Ibook G4 won't start

I have a G4 running OX 10.4.6. I was downloading an Apple upgrade when the machine seemed to get stuck. I tried shutting down ans restarting with no luck. I tried to use the disc to reboot, nothing. I tried to safe start and the chime won't even ring. I get a grey screen with the Apple logo but no "boot up gear". What next?

Hi,
Put the install disc1 in the drive and start while holding the option key. Click on the disc and then the right pointing arrow. Once started, try repairing the drive with Disk Utility. Once you click past the language screen you can launch Disk Utility from the Utility menu. If it reports errors and repairs, repeat it until no error are reported then try to restart normally.
John

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Ibook G4 - won't start up, spins, and shuts down... disk utility repair...

ibook G4 - won't start up, spins, and shuts down... disk utility repair quits. says "invalid sibling link" "volume check failed" "1 volume could not be repaired because of an error" "the underlying task reported failure on exit"
any ideas about how to start and/or recover data ??
thanks

Hi chesterday, and a warm welcome to the forums!
You must repair the HD, your best bet is DiskWarrior from Alsoft...
http://www.alsoft.com/DiskWarrior/
You'll need the CD though.
Unfortunately, Disk Utility can't fix all that much, and the only other Apple Options are erasing the HD, or installing OSX to a second drive, then using Migration Assistant to move stuff over to the new HD.

My ibook g4 won't start anymor from the harddisk. so I tried to reinstall the system from the orginial system cd. Doesn't work. It says the system cd is damaged. What should I do?

my ibook g4 won't start anymor from the harddisk. so I tried to reinstall the system from the orginial system cd. Doesn't work. It says the system cd is damaged. What should I do?

I would question that error message if the Mac OS X 10.5 DVD doesn't work, either.
What error message(s) did you get with the Mac OS X 10.5 DVD? Is the Mac OS X 10.5 DVD the full retail install DVD, an upgrade DVD, or a DVD that came with another Mac?

My ibook G4 won't start it shows black screen and loud fan sound only

my ibook G4 won't start, after you press the on key it makes a loud air sound, almost like a kernel panic sound, no screen light just the sound, it will turn off by pressing the on key again. Is there anything I can do to get it on?

Your very welcome.
You would need to apply pressure to the left side of the track pad about 2cm out. I found applying pressure to both sides of the track pad more successful. All you have to do is push down on the case, while making sure your iBook is on a flat surface. If you have someone willing to help you, you can get them to apply the pressure while you back up your files. Other methods would involve tempory repair or removal of the hard drive. If you remove the hard drive to be read by another computer, you would need a cady to put the drive into. These caddies are cheap enough. Would suggest you use a USB cady and plug your drive into that, which would act as USB external drive. I'd suggest you get a USB cady to remove your files, be careful to what operating system you have on the computer you are using to get the files off. Windows OS won't read a MAC OS X drive (extended journal format) It would need to be another Mac or a Linux PC.
If removing the hard drive is something your not to confident in doing, you could alway pay a computer repair shop to remove it for you. (Maybe they would have a USB cady for a 2.5 IDE hard )
Here is a link giving further details about this chip solder problem.
http://macintoshhowto.com/hardware/how-do-i-get-my-broken-g4-ibook-fixed.html
Here is an example of a USB cady
http://www.amazon.com/SANOXY-External-Enclosure-Case-Laptop/dp/B000FNBYKW/ref=sr _1_sc_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1338742155&sr=8-13-spell
Let's hope just applying enough pressure is enough to get your files back up.
Best of luck!

Ibook G4 won't start - beeps 4 times-flashes 5 times

My ibook G4 won't start - beeps 4 times-flashes 5 times. It has been working great - I installed 1 gig ram and new hard drive last week and pro tools. It has run for a week great then this. Very Frustrated.

to whom ever may read this.
I took the keyboard off and made sure the ram was secure ( took it out and stuck it right back in) and everything SEEMS to be working. (maybe it got knocked loose from when they inatlled the Hard drive - which was done after the ram installation - or just got bumped) - If any one has had these problems I would still like to know how you solved them - this was very scary!!!

IBook G4 won't start up, can't find HD

My iBook won't start up. It gets to the grey apple screen and nothing else happens. Sometimes when I try to start up I briefly get the icon with the question mark inside a folder.
I tried reseting the PMU and nothing happened. I instaled the MacOS 10.4 installer CD starting up from the CD, tried disk utility but says it cannot repair disk. As a last resort I figured trying to reinstal OS X but in does not find the hard drive.
I'm kind of desperate. Would love to save some files but I'm also open to any suggestions.
Thanks in advanced.

HI Tanya,
Go here for help with the flashing question mark: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1440
The flashing question mark indicates that when you boot the iBook it can't find the drive to boot from... Shut down your Mac. While holding down the C key, press the power button, and insert your restore disk all at the same time. Keep holding the C key until you see the Apple logo on the screen. An Installer window will open, select English. From the Menu Bar, select Utilities/Startup Disk. When that window opens, select MacintoshHD 10.x.x and click Restart. It can take a minute or two for your Mac to find the startup volume, have patience.
The reason it can't repair the disk is because it couldn't find the start up volume to repair. If you can get it to boot into the hard disk, you can then run Disk Utility from the restore disk and check for any errors and repair them.
Carolyn

IBook G4 won't start up after installing promted itunes & security update

HELP.
My iBook G4 was prompted to update iTunes & some security update. I always do this when prompted, and restart as requested.
I installed the updates and restarted, but this time my iBook won't boot up. It makes the regular chime noise, goes to the gray screen, gets past the apple logo, then goes to a blue screen with the cursor in the upper left corner. The cursor moves just fine, the caps & num lock lights work, but it just never gets past the blue. If I leave it alone for a while, the cursor disappears, and I get the turning circle in the lower middle of the screen (the one that comes up during the gray screen). It just sits and sits on the blue. Hard drive isn't making any unusual sounds.
I tried starting it up from the Install Disc, which worked fine. I ran the disk utility and it said it didn't need any repairs.
Still won't start up.
I did the cmd + opt + p + r to get the 3 chimes... no change.
I tried the fsck thing, it didn't do anything.
HELP.
Am I a goner?
I saw that some other people had problems, but it seems like everybody's is just slightly different. My display looks totally normal, just won't get past the blue screen. My disk utility said that it didn't need any repairs? Looks like most other people at least saw some errors in there...

I think Carolyn misunderstood the "3 chimes" comment. I think what you meant was that you held down the key combo until you heard the normal startup chime for the third time, not that the iBook gave you the 3 long beeps of a failed POST (power-on self test) which could indeed indicate a RAM problem.
It's more than likely not a RAM issue. These bad updates occasionally happen and the way to handle it is to do what you're doing now; backup what you can and then do an Archive and Install of the OS (although usually a couple of reboots, start in safe boot mode and reinstall the update is usually all that's needed).

IBook G4 won't start up after installing Airport Extreme card

Hi,
just installed an Airport Extreme Card into girlfriends iBook G4 (10.4.5), which now won't start up. After pressing the start button all I hear is the fan spin (pretty fast actually), but nothing else happens.
When I remove the card the iBook starts up normally.
Any thoughts what could be wrong? Bad card? Bad connection?
Thanks a lot

Sven, Welcome to the discussion area!
Are you certain that you have an AirPort Extreme card?
Are you certain that it is an iBook G4? The iBook G3s require the original AirPort card.
If both of those are OK, then one (or more) of these is true:
The card isn't installed correctly.
The AirPort Extreme card is defective.
The iBook's motherboard is defective.

IBook G4 won't start up, blue screen death! HELP!

I have an iBook G4 (1.2ghz). It has a new hard drive (5 months old), 2 gigs of ram (5 months old), and a new battery (2 months old). I was checking some baseball scores today, and everything froze, as if the hard drive had died. I tried to reboot, and it got stuck at a blue screen. I tried to reboot 4-5 times, and once it worked! I tried running my backup software, and it froze, without backing up my files. Since then, I have:
zapped the pram,
tried to start from a CD
tried to start up in safe mode
nothing gets me past the blue screen of death. I can't even fathom why it won't start from a CD. Is my computer dead? is the hard drive dead? what is let to do?

for those who come across this - and have similar issues - i have an ibook g4 - 14". I used the shim method described by http://www.coreyarnold.org/ibook/ . While he used this method on a 12", I used it on a 14", and it seems to have worked. The computer has been up and running for nearly 4 hours and everything has been backed up. I used 2 3/4" rubber gripping pads purchased at true value for less than $2. The tools cost me $25 from ifixit.com. Beats a reball, and certainly beats a $300 logic board replacement (not including labor!).

My iBook G4 won't start

I got my iBook at Future Shop 2 years ago and made the mistake of buying their product service plan. They repaired a power supply problem but returned it with a new operating system installed. I never did get the original start up discs from them because I bought it off the display counter.
Anyway, since getting it back, it has occasionally refused to start. Just sat there making no response at all. I've tried the suggestions in the knowledge base article about restarting portables that won't start, but nothing happens at all.
I need this thing every day for work. This is a huge inconvenience.

Hi Stu,
Call Apple Care. They'll sell you the correct set of install discs for your iBook.
John

IBook G3 won't start-up

Hi all,
I'm having a frustrating problem with my G3 iBook - as with many other posters, it won't start-up at all. I have tried the shift-ctrl-option-power sequence, without any luck.
Some history - this is not the first time I have had the problem. The first time was about 2 months ago, whilst I was playing a game, having booted in MacOS9. The game froze during a loading operation, and I had to shutdown the computer. Having done a forced shutdown (power for 10 secs), the computer would not restart. I tried all of the usual fixes listed in article 14449, without any luck. Eventually, after having left the iBook unplugged for about a month, I tried to restart it, and it started just fine, except that the pram had been reset (date reset to 1904 etc...). The computer ran fine for about a week, in both OS X and OS 9, but the, I tried to run the game again, and once again it froze during a loading operation (not the same as previously...) Same result, nothing works to make the computer reboot.
The fact that the computer worked just fine again, and failed again doing the sme type of operation suggests to me that firstly there is a bug in the game, and that secondly there is probably nothing physically wrong with the computer, it's just that a pram setting has been scrambled so that the computer won't restart any more.
Is there any other way of resetting the power manager and/or pram on an iBook G3 800 MHz? Or is there another reset that might be applicable? Or is there something else that might be causing the problem?
Anyway, any help anyone can give me would be greatly appreciated. I don't want to have to wait a month for the charge to fade enough that whatever setting is scrambled resets...

Yes, the logic board problem had occurred to me, too. If you pick it up in your left hand and squeeze the case to the left of the trackpad, and that allows you to start up, that is indicative of a failed logic board.
Enough Dual USB G3 iBooks suffered from the logic board problem that Apple began the iBook Logic Board Repair Extension Program in January of 2004. Check out the FAQ page and if the symptoms look familiar, give Apple a call. If the iBook qualifies, it's a free fix.
You can find the original purchase date of the iBook, by entering its serial number into the box at the bottom of Apple's main support page under "About Your Support Coverage."
If it is past the three-year time limit, you may want to consider trying the shim fix suggested by John Sawyer in the Apple Discussions iBook G3 (Dual USB) Displays Forum:
[Y]ou can often fix this yourself by removing the iBook's bottom housing, and placing a shim of any sort, about 1mm to 1.5mm thick, onto the raised square on the bottom shield. I use a Scotch mounting square--you can get them in hardware stores and many grocery stores. When you reinstall the bottom case, it will press against this shim, which will press against the graphics chip, and may allow the chip to come into better contact with the logic board.
John Sawyer
CJS Macintosh Repair
Instructions for removing the lower case:
iFixit.com
Good luck.

IBook G4 Won't Start -- iSight magnet at fault?

Someone in the family put the iSight magnet down near the touchpad and now the computer won't start up. I tried restarting with the install disk but all I get is the start up sound and then a blank gray screen. Any advice?
iMac G4 Mac OS X (10.4.1)

Douglas,
Couldn't it be a Firmware issue? I would think that Safe Mode might be a way of getting past it. Also Single-User or fsck if all else fails.
Just some thoughts,
Jon

After powering on, iBook G4 won't start up and fan goes crazy

I closed the lid of my iBook almost all of the way, but for some reason the display turned off. I'm not sure if it went to sleep or not; I can't remember if the front light flashed or not. I pressed the power button, but it wouldn't turn back on. I think I then held down the power button and it powered on, but the fan just started going at full speed and the computer never booted up. Since then, it refuses to boot; the fan just spins at full speed and the screen stays blank. I've tried resetting the PRAM and and PMU but it wouldn't work. Usually, the fan immediately starts going, but after resetting the PMU it takes a few seconds before the fan turns on. When I first press the power button, I can feel the hard drive "click" on. Once the CD drive did made those weird noises it's supposed to make, but the rest of the time it never does even that. It also never chimes. I'd really appreciate any help or suggestions. Thanks!

Welcome to Apple Discussions
The display is designed to automatically go into sleep mode when you shut the lid. That part is normal.
However, this part is not: it sounds like the wire connected to backlight on the lid is shorting out, preventing your machine from starting. The wire runs near the lid's hinge. Seems opening/closing the lid over time can cause the wire surface to degrade. Once the wire itself is exposed, the machine won't turn on if there is an electrical short.
If this is what has happened to your machine (sure seems like it from your description) you'll have to return the machine for repair.

IBook G4 won't start up from DVD

Greetings everyone,
Thanks in advance for any help that you are able to provide. My problem is as follows:
Last week I was working on my iBook when out of nowhere the screen started flashing between black and the screen. At this point the computer froze and there was nothing I could do to get out of it. There were no new programs installed and no new ram or other hardware onboard. I had to do a hard restart to get out of this.
After the hard restart my mac wouldn't start all the way back up. Upon start up it would chime, go to the grey apple screen, the gear thing would turn and then it would go to a blue screen and sit.
Sometimes if it sits long enough at this point the screen will begin to flash between all green, pink, grey, blue and black, but nothing becomes of this.
I have done the following:
1. multiple hard restarts with the same results
2. held down "shift" while starting with the same results
3. ran the diagnostics cd. I was able to boot from this cd
by holding down the "c" key. I ran the express and exten-
ded tests and nothing came back as a hardware issue.
4. booted into single user mode.
a. attempted to "re-boot" from inside SUM
b. attempted to remound the hdd
no results with either attempt
5. held down "control" "option" "shift" "delete" upon start
up and was told that I have a "kernel panic"
6. unplugged the power and battery and attempted to restart
with the same above results.
7. reset the pr-ram
8. reset the power management chip
At this point I decided to reinstall the whole system as I have everything backed up on my external hdd. I purchased the computer second hand (no problems in the 2 years of ownership) so it had 10.3 dvd's but came loaded with 10.4
By holding down "c" with the 10.3 dvd's in the drive it would not boot.
I went to the Apple Store today and told the dude at the genious bar all of the above. He stated that I needed a "raw version" of 10.4 to launch from. He said that holding down the "c" key with the new dvd in the drive would work. I purchased the 130.00 program, came home, attempted the start up/install and have had the exact same results as above.
Any thoughts? If I send it in to Apple to have it fixed the guy at the apple store figured I was looking at around 300 bucks. quite honestly I'm not willing to afford that price when I'm actually looking to upgrade my machine later this year. Maybe it will have to come to that, but I hope not.
Thanks again,
Rob
iBook G4 1.0 Ghz Mac OS X (10.4.8) Apple installed 512 RAM

I took my iBook to the Apple Store and found out there was a recall of some type on it. They took it back and replaced way more parts than they needed to, buffed out the case, new keyboard, new RAM (wasn't even Apple RAM), new HDD, new cable that went to the screen, new super drive, new track pad. Got it back and everything worked great. Thanks Apple!

IBook G4 won't start after 10.5 install

I just installed 10.5 onto my 1Gz iBook G4. Since the optical drive does not function on the iBook, I used my MBP for the install and mounted the iBook in target mode. I reformatted the iBook HD using a GUID partition table and did the install on the newly formatted drive. When the install was completed, I unmounted the iBook and tried to restart it.
Now, I get a question mark alternating with a folder/smiley face. The drive will not mount/startup. I redid the whole install again, reformatting the drive in the process, and I still get the same thing.
The only thing I can think of is that I can't install onto a G4 from a MBP. Perhaps there is something specific about the install that I need to have the host machine be a PPC. But I didn't think it mattered.
Any other thoughts?

I never suggested the formatting was the issue.
But the point I'm trying to get across in this answer, in case it will help someone else, is that if you are installing to a PPC machine, the boot machine must be a PPC machine (and vice versa for intel). You cannot boot a MBP and install onto an iBook in target mode. The system will expect the disc to be partitioned as GUID, and it won't install unless you do.
The solution for a computer with a broken optical is to use another machine with a working optical, putting that machine into target mode. Then you can boot off the machine with the broken optical, from the DVD drive on the other machine. Now, your boot machine will be PPC (in this case) and you can install on an Apple partitioned drive.
This is probably obvious to many, but it took me awhile to figure out, and maybe it will help someone else.

Ibook G4 won't start

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