G4 Powerbook won't boot; grey screen Apple logo only

My G4 Powerbook 17" 1.33 stopped booting. I reinstalled OS 10.4.3 successfully, but on start up only get a grey screen with Apple logo with no spinning gear. I have reverified HDD with Disk Utility from the OS Install DVD, and it confirmed no problems. Any suggestions?

If you have the original OS X disks that came with the system, run the Apple hardware test. Find the disk that says 'AHT Version x.x' in small print on the label, insert it and reboot holding the alt/option key down. Choose the Apple hardware test, and when prompted choose the extended test. You want to see if it finds any hard drive access issues.

Similar Messages

PowerBook Won't Boot Past the Apple and Spinning Flower Screen...

I've been reading a lot of these forums, but still haven't figured out how to fix it on my laptop. So, I made my own topic.
Anyways. My dad gave me this laptop since he got a new one, so it's a hand-me-down which means I don't have this startup disk that I keep seeing talked about. I've tried Safe Boot, but when I do it with Command + V, it says all sorts of things that I just don't understand, and there is a lot of talk about the Apple Power Management? Such as:
com.apple.driver.AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement isn't a valid mach-o (magic is cefaedfe)
error mapping module file com.apple.driver.AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement
can't map com.apple.driver.AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement in preparation for loading
couldn't alloc class "AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement"
Etc, etc. And then the last lines that it ends with say:
BSD root: disk0s3, major 14, minor 2
[HCIController][configurePM] power parent ready after 1 tries
And it just stays there and doesn't boot up.
I honestly don't know what any of this means, or if it is even relevant to why my PowerBook won't boot past the Apple screen. If you have any information on how I could fix it, that'd be great. Also, if you have any questions that would help you figure it out, ask away and I will answer them.
Thanks a lot.
Message was edited by: MixtapeChick

MixtapeChick:
Welcome to Apple Discussions. Congratulations on your "new" PowerBook. I suggest that you begin with this combination procedure:
• Shut down the computer.
• Locate the following keys: Command, Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously later.
• Turn on the computer.
• Press and hold the Command + Option + P + R keys immediately after the startup chime.
• Hold keys down until you hear the startup chime for the third time.
• Release the keys and immediately hold down Shift key to start up in Safe Mode.
• Log in and empty Trash.
• Restart normally and log in.
Let us know how it goes.
cornelius

Macbook Pro 2011 won't boot, grey screen, 10.9.4

Hi guy I hope you are all well,
I have been running a 1.1 MBP Santa Rosa since 2010 and decided it was time for an update, so in January I got hold of a 2008 Penrhyn model. That was running Mavericks absolutely fine until 2 weeks after 10.9.3 when it began to have gfx crashes, kernel panics, refuse to boot etc. Now it won't even turn on, just a low fan noise for 10 secs then it switches itself off.
I figured the Penrhyn was just too long in the tooth now and must have had dodgy hardware. Nothing I've made this year will now work on the Santa Rosa on Snowy so I decided to splash out on a mid-2011 Sandy Beach, 15.4" 2.0ghz i7. This has been absolutely great the last month, until the day I went up to 10.9.4. It began to crash and need rebooting when iPhoto opens after plugging in my iPhone. At first I disabled iPhoto's auto-open and the phone works fine with iTunes and charges when iPhoto is closed. Without the phone plugged in iPhoto worked fine. Inevitably I plugged the phone in last night while iPhoto was still open. The screen went a purple-pattern, I rebooted and now it won't boot past the apple logo and pie-wheel at the chime. It just goes to a grey screen.
Recovery does not work, just a solid blue screen. Booting off a Lion install DVD also just gets a grey screen after the logo/chime. I cleared the PRAM, and the SMC three times. Starting in safe-mode the progress bar loads fine, but then it's back to grey screen.
So I'm now back on my Santa Rosa, which has never had a fault, nor may I add have any of my PPC Macs!
Anyone have a possible solution for this or know what the exact hardware-fault may be? I really don't want to pay Apple to repair it, having spent on over £1000 on MBPs this year that now don't turn on
Many thanks, James

I've been having similar issues with a late 2011 17" MBP with 10.9.4. I haven't worked out what the problem is, but I'm eventually able to enter recovery mode after multiple (15-30) attempts. Between attempts, I tried resetting the PRAM, entering safe mode, entering hardware diagnostics mode, and occasionally just leting it hang on the blue or grey screen.
Repairing disk permissions fixes the problem. It's happened twice now, with an hour or two of panic between getting it back up and running again. It's only been since the 10.9.3 or 10.9.4 update, which other users have experienced problems with. I didn't make a backup before updating (this is the first issue I've ever had with my machine), so I may have to start with a fresh install to determine if it's software or hardware.

Grey screen /apple logo won't open reinstall 10.6

Grey screen /apple logo won't open reinstall 10.6

The internal hard drive may have failed.
You should be able to boot from the Snow Leopard DVD by inserting it and holding down the c key while it boots. From there you can select the Disk Utility app to check the internal drive.

Macbook flickering screen & freeze, then won't boot pass the apple logo

Hi Guys,
My macbook is driving me insane now. Just recently, my macbook has occasionally flickering screen and freezes after that. Yesterday, when I was watching youtube on fullscreen, it first has flickering screen, then freezes. So I hard booted it pressing the power button. Then, when I try to restart it, it won't boot pass the apple logo no matter what.
Here's my macbook spec
2007 Summer Macbook Pro 15"
Snow Leopard 10.6 OS X
I cracked my screen once, and got a replacement, don't know if that matters.
I've tried the following:
Safe mood reboot, the progress bar goes about half, then disappears and stalls again.
Booted in verbose mode but it gives a warning message:
'com.apple.driver. internalmodemsupport declares no kernel dependencies; using com.apple.kernal.6.0'.
Booted in Single user mood, and typed fsck for disk repair. After checking said the volume Macintosh HD appears to be ok. But still won't boot pass the apple logo after restart.
Boot with installation disk pressing C at startup. Success after a few try:
Opened Disk Utility and did disk repair (no problem found).
Reinstalled Snow Leopard OS X 10.6.
This time it booted with Finder and everything for a short while, then the screen flicker and freezes again (before I can backup anything!). Then, I can't reboot pass the apple logo again.
When I try to reinstall Leopard OS X 10.5 with installation disk, the macbook seems to try to read the disk, but won't boot. I've got a CD stuck in the optical drive now.
I've tried everything I can find online short of opening it up and send it into the oven for baking! I pray it's not a hardware problem, coz I'm no good at that. (QAQ~~~) Please help me!
Thank you very, very, very much!!!
ps. this is my first post. please let me know if I have missed anything.

starangelam wrote:
When I try to reinstall Leopard OS X 10.5 with installation disk, the macbook seems to try to read the disk, but won't boot. I've got a CD stuck in the optical drive now.
Reboot the machine holding the trackpad or left wired mouse button down, that shoudl force eject the 10.5 disk.
Reinstalled Snow Leopard OS X 10.6.
This time it booted with Finder and everything for a short while, then the screen flicker and freezes again (before I can backup anything!). Then, I can't reboot pass the apple logo again.
Ok, so your attempting data recovery efforts.
First get the 10.5 disk out of the machine, like above.
You can also boot into Single User mode, (command s at reboot) and enter
/usr/bin/drutil eject
then type
restart
Next hold c boot and use the 10.6 disk and create a data recovery drive here on a blank external drive, make sure you clean and polish the bottom of the 10.6 disk, if it's bad you will need to get a new one.
Create a data recovery, undelete boot drive
If your problems continue on this drive even with a clean or new 10.6 disk, it's likely a hardware issue with your Mac, not a issue with the drive.
I suspect a failing sector on your internal boot drive, you installed OS X right over the same spot perhaps, as you were obviously able to boot from the 10.6 disk to install it so it seems the hardware of the Mac appears to be working.
You might have other issues relateing to software perhaps, something your installing or running.
Step by Step to fix your Mac
Once you have gotten your files off the internal drive, you may want to look into doing a Zero Erase with Disk Utility before resintalling 10.6 again fresh install method.
Reducing bad sectors effect on hard drives
How to erase and install Snow Leopard 10.6
Look into making a bootable clone, it's easier to restore with and more options than Timemachine
Most commonly used backup methods explained

Server Won't Boot - Grey Screen of Death Strikethrough Circle

My Xserve is having some serious difficulties and as a result, so am I.
To start from the beginning, I've been running a standard install of 10.5.1 for a couple of weeks now and thus far it has been smooth sailing. Last week we upgraded to 10.5.2 and some issues reared there ugly head (not saying that .2 is the cause but this was the chain of events). Firstly SMB started going skewiff, not letting users login in to shared folders, then mail stopped some services and could not be restarted.
This culminated with what seems to be a failed restart (in that i told the device to restart but didn't see it through to coming back), a weekend passed and on monday nothing was live any more. When a monitor was plugged in, all that we saw as the grey screen, apple logo and spinning gear. After sitting there for 5mins or so the display would go black, the Xserve would restart, the grey screen and spinning gear would appear, and the cycle would continue.
We were able to boot from the install dvd, but at this point we decided to call apple and get some pro advice. Based on this we tried to verify disk permissions but got an error of something like failed on exit. The apple rep wanted to go into single user mode and mount drives and run disk util from command but we got no were. To clarify we were using a two risk mirror raid and verify disk returned an all ok report.
As we were getting no ware the apple rep recommend removing on of the raid disks (to have a keep a backup) and try restoring the system from our time machine backup on an ext drive. We chose a date before we thought the issue may have developed (but not before the upgrade to 10.5.2). When this had finished and the system did its restart, the grey screen appear with the apple logo for a moment, but this would then change to a circle with a strikethrough it. We attempted another TM restore from a point before the 10.5.2 backup but got the same result.
After getting fed up with all this, we tried a fresh install (without deleting the disk partitions and re-initialising the disk) and low and behold the system started up again. Tried to do a restore from TM via the install dvd process but this set us back to our strikethrough circle problem again.
To tell you the truth, I'm so frustrated with this thing right now I'm considering sending it back!!!
Any help or thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
Nige

Hi mik.e245
Pop in the Install Disk 1 that came with your iMac and run disk repairs as described in the articles below:
http://kb.wisc.edu/helpdesk/page.php?id=3810
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=DiskUtility/10.5/en/duh1018.html
Not always, but many times Kernal Panic's are associated with a ram issue's. If a ram module was recently added it may have become partially dislodged/unseated and needs to be reseated.
If your still having trouble run the Hardware Test from the same install disk as per this article.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303081-en
Dennis

Help - Grey Screen & Apple Logo aft fixing internal DVD Writer

My DVD writer started to play up a few months ago and eventually stopped reading any discs. After routing around the various forums I had a go at fixing it by taking my Powerbook apart, removing the DVD writer and using an air cleaner and optical cloth cleaned the DVD writer out. Full of dust!
I put the DVD writer back leaving the top of the Powerbook loose and started it up. Excellent result, not only did it play a DVD film, but it burnt a disc which I could read in my aging Power Mac. RESULT!
I then preceded to screw it all back together. It went to the grey screen with the Apple Logo and spinning wheel. I have not been able to get it past this.
I have tried resetting the PMU & PRAM by removing the Power and battery and holding the power switch on for 5 secs.
I have tied to restart and then hold down Command-Option-P-R, wait for third chime and release and press the shift screen. But it stays on the grey screen/Apple Logo.
I did get it to go to a blue screen once but it won't go further.
I have tried to pop in Techtool Pro Disc 4.5.1 and Disk Warrior but the DVD writer just spits these out again.
I have taken it apart again to check that all my connections are OK and they do seem OK. I don't understand how I could get it to play/burn and then it goes all awry only after I screw the keyboard back.
Anybody got any ideas short of taking it in for repair!

I would just get it repaired.

TS3148 my mackbook air starts up with a persistent grey screen, apple logo and spinning gear

my mackbook air starts up with a persistent grey screen, apple logo and a spinning gear. It will not show the login window

Press and hold the power button down to force a hardware shutdown (emergency use only!)
Next find the Shift key and hold it and press the power button, the machine will boot into Safe Mode.
Next backup your files to a external drive just in case.
Emergency backup procedure
Drag and drop copy your users file folders (music, pictures, documents etc) to a regular external powered drive as soon as possible.
Do not use, setup or trust only TimeMachine at this troubled time as it will copy corrupted data and we need just your users files safe just in case. TimeMachine cannot be used with a Windows PC.
Unmount and Disconnect all external drives once the backup process is completed.
Note:
If you have any over 4GB sized files, those won't copy to a standard formatted FAT32/MSDOS drive from the factory, if you need to save these 4GB+ files use another blank/empty drive and use Disk Utility to format it 1 Partition, Option: GUID, Format: OS X Extended Journaled (or the standard default one for older Mac's).
Mac's cannot copy to nor format a NTFS drive. ExFAT format to be used with a Windows machine must be right click formatted by Windows, not OS X (does it wrong) XP macines can install a free exFAT update from Microsoft. Vista-Win 8 can format exFAT.
Formatting a drive will erase all data on it.
Most commonly used backup methods
Your problem is likely due to a incompatible third part at boot kernel extension file that some program installed into OS X at some time.
If you can recall which programs you installed using your Admin password then that's a good place to start and update or uninstall those programs.
The next solution is a #8 Reinstall Just OS X + Software Update fully, this will replace OS X with a new copy, fix OS X if it's the cause and kick out ALL third party kext files out of OS X.
You also can manually drag and drop the third party kext files (if you know what they are) out of of the System/Library/Extensions folder and reboot.
..Step by Step to fix your Mac
Solving at boot kext issues in Snow Leopard

About imac (early 2008 24") stuck on grey screen apple logo spinning wheel

HI all just wondering if any body has experienced the grey screen apple logo spinning wheel and also switches off and back on all by itself after 5-10 minutes in the past or recent.
how did you get on did you sort it?would like to read some feedback on this subject thanks

Generally that indicates a serious problem with the hard drive.
Power down, hold alt key at power on, what shows as boot choices?
"Try Disk Utility
1. Insert the Mac OS X Install disc, 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 at top of the screen. (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. Select your Mac OS X volume.
5. Click Repair Disk, (not Repair Permissions). Disk Utility checks and repairs the disk."
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214
Report what happens or doesn't please.

Radeon 5770 in 2008 Mac Pro, won't boot - hangs at Apple logo screen??

Okay, so I had the Radeon 2600 XT and it kept giving me issues with pink & white checkerboards and freezing, then eventually wouldn't let me boot past the white/grey apple logo loading screen. Now, today I installed Apple Radeon 5770, just installed, got the MiniDisplay to DVI-D adapter and everything, but it STILL won't let me get past the white/grey apple screen! I can't seem to get the DVD drive to open either. Both of my hard drives have been working fine and I've even swapped slots and i still can't get past the white screen! What gives? I just dropped over $300 for this, so you can imagine my dismay and frustration. Can someone please help me with some ideas? Would be GREATLY appreciated.
It's a 2008 Mac Pro dual 2.8Ghz (3,1), running 10.5.8
M

Yeah, ok thanks for the response about the screen! So, I don't have 10.6.5. I'm running 10.5.8, which the Radeon 5770 says it needs 10.6.5, but -finally- I got my computer to boot up with the 5770 in it, on 10.5. Al I did was hold OPTION+ Power button and it took me to a blue screen, then to my 500 GB new HD. I then switched over to my other username on Macintosh HD (drive that came with the MacPro) and OSX loads fine! I can tell that it still needs to be on 10.6.5, so I can download the drivers because the text is ever so slightly fuzzy, and the color isn't tuned well (too much contrast) and images take a little longer to load/ are a bit laggy. I'm just glad it's up and running! No more pink transparent checkerboards, and loud *** fan sounds! I am wondering though, what was causing this hold up? Is it only booting up because I have the 10.5.2 install disc in the SuperDrive? I almost don't want to take it out and try without it, after the trouble i've had, just in case lol. I'd like to have an idea as to why, because I don't want to mask a problem, and have it eventually turn into a catastrophe.

HELP! MacBook Pro 17" Won't Boot-Grey Screen-Errors During Verbose Safe Mode Boot

Booting regularly it hangs on the grey screen, if it does go into desktop, it freezes and won't do anything.
I did disk check and repair even though it found no errors, and did verify and fix permissions since it showed a LOT of permission errors. Still won't boot into desktop though.
Ran safe mode verbose and got the following disk0s2 I/O Errors-What does this mean??? Hard drive problem?
I have reload OS X 3 times in the past few weeks because of freezing issues in Mavericks and stuck with Mountain Lion and it was running fine until I went to boot up this morning after a clean shut down and won't boot up ever since.
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e389/RIPNHL2005/photo_zpsb0d8d5cf.jpg
http://s43.photobucket.com/user/RIPNHL2005/media/photo_zpsb0d8d5cf.jpg.html
Please help.....This is my main laptop and job search tool.....
Thanks!!!

Is this the right drive config for the macbook pro?
Is Western Digital no good? Best Buy has them in stock.....
HGST
500GB Travelstar™ Z5K500 Hard Disk Drive
2.5-Inch | SATA 3.0Gb/s | 5400RPM | 8MB Cache
High-performance, high-capacity mobile storage for notebook PCs and other applications
Low Profile - 7mm thickness for slim designs
High Capacity - Up to 500GB
Quiet Operation - Enjoy a richer audio-listening experience
Travelstar Z5K500 is the second generation 7mm, 5400 RPM 2.5-inch hard drive from HGST, with capacities ranging from 250GB to 500GB, and the second generation Advanced Format drive. Advanced Format increases the physical sector size on HDDs from 512 bytes to 4,096 (4K) bytes, which improves drive capacities and error correction capabilities. The 500GB per platter, one-disk models are designed as a direct replacement for standard 9.5mm HDDs, for use in notebook PCs, external storage and gaming consoles, as well as new, thinner and more robust device designs. The Z5K500 carries the EcoTrac classification due to its low-power consumption and eco-friendly, halogen-free production. Travelstar Z5K500 delivers the right balance of capacity, power-management and design flexibility to meet the needs of mobile applications.

Imac won't boot (grey screen, prohibit sign, folder with ? mark)

Before I bring my iMac to a store (which I can barely lift on my own!), I thought I'd give one last shot in the forums. I've already spoken with Apple Care who, after two rounds of phone support, said it's time to bring it in.
My computer was working fine but I had to force quit a few programs. Finally I had to shut it down, and when trying to reboot, I get stuck on the grey screen with the progress wheel spinning. I tried holding the C button, used the Install disc to try "Disk Utility". What came up with Disk Utility was it said it was rebuilding a B-tree, and then just hung. I tried that again (all with Apple Care on the phone) and then it couldn't find the hard drive.
So... any other ideas? Let me know if you need more information; I am desperate for help before I have to find a babysitter for my child so I can get this computer out the door for some (gasp!) data recovery!

Ouch....Time machine would mean moving on to 10.5...
If you decide to stay with 10.4 may I recommend SuperDuper! for cloning/backing up...30 bucks and easy to use....
I run 3 different external drives 2 for clones of my system and one for storage of various folders...cuts down on worries
Again I also suggest going with one or both of the Utilities I mentioned when the time is right....
Personally I don't have anything on my Mac's that is worth $1200....don't hold your breath on Apple doing anything about your Mac's ultimate demise
dave

Help! Stuck on white/grey screen apple logo spinning wheel

Hi, I wonder if anyone can help me?
I have a MacBook pro snow leopard 10.6 It won't start up it freezes on the white/grey screen with the apple logo. I have tried it in safe mode it has the bar underneath as it loads up to half way it goes off & the spinning wheel just carries on spinning forever!
I have tried cmd & v typed in a few things that I saw other people do then on the black screen white text the page is full of Disk0s2: I/O Error   tried rebooting but same thing happens doesn't start up.
Then I put my mac os x snow leopard 10.6.3 installation, features and refinements disc in but still nothing! I'm stuck anybody know what to do?
Thanks in advance if you can help me.

If it won't boot with the just the c key held down off the disk, it could mean there is a firmware password set.
If it won't boot off the disk with just the option/alt key held down, that means firmware has been wiped if all you see is a white screen.
If it has a firmware password, it should have asked you for it with a screen with a lock icon on it.
However it also could mean there is a hardware problem or the 10.6 disk is dirty, scratched, defective or not from Apple (warz).
Or your keyboard is bad or your using a external one and not the built in keyboard.
I think you might have to look into the possibility your EFI firmware has been hosed.
See this section of my User Tip here: ..Step by Step to fix your Mac
Need machine/operating system identification help?
Find the serial number, thus the model number and thus gives the operating system that originally came with the machine. However gives not what operating system version the boot drive was later upgraded to. Do not use older OS X verisons to repair newer verisons. It is possible to use the original operating system version installed on another boot drive to recover files from a later operating system non-booting drive.
https://support.apple.com/kb/HT1159#MacBook_Pro   https://support.apple.com/kb/HT1349
https://support.apple.com/kb/HT1559   http://www.everymac.com/ultimate-mac-lookup/
If the computer just ignores the at boot key commands (without showing the firmware password request) especially if you boot to a white screen (no initial boot screen), it might be your EFI firmware stored in NVRAM memory has been wiped. EFI is like a powerful operating system type firmware that loads before OS X or Windows in Bootcamp loads, programs can be installed in EFI, even malicious ones. (why it's very important to trust the source of your instaled software)
To restore EFI you need to use the identification links above to find the exact model of your machine. Then use another computer to download the correct EFI firmware from this Apple.
https://support.apple.com/kb/HT1237
Then follow these instructions to burn it to a cd or USB (untested) and apply it to the non-booting Mac. It likley will take 2 reboots for it to take hold and return the at boot key commands.
https://support.apple.com/kb/HT2213
..Step by Step to fix your Mac

Grey screen ,Apple logo and then Prohibited sign

Hope someone can help , when i turn on my macbook pro only get a grey screen with apple logo and then prohibited sign and thats as far as i can get.Have been reading through topics and have tried most things which relate to fixing my problem ,i e tried to boot of install disk but won't let me tried to reset the pram etc but still can't get any futher , last thing i do was to back my macbook pro on a new lacie external hard drive and have no idea weather it backed up everything , macbook pro is 12 months old and have just dropped batterey off as was faulty so have been running direct off power ,i started to back up with the lacie external hard drive when batterey was not in (meaning was running off main power supply ) Would anyone be able to help or give advice on a solution
Thanks for your time
Regards one stressed out mac lover

Try booting off the Installation DVD 1 and once you're past the language selection open Disk Utility (from the menus) and repair your disk permissions.

My macbook won't boot pass the apple logo and the spinning wheel

Some programs on my Macbook starting crashing so I tried restarting it. Now it doesn't load past the grey screen with the apple logo and the spinning wheel.
I've tried installing the Install disc, holding 'c' but nothing happens.
I've tested the hardware holding 'd' in the start up, in which the test can back clean, so I'm assuming it's a problem with the software.
I've followed almost all the troubleshooting solutions on the apple website including restarting the PRAM and SMC, with no success.
However I foolishly followed a solution that was meant for an earlier version of Mac OS X, which invloved starting up in single-user and entering some commands, this appears to have done nothing but i'm concerned it may have done some extra damage.
I have bootcamp installed and I can boot up windows with no problem and even access some of the files on the Macintosh HD.
My backup harddrive broke recently so I haven't got a back up of any of my files either.
My question is, is there any way of fixing this problem or even just saving all my files and data so I can format the hard drive and start again, other than finding someone with a mac and try using the firewire method?
thank you for your time and help.

There's a possible solution but you must have the proper installer DVD for the computer. Assuming you do:
How to Perform an Archive and Install
An Archive and Install will NOT erase your hard drive, but you must have sufficient free space for a second OS X installation which could be from 3-9 GBs depending upon the version of OS X and selected installation options. The free space requirement is over and above normal free space requirements which should be at least 6-10 GBs. Read all the linked references carefully before proceeding.
1. Be sure to use Disk Utility first to repair the disk before performing the Archive and Install.
Repairing the Hard Drive and Permissions
Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger, Leopard or Snow Leopard.) After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the installer. Now restart normally.
If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior and/or Tech Tool Pro to repair the drive. If you don't have either of them or if neither of them can fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X.
2. Do not proceed with an Archive and Install if DU reports errors it cannot fix. In that case use Disk Warrior and/or TechTool Pro to repair the hard drive. If neither can repair the drive, then you will have to erase the drive and reinstall from scratch.
3. Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When you reach the screen to select a destination drive click once on the destination drive then click on the Option button. Select the Archive and Install option. You have an option to preserve users and network preferences. Only select this option if you are sure you have no corrupted files in your user accounts. Otherwise leave this option unchecked. Click on the OK button and continue with the OS X Installation.
4. Upon completion of the Archive and Install you will have a Previous System Folder in the root directory. You should retain the PSF until you are sure you do not need to manually transfer any items from the PSF to your newly installed system.
5. After moving any items you want to keep from the PSF you should delete it. You can back it up if you prefer, but you must delete it from the hard drive.
6. You can now download a Combo Updater directly from Apple's download site to update your new system to the desired version as well as install any security or other updates. You can also do this using Software Update.

G4 Powerbook won't boot; grey screen Apple logo only

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