 month old iBook that I traded my last PC for. These things are expensive, so I traded instead, but there is always a flaw. It does not boot all the way. It is a 1.4GHZ 14inch, so yes, it is a new model. I do NOT know the osx version.

When I hit the power button, I hear the MacOS chord, then it comes to a gray screen with a Folder icon that changes from a Mac logo to a question mark. I already submitted a support request, but maybe this will help my problem faster. I have LOTS of PC experience but you can look at my name and know my Mac knowledge ::ha:: .

If you can help me, I would definately appreciate it. Thank you in advance.
-iNoob
 
Did you get the set of disks that shipped with this iBook? (not much of a trade if you didn't get those...)
You can try booting into single-user mode - hold the Apple-S keys, and you should see a black screen with test, scrolling to a command prompt. Type '/sbin/fsck -fy' without the quotes, press enter, and see if the result repairs anything, and says *** file system was modified ***, or something like that. Run the same command again, until no problems are found.
then type /sbin/mount -uw /
press enter, then type reboot and press enter again,
your system should reboot, and might be successful this time.
If the fsck keeps finding the same problem, and won't repair it, then you may have hard drive problems.
This is where your set of disks will come in. Put the disk 1 in your drive, and reboot - holding the letter 'C'. At the first screen, go to the Utilities menu, and choose Disk Utility. Click on your hard drive when the utility opens, and click on the Repair Disk button at the bottom of the screen.
Come back here with what you discover.
 
Nope no disks... just the iBook and power adapter... I asked the guy, and he says its OSX Tiger.
 
Those disks are used in the event that you have to reinstall the system, also has some good utilities, and will allow you to reset the user password, should you choose to forget it. You can try the simple steps that I posted here, but if those don't work at all, you definitely will need the installer disks. Without those, you won't be able to get your system working again. The iBook shipped with OS X 10.4.2, and the commercial OS X disks don't have that version yet, only 10.4, and those may not boot your iBook, unless you can find a set with 10.4.2 or higher...
 
So how do I boot it into single user mode? Like I said, I cant get to the desktop, it just makes the boot sound and that screen comes up. Just press those keys when I hit the power button?
 
Sorry, I wasn't too clear. Restart your ibook, while holding the Apple and S keys. You'll see the black screen with white text, follow the other steps that I posted above.
 
I cant get it to come up. I hold the two buttons and hit the power button, it just comes to that one screen.
 
I highly suspect your friend completely erased the hard drive and thought he put Tiger on. Instead, he just erased the drive. That is why you see the ? on the folder. A friend of mine did that to me just last week when I bought his iBook. I just put in the Tiger DVD and installed it and all was fine.
 
Then you will need the reinstall disks, or purchase OS X 10.4.2 installer at an Apple store, (make sure that you get a box that is marked 10.4.2 or newer!) or tell your great trader that you would like the disks that came with it. Sounds like he got the better end of the deal.
 
If his 'friend' did wipe the hard drive, then he's less of a friend each time I hear more.
The current, for sale, Tiger installer is 10.4, and I don't think this will boot the newest iBook G4, which comes with 10.4.2 installed. I could be wrong here - anyway, an iBook with no operating system is no bargain...
 
Hmm, well i'll have to out and grab 10.4.2 because when he bought it they didn't send him any disks. Yet then again, I don't know where HE got it from. I hear a mac can run Linux, so maybe I will try that until I get OS X.
 
A restore disk set ships in the box with any new Mac. Your friend is wrong about no disks, unless it was bought from the trunk of someone's car.
So far, you can't purchase an OS X install set with 10.4.2, except with a Mac. The iBook G4 will be one that needs 10.4.2, and you can't buy it separately yet.
The iBook that you have, has a new logic board with an upgraded video chip, so installing Linux might work if it has updated video drivers.
Good luck with that!
 
You can buy 10.4.2 on ebay. I trust people on ebay if I like their rating. I have bought a LCD for my HP Laptop and I got it as described, ive bought PSUs, video games, and such. So I think ebay is where I will get 10.4.2 if it isn't released in stores soon.
 
iNoob said:
You can buy 10.4.2 on ebay.

No, I can't buy it on eBay, a 10.4 install with the 10.4.2 update doesn't qualify.
It could be out there, but, right now, 10.4.2 only ships with new systems, and is not yet sold separately. That could change this week, but that's how it is at the moment.
The disk set that was in the box for this iBook also has diagnostics that only run on the iBook G4. It can still be a Good Thing™ to get that set from your friend.... Oh, I get it - your friend is the one selling it on eBay! That will work -
:)
Here's an example - not a commercial install, but is from your iBook G4, and will only install on yours.. http://cgi.ebay.com/Apple-Mac-iBook...ryZ80258QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
 
iNoob said:
Hmm, well i'll have to out and grab 10.4.2 because when he bought it they didn't send him any disks. Yet then again, I don't know where HE got it from. I hear a mac can run Linux, so maybe I will try that until I get OS X.

It's much easier to run Linux/ppc on these Macs than the older ones (Pre-G3 machines) since they use OpenFirmware (similar to a PC's BIOS but with more features and flexibility). They also don't require a Mac OS install like the pre-OpenFirmware Macs did, which means you can have a totally Linux/ppc workstation if you prefer (Linux Torvalds has this setup with his PMG5).

I recommend Ubuntu Linux if you like GNOME as your desktop or Kubuntu if you prefer KDE. Ubuntu/Kubuntu are desktop oriented Linux distros that are based off of Debian. It uses the apt-get packaging system like Debian and can be downloaded free or ordered for free (you might have to only pay for shipping charges is all).

There's also Fedora Core 4 and Yellow Dog Linux. Fedora Core 4 is the community driven version of the Red Hat distribution and which this version there is PPC support. Yellow Dog Linux is one of the oldest Linux/ppc distributions around and it will give you the best support compared to Fedora, but it's usually a behind Fedora in terms of version number, but only by one generation. The good thing about this is that the YDL team has taken the time to make sure that their Fedora-based distribution will work seemlessly with all Power Macs....not always the case with the latest Fedora, especially since they JUST entered the Mac PPC platform.
 
I have no clue what you are talking about, im new to linux(dad is a good linux user tho). I am currently downloading Yellow Dog, since a website I saw installed it on a iBook G4 and it worked good.
 
When the installer for Yellow Dog came up, it loaded a Blue screen, then a box popped up saying "no Hard Drives have been found. You probably need to manually choose device drivers for the installation to succeed. Would you like to select drivers now?" Of course I clicked yes. Then it said "Following devices have been found on your system." Then it says Apple GMAC. What is that?

I click add device, and I get 2 choices, Network and SCSI. Considering the drivers under network are network card drivers, I choose SCSI, and I get a list of 4 drivers: Adaptec AHA-2710, Advansys SCSI, Initio SCSI, and Symbios 53C896. I guess I'll try them all. But im wondering . When it says No Hard Drive found, does that mean my HD is bad? Or does it mean that Linux just simply can't find it at all? I mean if I don't boot from a CD that flashing ? still comes up.

This is Linux Yelow Dog 3.0.1

http://www.info.apple.com/images/kbase/58477/58477_1.jpg
Ok I can get to this screen, and when I do, it only shows a picture of the CD with the Linux Penguin on it, no HD. Does that mean the HD is bad?
 
Ok so scratch the post above. It is quite obvious that the HD is bad. Im pretty sure that it can't be recovered. I was wondering if I could take a Laptop PC HD and put it in the iBook and get it to work. So basically the question is, will a PC Laptop HD work in a iBook, or will I have to order an Apple iBook/Notebook hard drive?
 
If you don't have a means to test the hard drive, how would you think that it is bad? It may just be formatted in a way that the YD installer can't see it, but not sure about that.

You still need the set of Mac disks that shipped with this.
Use your warranty. If the hard drive turns out to be bad, Apple can replace it under warranty.
Of course, you have no way to reinstall the Mac software once the drive is replaced. Linux could install at that point.

Oh, you would use an ATA or IDE driver for the Linux install.
 
I do not have discs. He does not have discs. I am completely screwed on that part. Also, as the guy says, the warrenty is done. So I will have to replace it myself. I got a 6 gig Toshiba that will have to do until I buy a 40 giger. I am quite sure it is an IDE drive.

Like I said, I brought up the menu that lets me choose what the computer boots from. There is a pic of a CD rom drive only if the CD is bootable. In otherwords, NO hd isthere since a HD picture doesnt show. Linux can't find a HD in the first aprt and the anaconda install coding.
 
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