IBook crashes during hard drive boot after Panther is installed

Question

I finally got Panther to install after using Disk Docter to check for and fix errors on 9.2.2 (I would never use with OSX) and also rebuilt the directory while booted from an OS 9 CD and running Disk Warrior from a floppy and taking out the airport card. The Panther CD told me to restart the computer after installation. During the OSX start up from the hard drive I see the the gray screen and dark gray Apple logo with the spinning gear then the computer crashes and a message appears that you need to restart your computer. After restart the same sequence of events happens again. I have tried to restart from the OSX CD and the computer also crashes and cannot start from the Disk Warrior CD either. I have also tried a Safe Mode start up and the iBook again crashed with the restart message again. When I restart in OS 9 the OS, airport and all the applications work fine. I did have Jaguar installed on this iBook until Nov. 05, but incounterred issues with it, see post "Blue sreen at start up" 10-26-05. I didn't reslove those issues then, but initialized the hard drive with OS 9 and waited until I bought 256 RAM to try to reinstall OSX. The 256 stick of RAM was bougth from ifixit (formerly pbfixit) and a guy there told me it sounds as though the logic board is bad. I explained that the iBook works fine in OS 9 but he explained that OSX is more demanding and 9 can get by with a less that perfect logic board. I even tried to reinstall the 128 MB RAM stick that was in the computer when Jaguar was installed and worked and that didn't help either. I have scoured the iBook and Panther OSX sections for any others having a similar problem, but no such luck. Maybe the guy from ifixit is right and I should be looking for a new logic board.
Thanks for any information or suggestions that you may have.
Greg

Answer 1

personally i hate buying new parts, especially a logic board. i usually dont express myself so well so i apologize in advance but i hope this helps. you indicate you have been inside the machine a few times. so i suggest you go back and clean up all the contacts youve touched. DO NOT USE ELECTRICAL CLEANER. it will dissolve the plastic. use a simple pencil eraser, a foam qtip [yes they have them -- try the ladies cosmetic sections at walmart]. maybe a paper towel and 99% isopropyl alchohol [97% is ok too]. be gentle and use the alchohol just a little bit on the qtip or paper towel. [just a drop]. use a magnifying glass and make sure the contacts on the memory card and where it inserts are clean enough and not bridged by dirt [or qtip or paper towel fibers either]. be careful of the ram shield not shorting the ribbon tape cables of the trackpad or keyboard. put a piece of scotch tape over the airport antenna cable end so it doesnt float around inside really shorting the board. GENTLY use the CLEAN pencil eraser on the logic board to remove any carbon tracks or dirt bridges. let it airdry, then fire it up. good luck. even if it doesnt work, at the least it will give you something to do until a new [used] logic board arrives.