Swapped HD's on my Powerbook G4 and now I can't get the thing to boot

johntorresmusic

Registered
Hey There,
So I have spent a good amount of time reading anything that I can find to try and solve this problem and now I am at my wits end.
I have a Powerbook G4. About 3 months ago my internal hard drive died. I did everything I could to make sure it was dead, and finally after I removed it, stand by the conclusion. After removing the old drive I installed a new internal HD into the computer using all that online step-by-step guides. I didn't think I made any mistakes.

So here's the issue. I was able to access the new drive using my other G4, and was able to format the drive and install OS X on it. (The reason I did it that was is that the super drive on the PB in question is also broken.

So the issue I am having is that when I try and power up the Powerbook on it's own, now that the new drive is in there, and assuming it is formatted and ready to run, I can't get passed the grey apple logo screen

Now this is where it get's weird. Here's what happens. I hear the Apple Angelic sound as though it's going to boot, then not a whole lot of HD noise. Then the grey apple logo screen comes up, and about 4 seconds after it flashes on the screen, something weird happens. The apple logo kind of flinches. and moves a few milimeters (literally) down and to the right. and a very short ( like 8 milimeter) line comes on the screen just above the logo and to the left. Nothing happens after that. It just sits there.

I've tried all sorts of different boot commands (most of which I really can't say I understand)

But ultimately, I can't seem to get anywhere. A few of the boot commands seem to have different results, but none of them ends with me getting to any sort of home page or any real progress.

Anyone who can help will truly rock!

J
 
Possibly, just possibly, you need to boot your PowerBook from a compatible OS CD or DVD and install the OS from that.
 
Since the disc drive is dead too, I am trying to do that from an external Firewire Disc Drive, and so far when I Option - boot, it gives me that screen where it shows my internal hard drive and has the one circular arrow icon on th e left and the arrow pointing to the right on the right side. However i can't select anything because the little watch icon is just rotating - as though it's just stuck thinking.
 
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