iBook problems

mdnky

mdnky

[Bobs/Prog/Design:~] mod%
Staff member
Mod
Bought a 366 Indigo iBook from Circuit City (was a display) for less than 400$. Every time I initalize the HD and install OS9 it'll work for a reboot or two (is sluggish and seems to lock on simple programs like DiskFirstAid, etc.) then when I turn it on it'll show the folder with alternating flashing question marks and mac symbols. When I boot off CD it shows the HD not initialized or is unmounted.

Any ideas on the problem? I have 14 days to return it from today and none of the other stores have these left. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Oh, did I mention no warranty honored by Apple because someone at Circuit City called tech support when they got this unit in and activated the 90 days.
 
You did a clean install on the hard drive? All I can guess is that for some reason it is not finding the startup folder, perhaps there is a disk error or the install didn't complete.
I'd take it back if you can't get it going. :(
 
Have you tried booting from disk or another HD? When you install the OS choose clean install and try updating HD drivers.

If that doesn't help I would send it back!

Finch
 
In my opinion, it sounds like you should send back this unit anyway. Not having the 90 day warrantee is unacceptable, and it sounds like you are having major hard drive probs anyway.

However, if you are still willing to try it, you should try doing a low-level and zero-all-data reformat (use Drive Setup in OS 9... dunno if Disk Utility in OS X will do this), and then installing the system software again. You might try using Norton Utilities or TechTool Pro also to check if the hard drive has any bad sectors or not.
 
Wound up initializing the drive 3-4 times, 2 were zero-data. Everytime it would work & reboot 2-3 times, then on a reboot or while running would lock. On reboot it would show no system folder, and when booted from cd showed drive unmounted.

Took it back, and had no problems. Oh well, no harm done, and could've been worth the money if it worked.

Thanks for the help.
MD
 
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