Can anyone help me with major issues I'm having with my IMAC G4?

Question

When starting up i get a flashing blue earth icon for a few seconds followed by blinking folder ? icon when it gets to the login windows starting screen it freezes up right before its almost done loading. I can tell you that this happened right after I deleted a file i had know business deleting, I knew I F*ED up right after i gave my password to to authorized it.(you can't me anywhere) I'm also having problems with my superdrive it won't read anything. Is this something that I can fix myself? would appreciate any suggestions you may have.

Answer 1

Usually, when you see a flashing earth icon on your desktop and then the computer
cannot find the hard disk drive's installed system, that means the computer is looking
for a Network Disk or a network system from which to run. (Could be you deleted a
part of some significant startup file, too.)
And if you have the OSX installer disc for the computer (or newer retail boot/install disc)
you should be able to start the computer up from the Installer disc and choose from the
submenu (do Not install a new system) to choose Disk Utility; repair disk / permissions
- while you are there - and then once that is done, quit Disk Utility, and Quit the installer;
using the menu options beneath the blue apple in the menu bar, and choose Startup Disk.
By choosing a Startup Disk (the computer's hard disk drive, with its own OSX system)
you should be able to get past the Network Disk blue earth on startup. --In other words,
in a healthy computer, once in awhile look into the System Preferences and in the icon
labelled Startup Disk; and see that your computer's hard disk drive is chosen or highlighted.
Otherwise, the computer sometimes has a hard time due to permissions or other issues, in
finding the installed system on the drive; it will look for something else. Also, after you get
it running correctly again, you can check to see if the SMART status is verified on the hard
disk drive. In fact, when you have the computer booted from an OSX installer/boot disc,
you can check that status from Disk Utility, in addition to "repair disk" and "repair disk
permissions" you can also click on the hard disk drive's brand name in the Utilty menu
and then see another window where SMART status is visible.
If the hard disk drive is too full or there are corruption issues developing, you may need
to remove stuff you have stored in there and archive it off the computer, maybe to an
external hard disk drive or save it to a blank disc media. The Apple Hardware Test which
came with the computer may be useful in checking for some problems; it is on a boot disc.
And, if nothing seems to work, the earlier link to information on how to Archive and Install
may be of help to troubleshoot the computer further. It may have other issues...
Good luck and happy computing!