Ibook Won't Start Up!

[hecate]

I was at a 4 hour lecture and shut down my iBook G4 after the lecture. I tried to switch it on about 20 minutes later and all I got was a black screen with the fan whirring.

I have tried to reset the pram but it doesn't work.

 

[barhar]

Turn ON, or reboot, you iBook with the 'Command S' keys pressed.
Once you are presented with the pre-1984 Mac release UNIX OS prompt, enter ...

fsck -f; reboot

... or ...

fsck -f; fsck -f; reboot

... and press the <return> key. Once the iBook checks or repairs the iBook file structurs, and reboots - does the 'Desktop' now appear?

If so, as an option - launch 'Disk Utility' ('/Applications/Utilities/' folder, if running 'Panther' - 10.3.x or 'Tiger' - 10.4.x), click on the 'First Aid' tab, click on your boot volume - in the left hand side list, and then click on the 'Repair Disk Permissions' button.
When the process completes, quit 'Disk Utility'.

An additional option (for peace of mind) - turn OFF, wait, turn ON - or just restart (reboot), your Mac and make sure it properly boots to the 'Desktop'.