Cant Boot Past Open Firmware Screen

I have an iBook g4 14". Recently it started having problems. Every time i try to start it up, i goes to the open firmware screen.
i tried typing 'mac-boot' several times and it still would not start. after the last time i tried that it will no longer allow me to input commands, i cant type anything at all. I have tried starting in single user mode and safe mode with the same results.
I am getting the following error messages:
BAD DEPTH= -1
here= ff884f24
BAD DEPTH= -1
here= ff96c70c
Method <SetQuietEnable> not found. ihandle=0 phandle=0
Invalid memory access at %SRR0;
after that the cursor shows up but it will not allow me to type anything.
Any help would be appreciated. i would prefer not to have to wipe everything and reinstall as there is data on the drive i want to recover.

Hi, and welcome to Apple Support Communities.
Do you have the Install disc for the version of the operating system which is installed? If so, you could check out the Apple Knowledge Base article on Repairing the Hard Disk Using Disk Utility from the Install Disc.
Do you have access to another Mac with FireWire? If so, you can try using FireWire Target Disk Mode to recover your data to the hard drive of the other Mac.

Similar Messages

V570 dead hard drive and now cant boot past BIOS welcome screen

Bought my Lenovo laptop in December, 2011. My hard drive (750g Western Digital) died last week. I was able to save some of my files but recovery partition and everything else is gone. Hard drive is unreadable when I insert in another machine or using an external USB casing.
I have a spare hard drive but now when I install that and try to boot, laptop does not go beyond the Phoenix BIOS screen. I tried the CMOS battery reset action (unplugging the CMOS battery etc) but no luck. Tried booting then pressing F keys but it just says please wait and stays there.
Someone please help. I really liked this laptop and cant believe the hard drive conked out after only 6 months of use.

not encouraging. I'd certainly re-seat the RAM and even go as far as testing it with MemTest86, if you have more than one module test them individually for at lest 3 passes each - keep plenty of coffee or whatever at hand.
Pulling the CMOS should at least provoke a date and time error at post hopefully enabling you to then enter BIOS, it will also automatically select BIOS defaults for you - not a bad thing.
If all else fails I would put the original drive in the system and call service as OKR-MAN previously suggested, something is definitely not right.
Andy ______________________________________
Please remember to come back and mark the post that you feel solved your question as the solution, it earns the member + points
Did you find a post helpfull? You can thank the member by clicking on the star to the left awarding them Kudos Please add your type, model number and OS to your signature, it helps to help you. Forum Search Option T430 2347-G7U W8 x64, Yoga 10 HD+, Tablet 1838-2BG, T61p 6460-67G W7 x64, T43p 2668-G2G XP, T23 2647-9LG XP, plus a few more. FYI Unsolicited Personal Messages will be ignored.
Deutsche Community Comunidad en Español English Community Русскоязычное Сообщество
PepperonI blog

Won't boot past grey logo screen

I have a refurb dual 2Ghz powermac G5. New in March 2006.
It will not boot past the grey logo screen. I have tried all of the regular stuff: reset pram, reset nvram, reset-all, pushed the PMU button, etc, unplugged; reset ram; removed and reset ALL cards/memory. And nothing.
When trying to boot in single user mode, it freezes when almost getting to a prompt.
I CAN boot to open firmware. Though booting from the OS X install cd yields the computer to freeze at the grey logo screen.
I am dual booting Gentoo Linux, and the curious thing is that if I select Gentoo at boot, the computer freezes when loading the kernel for Linux.
So it's not an OSX thing it seems like; probably hardware.
I ran the 40min extended apple hardware test from the PMG5 OS X disc which passed everything with NO errors.
I then booted the disc in target mode with my iBook, and repaired permissions: it said was all okay, nothing to fix.
I removed the battery, and placed it back in. The battery tests fine with my voltage meter-tester.
I am a PC technician, but am stumped in trying to get my powermac to boot. Let me know if you have any other ideas. Thanks,
Dual 2Ghz Powermac G5
1.5GB ram
stock Radeon 9600
stock 160GB hard drive
airport card
Dual 2Ghz Powermac G5 Mac OS X (10.4.6) Logic 7.2 Gentoo PPC

Okay my powermac is at the local mac repair center. All hardware checked out okay; the tech is unsure of the issue. He's pulling parts and going to see what part is failing. He thinks the power supply is freaking out and sending out too much voltage, causing the computer to freeze at boot.

PowerBook G4 boots to Open Firmware without keyboard access

Summary:
Let me provide a little backstory.
According to the [DARPA Visitor Guidelines|http://www.darpa.mil/body/visitor_guidelines.html] wireless network technology is prohibited from DARPA facilities. Laptops with a wireless card are required to be "disabled at the BIOS level".
Before an upcoming visit to DARPA I was told that I would need to make sure my laptop wireless card was disabled. I mentioned that Macs don't have BIOS but I'd look into doing it in Open Firmware. The response from DARPA was that no one has ever successfully brought an Apple laptop into the facility, and that I should procure a PC laptop for my visit. Ah, a challenge!
I booted into Open Firmware (⌘⌥OF), located the wireless card in the device tree, and removed two properties I figured the driver would be searching for: the vendor ID, and the product ID. I exited Open Firmware and continued to boot into Mac OS X v10.5.2.
Sure enough the System Profiler showed that no wireless card was installed. Success! Now I just need to make the device tree modifications persist between reboots.
It seemed the solution was to place the Open Firmware commands I issued to disable the card into nvramrc. So I set nvramrc to contain the same commands, and set use-nvramrc? to be true. I rebooted the machine but the card was still detected.
A bit [more research|http://docs.sun.com/app/docs/doc/805-4436/6j4719c8v?a=view] revealed that the device tree is not created by Open Firmware until after the nvramrc is executed. The solution is to build the device tree in the nvramrc and tell Open Firmware not to rebuild it. The documentation states that this is accomplished with the probe-all, install-console, and banner Forth commands. I added those commands to my nvramrc and rebooted. The contents of nvramrc:
probe-all install-console banner
dev wireless
" device-id" delete-property
" vendor-id" delete-property
The outcome... well technically the laptop has wireless disabled. Almost everything is disabled. The machine now boots directly into Open Firmware with a few ominous bits of output and no response from the keyboard.
no active package
Apple PowerBook5,6 6.4.9.1f1 BootROM built on 01/21/05 at 10:51:16
Copyright 1994-2005 Apple Computer, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.
Welcome to Open Firmware, the system time and date is 05/06/2008 10:00:00
Command security mode
To continue booting, type "mac-boot" and press return.
To shut down, type "shut-down" and press return.
ok
0 > _
The first sign that something has gone wrong is no active package. The second message just throws another wrench into the works: Command security mode. Yes, the Open Firmware password was enabled. In retrospect this was a bad thing to have set when mucking about in OF. I knew of the RAM change trick (see below) so this was not an issue at the time.
Question:
So the question is: What actions do I need to take to return the laptop to a useable state. That is, booting into Mac OS X.
*Attempted solutions:*
+1. Reset nvram+
The first and most obvious solution is to reset nvram using the snag key combination ⌘⌥PR. Unfortunately do to the firmware password being set, [all snag keys have been disabled|http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1352]. This means no target disk mode (⌘T), boot from CD (⌘C), boot from network (⌘N), etc... In any case an attempt at resetting nvram yields an additional message being appended to the Open Firmware screen:
Release keys to continue!_
+2. Reset nvram after changing amount RAM in system+
Luckily there is a work-around to firmware password protection. Changing the amount of RAM installed in the machine should allow the nvram zap snag to function. I removed one of the two 512MB DIMMS in the laptop and started up while holding down ⌘⌥PR. This results in the same message as above:
Release keys to continue!_
Not so lucky.
+3. Reset the Power Management Unit+
[Resetting the Power Management (PMU)|http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=14449] is accomplished by removing the battery and disconnecting the power cord, and then holding down the power button for about 5 seconds. This had no effect besides resetting the system clock to 01/01/1904 00:00:41.
Getting more desperate...
+4. Search logic board for CUDA+
I [opened the machine|http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Mac/PowerBook-G4-Al-15-Inch-1-5-1-67-BT-2-0 -LR/64] to search for a hidden [CUDA button|http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=86760]. As expected, a CUDA button does not exist on this model and the PMU reset is accomplished as noted in attempted solution 3.
+5. Remove internal battery+
Well the laptop is open now, so I tried removing the internal memory backup battery and revisited each of the above solutions. No success.
+6. Remove hard drive+
Again, since the laptop was open, why not remove the hard drive and see what happens. The machine wasn't even making it to the boot-loader hand-off so I didn't expect this to produce any results. No results produced.
Thinking crazy thoughts...
+7. Attempt a firmware update+
Firmware updates have a side effect of resetting the nvram. Also firmware updates are initiated very early in the startup process by holding down the power button until a tone is heard and the power light flashes. My thought was that I would grab a previous firmware update for this laptop and force it to be reapplied. Unfortunately there have been no updates to this model's firmware.
+8. Write my own firmware update script+
While investigating solution #7 I realized that the file BootROMFirmware installed by the firmware updaters for G5s and G4s machines are just Forth programs with a binary payload attached to the end. I learned [Forth|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forth(programminglanguage)]. The BootROMFirmware files are really cool, since they do everything from drawing the progress bar during the update, uncompressing and check-summing the binary payload, and generally making sure you don't brick your machine. In any case it seem entirely doable to write my own program in Forth and undo the evil I did before. I really only need to flip one bit. I needed the use-nvramrc? variable set to false. So I created this very simple Forth program:
\ debrickifier
setenv use-nvramrc? false
reset-all
The original firmware file had additional attributes set, a creator and file type of fw99. So I set those two attributes on my file as well. I ran strings on the firmware installer program and guessed that it was copying the file to /System/Library/CoreServices. So this is where I placed my Forth file. Reinstalled the drive and rebooted the laptop while holding down the power key to initiate a firmware install. No dice.
Its hard to tell why this is failing. The file may in the wrong place, have the wrong permissions. From what I've reviewed in the original files, the setenv and reset-all words should be available. Maybe the Firmware Update utilities are setting some other magic in nvram before the reboot.
I think I've covered all the different major solutions that I've attempted. Their might be a few more that I've forgotten to mention (like using an external USB keyboard). I still think that getting some Forth to execute via the firmware update mechanism could use some more exploration. My current worst case is that I'll replace the logic board, although I'd hate to do that when I know there are only a few bad bits flipped in a CMOS somewhere.
I'm hoping to snag the attention of the resident hardware/firmware guru that can shed some light upon the firmware update process, but any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers,
Mark

For your next DARPA visit, another option might be to buy the cheapest possible third-party wireless card — it doesn't even need to work. Insert it into your Powerbook's CardBus slot before visiting DARPA, and turn Airport off in System Prefs. On arrival at DARPA, remove the card from the Powerbook and hand it to the security guard. Retrieve it from the guard as you leave, and turn Airport back on again when you get home or back to your office. Unable to comply with the letter of the dunderheaded regulation because you have no BIOS, you will be complying with the spirit of it instead, and no one will be the wiser.

PowerBook G4 17" Boots into Open Firmware; Won't boot from HD or Disk

This PBG417 (1GHz/512MB/60GB) has an complex recent history directly related to this problem. It was thought to have a dead logic board, and was given to me for a very insignificant amount of money. I discovered today (at an Authorized Apple Repair center) it merely had a ribbon cable disconnected from the logic board which kept it from powering on, which, when rge cable was reconnected it did on the spot, fully booting (imagine my satisfaction). However, upon getting home, it booted into Open Firmware instead, and offedrs a choice of typing mac-boot or shut-down. Mac-boot takes it to the grey screen where the question mark/Finder guy blink and nothing happens. I put a grey PowerBook G4 17" system disk in, but not the one that shipped with it, hoping it would do. When I try to boot from disk, it goes to Open Firmware, I enter mac-boot, it goes to happy Finder with no question folder, but stays there with the optical drive occasionally making movememts and sounds. If you enter any command besides shut down or mac-boot, iot says unknown word; the command prompt itself is 0> .
I'm not sure the hard drive is seated correctly. When I got the computer, the drive was removed; I put it in an enclosure and installed Tiger on it and put it back in, but apart from connecting the ribbon cable, it just sat in its bay not fixed down. However, it booted correctly the first time it was successfully started.
Finally, the previous owner removed all 23 bottom case screws when he took out the drive and lost them; the Apple repair tech mustered up about 9 and put them in the crucial locations but it's still not screwed down everywhere, although the one time it booted correctly, it had no screws in it.
It seems the computer doesn't read the hard drive or the disk, but the hard drive mau be installed wrong and the disk, while for a 17" was not the one that shipped with this PowerBook 17". The computer is missing many case screws, bnutg booted properly only when there were none it place. I also tried resetting the PMU but am not sure I did reset it because the Apple article isn't clear about which models have which processes. I tied Target Disk Mode but it woujldn't mount/boot.
How can I get the disk out and how to make it boot to the desktop?

You can try to reset NVRAM here is KBase from apple site:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=42642
and after that reset PRAM in your unit, here is the kbase:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=2238
If needed you can also tried to reset PMU, here is the kbase:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=14449
Make sure you choose the correct step for your unit.
If after all the steps your unit still booting up to open firmware then there is possibility that you have corrupt NVRAM which could not be fixed by doing reset except replacing logic board.
Good luck. Hope this help
Flippo

HELP... after 10.4.11 update I can't boot past the blue screen

HELP... after 10.4.11 update I can't boot past the blue screen, and it is pretty frustrating, to say the least. Here's what happened last night:
I installed elgato's eyetv 250, and at the end it asked to update the software. I did so, and when I tried to run it again it said I had to be running 10.4.11. I quickly went over and downloaded the 10.4.11 combo updater to my desktop and proceeded to repair permissions on my disk so I could run the updater.
I repaired permissions and started the updater. It got halfway through updating and said something like it could not finish and stopped. No reason why - it just stopped. I tried it again, and it did the same thing after going about 25 to 30 percent through the updating process. I thought that was very odd, so I checked, and I was running 10.4.9.
I thought I needed to get the 10.4.10 update, so I downloaded the combo updater several times. It would not run, giving me some error message that it would not even open, so I thought I needed to restart my computer to get it to run. I did so.
That's when my computer would not boot. It gets through the initial white screen with the logo in the middle and the revolving circle, and while it stays there for a long time the fans run increasingly faster. They tame down, and then the blue screen with "Mac OS" on it and the blue progress bar comes up. There is no blue progress bar, though... that's where it stops and will not go any further.
Can ANYBODY help me get this thing booted back up? It was so late last night that before I started I didn't back the Mac up, and of course I have a project on there that I need to finish Saturday afternoon for a company.
ANY HELP WILL BE SO GLADLY APPRECIATED. If you can give me step by step instructions on what to do, you will surely be blessed! Thanks for any help,
Barry
Jeremiah 29:11

Hi mrstang, and a warm welcome to the forums!
It sounds like Disk Directory problems.
Could be many things, we should start with this...
"Try Disk Utility
1. Insert the Mac OS X Install disc that came with your computer, then restart the computer while holding the C key.
2. When your computer finishes starting up from the disc, choose Disk Utility from the Installer menu. (In Mac OS X 10.4 or later, you must select your language first.)
Important: Do not click Continue in the first screen of the Installer. If you do, you must restart from the disc again to access Disk Utility.
3. Click the First Aid tab.
4. Click the disclosure triangle to the left of the hard drive icon to display the names of your hard disk volumes and partitions.
5. Select your Mac OS X volume.
6. Click Repair. Disk Utility checks and repairs the disk."
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214
Then Safe Boot , (holding Shift key down at bootup), run Disk Utility in Applications>Utilities, then highlight your drive, click on Repair Permissions, reboot when it finishes.
The usual reason why updates fail or mess things up, or things don't load/run, is if Permissions are not fixed before & after every update, with a reboot... you may get a partial update when the installer finds it doesn't have Permissions to change one obscure little part of the OS, leaving you with a mix of OS versions.
Some people get away without Repairing Permissions for years, some for only days.
If Permissions are wrong before applying an update, you could get mixed OS versions, if Directory is the slightest messed up, who knows!
If many Permission are repaired, or any Directory errors are found, you may need to re-apply some the latest/biggest updates again, or even do an A&I if you have enough free disk space.
The combo update for PowerPC-based Macs...
http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/macosx10411comboupdateppc.html
The combo update for Intel-based Macs...
http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/macosx10411comboupdateintel.html
Repair Permissions before & after re-install, then reboot again each time.
If all the above do not resolve the problem, then it's time for an Archive & Install, which gives you a new/old OS, but can preserve all your files, pics, music, settings, etc., as long as you have plenty of free disk space...
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107120
Be sure to use Preserve Users & Settings.

Imac frozen at blue screen after i went into disk utilities and cleaned my free space. I tried holding down T key as it reboots and i get a message. Start up disk full empty it how can one emptie it if you cant get past the blue screen

Imac frozen at blue screen after i went into disk utilities and cleaned free space.
I tried holding down T key as it reboots
and i get a message. Start up disk full empty it how can one emptie it if you cant get past the blue screen?
to make matters worse we bought the IMAC of amazon uk on the 4/07/011 so what can we do?
please remember how frustrating it is when asking for help when the helper telling you to type something on the screen when its frozen
Tell us when you can type some instuctions to the software how do you get to the doss prompt so to speak to do this
Thanks

i tried all this thanks
i can not get past blue screen and message Your disk is full it needs to be emptied Please not I cant proceed past this message.
no matter what you tell me
Am i right ok in thinking that
when i went into disk utilities and chose to clean my free space i left it over one hour to do its stuff
i came back and there was no progress bar just the box so i quit the program and when i opened mac mail the system just froze i forced quit mail rebooted and blue screen death
Now when free space is being cleaned is it the same as windows dose the utility write lots of 0 on the hard drive then rebbot its self to free the space
basicly is my hard drive full of 00000 is this why im getting this message because the process was interupted
I need to know if i need outside help i bought the computer on line on amazon uk what dose one do next

Need urgent help on Sawtooth stucked at Open Firmware screen

Hello.
I've got a G4 Graphite Sawtooth Powermac running a Newertech MaxPower 2.0MHZ processor upgrade for about 3 years. It is running Leopard (10.5.8) system.
I've also installed a Seritek 1S2 card with a 500GB Sata disk.
Some days ago I've started to notice that sometimes when I did Log Off or Shut down the Mac cleaned all the desktop icons but then nothing happens.
Also, it started to freeze sometimes doing some tasks like open apps or working on Photoshop.
Today the Mac refused to boot on the main system disk (I have a secondary 80GB disk with Tigger installed on it).
Then I ran TechTool Pro Disck scan and it gave me an error on scanning the main disk.
I've booted into the Tiger disk (a 80GB one) and think to myself if this could be something to do with the Seriteck card or driver, or something related to it...
I've loaded the Seritek install CD and click the install firmware of the Seriteck disk, then I've booted and... it stucked on Open Firmware forever.
It is on the welcome screen of the open firmware and I can't do anything.
It says" To continue booting, type "mac-boot" and press return", but I can't type anything because it looks freezed. My keyboard don't respond.
I've tryed the firmware boot (that one with the long beep pressing the programmer button) at no avail.
I'm desesperate. I'm a freelancer and I've goot importante work to deliver to clients and I can't get my Mac to to boot into the system.
At this point I just want to boot normally into Tiger, Leopard, whatever.
I just need to boot and recover my works.
See screenshot of Open Firmware screen here:
http://img19.imageshack.us/i/dscn3061q.jpg/
Can someone please help?
Thank you for your time,
Macjaime

I ran TechTool Pro Disk scan and it gave me an error on scanning the main disk.
If you did a "Surface Scan", and not a "Volume Structures Repair", it is telling you there is a Bad Block on the Hard Drive.
There are two cases: It could be temporary, or it could be permanent. There are two sub-cases of each: It could be important or it could be unimportant.
When you run the test, and it tells you the Surface Scan has detected an error, you are supposed to ask it figure out what file is involved, and write it down. Then you can decide whether to delete that file and replace it with a good copy.
Bad blocks may mean your drive will not be working properly in six months, if you continue to use it full time. It could also die this afternoon -- no one knows. If you can re-initialize with Zero all Data (one pass) the drive will substitute some of its stash of spare blocks for any that remain bad after the zeroing. But of course all your data will be lost, and it takes a few hours to complete.
Some readers suggest that a drive that has had spare blocks substituted may last a long time at light duty, such as making an occasional backup.
The only article that comes up with a search for "default catch" has to do with drives that are really wacked out. It suggests you back up everything and re-initialize the drive.

"Open Firmware" screen appeared on startup

Has anyone experienced this? I turned on my G5 (recently upgraded to Leopard) and instead of going straight to the login screen, the Open Firmware screen appeared. I know it can be forced to appear, but it just appeared on its own. Could this be a sign of failing circuitry? Thanks for your help.

Hi-
Not failing circuitry. A weak PRAM battery, yes, or simply the NVRAM/PRAM needs reset.
"To continue booting, type 'mac-boot' and press return" Message

Mac does not boot past white loading screen and disk cannot be repaired?

So when I turn on my Macbook Pro and it does not boot past a white screen with the Apple logo, loading wheel and progress bar. When the progress bar completes, the Macbook shuts down and when I open it again the cycle is repeated. I have opened it in Safe mode and it still showed the same thing. So I opened it in Recovery Mode and had Disk Utility verify and repair Macintosh HD. As it turns out, Disk Utility said Macintosh HD is beyond repair and I need to back up my files and reformat the whole Mac. Unfortunately, I have never used Time Machine since I started using the Mac and I obviously cannot use it now since startup does not even get past the white screen.
How do I reformat the Mac when it does not even go beyond the white screen during startup? My Mac did not come with any recovery or installation disks. Are my unbacked up files gone for good?
Thanks.

PochAstudille wrote:
How do I reformat the Mac when it does not even go beyond the white screen during startup? My Mac did not come with any recovery or installation disks. Are my unbacked up files gone for good?
Since you are able to get into Recovery Mode (Command+R), you can erase/format your Mac via Disk Utility.
Your files/data might be OK. One way to get your data off since you have no back up would be to have another Mac and connect the two via a Thunderbolt cable or even an ethernet cable (I think), then restart your 'bad' Mac into Target Mode by restarting and pressing the T key. Then go onto the 'good' Mac and see if you can copy the data files you want over to it.

MacBook Pro: Tiger wont boot past grey apple screen w/ spinning gear, HELP!

Hey everybody,
I have a 1.83 Ghz MBP with 512 mb of RAM (lame I know). The other day someone was using my computer to burn a CD on iTunes when all of my programs began failing. On instinct I rebooted my computer to solve the problem. Alas, now I cant boot past the grey apple screen, and the gear is spinning away. Saddest part of the story is that I had time set aside to back up my computer the day after this happened . Anyway what is the best thing to do from here? I haven't made any moves to fix it yet really, so what is the best thing that I can do to try and get my files back?
Thank you,
Sam A.

Hi, I posted to you in yoour other thread.
I very much doubt Disk Utility or fsck will fix an +Invalid Node Structure+ error. That's a pretty serious error and DU is just not robust enough of a utility to repair it.
If Disk Utility can't fix it, you'll need a more robust utility for the repair. I would recommend DiskWarrior. It is the best at directory repairs. It rebuilds then actually replaces your old directory. I feel every Mac owner should have a copy. Make sure you get the disk so you can boot up on it to run repairs. You can also install it on another drive and run it from there to repair this one. DW works faster that way.
I use DW once a month to try and catch errors in my system from getting too far out of hand.
If you have a good backup, hopefully a clone of your system before you had issues, an Erase and Install will also rid you of this issue. But, beware! You will lose everything on the drive with this procedure. Let us know if you need help with that!
Cheers! DALE
p.s. If the +Invalid Node Structure+ is real bad, there's a risk even the mighty DiskWarrior will not be able to help. Normally it will come thru; it's only in the severe cases it won't be able to do it. If you don't have a backup, and need the data bad, it's worth the try!

Tried to install OS X on my G4 and it is now stuck on Open Firmware screen

I have a powermac g4, with dual 450 processors. Bought in 2000 - After buying a brand new G5 last year I recently tried to install my OS X Tiger I got with the G5 onto the G4. Initially it all booted up fine. However when I turned it back on instead of booting up it made a long tone and then went to an Open Firmware screen with the prompts to type ‘shut-down’ or ‘reset-all’
Neither prompt works and this happens every time I turn it on. I have tried holding ‘c’ with original CD I got with the G4 to bring it back, I have tried holding ‘c’ with the OS X cd, I have tried to re-set Pram by holding down the appropriate keys but nothing works it just always makes the long tone noise and goes to the Open Firmware screen.
I have also been informed about updating the Frimware -i now have the software on a CD but cannot get the system back to be able to do this
Can anyone help me bring the G4 back to life?
G4 Powermac Have a G5 too

Hi
You could order the Full Retail Version of OS X (Black DVD with a silver X on it). Regarding always starting up in Open Firmware, in this thread a bloke had the same problem until he disconnected his peripherals before restarting. See if the entire thread helps:
http://www.macworld.com/forums/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=UBB13&Number=2 43591&Main=243591
Steve

PowerMac G5 will not boot into Open Firmware, or Boot Manager

I have a PowerMac G5 and it refuses to boot into Open Firmware. I used Command + Option + O + F and held down the Option key. I have tried 3 different Keyboards but no avail.

Hmmm,
Does it boot to Single User Mode, CMD+s keys at bootup, if so try...
/sbin/fsck -fy
Repeat until it shows no errors fixed.
(Space between fsck AND -fy important).
Resolve startup issues and perform disk maintenance with Disk Utility and fsck...
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214
Does it boot from your Install Disc, or show boot choices when holding alt at bootup?

My niece dropped my iphone and now i cant get past my password screen because its unresponsive in a certain area, what do i do?

My niece dropped my iphone and now i cant get past my password screen because its unresponsive in a certain area, what do i do?

hand it in for repair?

HT3024 after installing airport extreme card into g4 ibook 1.07ghz 512 ram it will only boot to open firmware, any ideas why? please help!

after installing airport extreme card into g4 ibook 1.07ghz 512 ram it will only boot to open firmware, any ideas why? please help!

Hi David,
Have you done a PRAM reset, CMD+Option+p+r...
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379
In fact, do 3 in a row, takes a bit of time.
Tried resetting the PMU for PB/iB?
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=14449

Cant Boot Past Open Firmware Screen

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for