Ibook g3 can't get passed blinking question mark

I recently was given a ibook g3 dual usb because the previous owner could not get the system to startup. I first assumed the OS/HDD had failed I attempted to book from a retail tiger cd and would not boot from that either I have tried Panther/Tiger and even a OS 9.04 retail disk and no matter what the system is stuck at the blanking question mark. I have held down the Option key and the internal drive and CD do appear but when I select either of them the system just goes to the blinking icon. In Open firmware I able to browse the files on both the HDD and CD. I have also tried setting the boot-device to hd:,\\:tbxi, cd:,\\:tbxi, hd:,\System\Library\CoreServices\BootX, cd:,\System\Library\CoreServices\BootX, and the case of OS9 hd:,\System%20Folder\Mac%20OS%20ROM. I have run out of ideas so any other ideas will be useful thanks

Hi, and welcome to Apple Discussions.
Apple's suggestions for dealing with the flashing question mark can be found here:
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1440?viewlocale=en_US
Resetting the PRAM may help.
Good luck.

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Can not get past blinking question mark after restarting in os 9

I have a ibook g3 clamshell 576mb ram 366mhz 30gb hd. I added the hard drive and upgraded the memory and then forgot to update the firmware before I installed os x tiger. So I keep getting kernal panics because the firmware is not upgraded. Like a fool when I upgraded to tiger I erased os 9 to free up more space thinking I would never use os 9 ever again anyway. Well the only way you can upgrade the firmware is to have os 9 installed so I copied os 9 system folder and applications from another ibook and transformed them to my ibook hd. I then clicked on the os 9 on the start up disk and tried to boot into os 9 so I could do the firmware update. Well now it will not boot past the blinking question mark. I guess there must of been some missing files? How do i get past the blinking question mark? Do I have to go and buy a copy of os 9 to reinstall it back on the ibook? Please help I am stuck here.

Don't think anyone will like the answer but this is how I did it. You have to put a os x cd in restart holding c and then follow through with the install. I used os x 10.0.3 then you have to do the same with a os 9 install disc and initialize disk image and then do the os 9 install download your firmware update and then reinstall the mac os x you are going to use. And for anybody out there a ibook g3 with an old airport card can connect to wep all you have to do is add a $ before your password works everytime. Hope this helps somebody. My only problem is after a downloaded the firmware update thats a .smi file evrytime I try to open it it says no application could open it. I thought .smi were self mounting image files. I never have used os 9 much and have no idea how to open this file. Can anybody give me a walk through on how to select a application to open this file so I can mount and install this firmware update.

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Ciao.
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1440
The above article may be useful.
Message was edited by: OGELTHORPE

Blinking question mark folder, new hard drive

Okay so I've been having this problem for a couple weeks now. My computer was running a bit slowly when I was watching videos online, and it froze so I forced a shut down. It turned back on and it worked for a couple minutes, but then it froze again and when I attempted to reset it I got the scary blinking question mark. I went through all the options to fix it, but the computer could not find my hard drive. When I tried to repair disk no hard drive came up, and when I tried to re-install ios x it also could not find a hard drive. I confirmed that the hard drive had died so I purchased a new one, but now that a new one is installed I cannot re-install ios x because the computer won't read the disc. Under the utilities menu it shows that the disc is there, but it just won't re-install.
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Hello,
A mid 2012 MBP should still be covered under AppleCare!?
Anyway, that MBP won't boot/use/run 10.5.anything, it came with...
Pre-Installed MacOS: X 10.7.3 (11D2515)
If you have an Apple Store nearby they can reinstall 10.7 or newer on it, 10.7 & up is only availble from a Download, not on Disc.

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About a month ago I started having a recurring problem of the computer freezing upon waking from sleep.
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Welcome to Apple Discussions!
Wake from sleep problems are on the MDD are common when USB PCI cards are installed. If you've installed such a card, try disconnecting everything from it and see if things get better.
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Hi Josh, and Welcome to Discussions!
Assuming that your system eventually loads, open System Preferences > Startup Disk:
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Dear Apple,
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Sincerely, Paresh
<Personal Information Removed by Host>

Do not post your personal information on a public thread - not a good idea.
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Hi bobdj65,
Sorry to hear you are having trouble getting Facetime to work on your iMac.
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FaceTime for Mac: Troubleshooting FaceTime
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Hello Cocoscafe
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http://support.apple.com/kb/ht5312
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Regards,
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Regards
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That's Activation Lock. You will need to remember the Apple ID and password you used to set up the phone.
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~Lyssa

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How can you not know this? Where did you get the phone?
Ask whoever you bought it from or call AppleCare and give them the serial number.

Ibook g3 can't get passed blinking question mark

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