The WORST thing that could happen....! Please advise?

G

gbsothere

Registered
(When I say "my friend", this time I really mean it. It wasn't me!) She bought an iBook at eBay. It was glitchy from the start and because she can never just stop clicking on things and throwing things away, it became a huge gooey mess. I went over there today with the plan being to just clean-install her whole system. The problem is that, once again, she didn't wait for me, panicked and here's where we are: She apparently tried to clean-install and okayed everything to be erased in prep. She DID NOT install Classic first, she started with her OSX. It wouldn't properly install. By this time, everything is erased. I guess, because there is no installed hard drive, she must have selected "Network" as her start up disk. (Of course, there is no "Network".) Now the thing is giving us the dreaded flashing blue question mark folder and won't start up from an installation CD, not even when I hold down the C to make it. Nothing. I brought it home to stare at, apparently, since I can't think of one thing to do. I have an iMac sitting here. Is there any reason at all to connect the iBook to the iMac and, if so, can I do anything that will get the iBook to at least boot up so that a system can be installed? (As you can see, I don't know the first thing about laptops, I just run my desktop iMac.)

I have a headache from banging my head on the counter. Should I just throw the stupid thing out?
 
After the startup chime, hold down the alt (option) key. That should list all bootable drives there.
If the install DVD is inside the drive, it should be possible to boot to it with alt and then selecting the DVD when it shows there.
 
You could try connecting the iBook to your iMac with a firewire cable and starting the iBook in target disk mode by holding the T key down as you power on. You should then be able to install OSX on it by running the installer on the iMac and selecting the iBooks drive as the target for installation.
 
Unless the iMac's an intel one. ;) Which shows why I usually _never_ think installing this way's a good idea: You'll end up with a system aimed at another machine. So the only _good_ way would be to get that OS installation disk to boot that iBook.
 
fryke said:
Unless the iMac's an intel one. ;) Which shows why I usually _never_ think installing this way's a good idea: You'll end up with a system aimed at another machine. So the only _good_ way would be to get that OS installation disk to boot that iBook.
Click to expand...
I agree completely. I've tried to use a single external drive to boot multiple machine models, and there are usually quirks. For example, a system installed with my old G3 iMac would not give me any audio when used on my Mini. (This OS was installed from retail installation discs, not iMac-specific discs, so that wasn't the source of the problem.)

So I'd only use that method as a last resort. If nothing else, it might give you the opportunity to boot off the iBook and reinstall the OS from there. But that's...a little convoluted.
 
Giaguara said:
After the startup chime, hold down the alt (option) key. That should list all bootable drives there.
If the install DVD is inside the drive, it should be possible to boot to it with alt and then selecting the DVD when it shows there.
Click to expand...

I tried that (with the DVD in the drive) and what I get are two small "boxes" on the screen, one with an arrow in a round pattern indicating clockwise and one with a straight arrow pointing to the right. Clicking the clockwise arrow does make the mouse go into a stopwatch for a moment and then reverts to nothing. Clicking the straight arrow does nothing at all. Thanks for telling me that, though, I never knew about that and I'll remember it when my own computer gives me future grief. :)
 
Tommo said:
You could try connecting the iBook to your iMac with a firewire cable and starting the iBook in target disk mode by holding the T key down as you power on. You should then be able to install OSX on it by running the installer on the iMac and selecting the iBooks drive as the target for installation.
Click to expand...

Thanks, Tommo, that's what a Mac Repair guy told me to try this morning. I have to confess, I'm not sure what sort of cable a firewire cable is, and how it differs from a USB or Ethernet. I don't see the type of hole on the side of this iMac that sounds like the one he described. But I'll chip away at it, surely I can find what I need to try this. Thanks, again!
 
Thanks, fryke and Mikuro. It sounds a little dicey with someone like me at the helm, especially when I see that experienced people hesitate to try it. I may end up carrying it in my arms to Nashville's Mac Authority with a humble demeanor and see how far that gets me. ;)
 
Your result in the boot menu sounds like the iBook really can't read the disk in the drive or that it simply is a wrong disk and it can't boot from it... Definitely rather sounds like a hardware problem, so your Mac Authority probably sounds like the right next step...
 
If your iBook is one of the colorful G3-based "clamshell" models, you might need to install OS 9 and then the latest firmware update before OS X will work. What OS did the iBook have when your friend got it?

The disc in the drive is the same one she successfully booted from when she attempted the reinstallation, right? I just want to be sure you're 100% certain the disc can boot that model of iBook.
 
The iBook is a white G4 and she was running Tiger 10.4. According to her, when she tried to install it (without installing Classic first) she kept getting a message that there was an error installing it and asking her to try again. I guess that's when she decided to go for a clean install. The thing is, Classic is on a CD, not a DVD, right? I don't use Tiger, does it come bundled with Classic on the DVD or has Classic been phased out with the Tiger system?

It does appear that the iBook is just not recognizing the start-up DVD and if the reason it wouldn't install for her in the first place is because it was scratched or damaged, that may be it. I think I'll call a friend and score his start-up DVDs to test that theory.

Thanks, guys!
 
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