Boot fails after improper shutdown

Question

A few months ago, my Powerbook G4 Titanium began failing to boot into 10.4 after any improper shutdown---power failure, force restart, etc.
It would begin booting, the little circle would start to spin, and then the thing would just shut off. No error, no message.
The only solution was to pull out my Norton Systemworks CD, use it to boot into OS9, and then restart into 10.4.
Any help in figuring out what's up would be greatly appriciated.

Answer 1

Norton Systemworks was actually probably the cause at one point. It is not compatible with Mac OS X in its Disk Doctor or Speed Disk module.
You should only use these utilites:
1. A backup utility before any other as my backup FAQ says:
http://www.macmaps.com/backup.html
2. And if your data is backed up and won't boot after an improper shut down, try repairing your directory with utilities known to work as my FAQ explains:
http://www.macmaps.com/directoryfaq.html
The only elements of Systemworks that are even remotely safe for use with Mac OS X are Retrospect for backup, and Anti-virus for locating Windows viruses on your Mac that you may transfer to Windows users. Everything else, you should throw away from the Systemworks bundle.