IBook G4 OpenFirmware trouble

I am having lots of USB trouble on my iBook. I cannot boot into a USB drive with any commands in OF. I have tried several bootable USB thumb drives with the same result. When I start up into OpenFirmware, the light on the thumb drive goes on (it always stays on when the laptop is powered on) and then goes off like it's not plugged in. I have made a backup of my HD onto an external HD with CarbonCopyCloner, and when I boot into OF, the HD will not spin up. When I plug it into another USB port, it turns on, but after about 7 secs, it crashes with the read/write head jumping to the side like when you force shut-down a computer. If I needed to restore my drive, would I have to have a Firewire to USB cable to boot the drive and clone it back onto the laptop?

Most times the USB thumb drive does not make a suitable boot volume for G4 Macintosh in OS X. If an OS X is installed or clones to a USB flash drive, the formatting has to be correct and sufficient free space must exist. Plus a few other rules that are widely published need be applied. With some drives, they need to be self-powered and not use a port on the subject computer; the power is not there all the time during the boot cycle, so the external drive using only port power may not be seen at all. This may vary, but especially when troubleshooting or booting from a system clone, etc.
•Mac startup from open firmware to OS X - search result link:
https://www.google.com/#q=Mac+startup+from+open+firmware+to+OS+X
In the later G5 iMac, there was a change in firmware to allow USB flash drives to be used as boot volumes. Some unix variants do OK from a flash usb drive, and the OS can be tweeked in Terminal. Then there are Developer pages...
There are advanced user databases at Apple Support involving the use of such behind-the-scenes technologies and developer discussions, perhaps you should register to use them? It does not cost.
There are times when it may be possible, but when they will work, they should not require you to run the computer in Open Firmware. And some of the steps with associated questions lend questions of purpose that also may breech the terms of use and other intellectual property rights when copies are made, etc.
So, that may be why some questions across the discussions threads could go unanswered. Some are due to lack of an appropriate reply, or unwillingness to commit to some kind of reply that may also be marginal. And as these machines, OS X versions & user base fades, fewer would be able to formulate a reasonable reply.
Hopefully you realize there were a few who did read the question.
Some may have not understood it as a day-to-day user inquiry,
and others probably did not want to research an answer online.
Sorry to have said nothing until now, & even now.
Good luck & happy computing!

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Help ibook g4 startup trouble

i just recently bought an ibook g4 refurbished from apple.com. it is my first mac, btw.
but ive had it for not even a day and i get a message that says "YOU NEED TO RESTART YOUR COMPUTER" in several different languages. so i hold the power button to shut it down. but when i try turning it on nothing happens except the sound of a fan coming from it.
i seriously dont know whats going on with it. the only thing ive downloaded on it was AIM. i havent dropped it or anything either. it was working fine right out of the box. is it because its refurbished??
any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
ibook g4 Mac OS X (10.4.7)

Check out this FAQ, and see if any of this applies to you.
Try reinstalling your operating system with the discs that came with your iBook, and if you're still having problems, give Apple a call, and let them know that you most likely have a hardware defect in your iBook.
They are required to repair this for you at no cost.
Brian

External Hard drives with ibook.

okay,
I have a 14" ibook G4.
I also have 2 Windows PC's (1 Atlon 3.6GHZ, 4GB ram (for gaming) & a P4 2.8GHZ (for everyday use)) and i was wondering if i could get an EXTERNAL harddrive that will work for all my computers. I dont know anything about External hard drives. So i just need to know before. If there isnt one that works with both, what would be the best for my ibook. Thank you very much

My external hard drive was formatted in the FAT32 format--my iBook had no trouble reading or writing on this drive, and neither did my family's Dell deskop.
If I recall correctly, the FAT32 format cannot store files larger than 4GB. Also, you will have to partition the drive. My 160GB drive was split into 4 parts, each about 30GB in size. This is another limitation of the FAT32 format.
Formatting my drive was such a pain--and time consuming--that I didn't bother to format the remaining 30 or so gigabytes.
I've reformatted my drive to be HFS and will likely do some work with our home network so that our Dell will be able to send files to my machine & then to the external hard drive.
Programs exist for Windows machines to allow them to read a HFS (Mac-formatted) volume. If you want to be able to use all space possible on the hard drive, purchasing such a program may be your best option.

Migration assistant not working with iBook - macBook

I have used migration assistant many, many times before. I just purchased a MacBook and my iBook is having trouble in firewire mode. It seems that the iBook will boot up in firewire mode, the migration will begin, but after 5 minutes the iBook freezes, and the dancing firewire icon stops moving. This is VERY frustrating as one might imagine. Any suggestions? I have shocked the pram on the iBook, I have restarted the process 10 times now. PLEASE HELP!!!!
-i

Did you reset PRAM on macbook as well?
Also try to repair disk and repair permission on iBook.
Good Luck.

HELP! Network printing and installing HPIJS on iBook running 10.3.9

Hi,
I have a home network built around Time Capsule. I have a secondary router which provides a wireless B/G network.
I have an old iBook running 10.3.9 which connects to the wireless B/G network.
I used to have an old HP PSC 750 connected via USB to the time capsule but it broke so I bought a new HP Photosmart C6380 which is connected via an ethernet cable to the time capsule.
I was able to use open printing drivers to allow the iBook to print to the old printer but I cannot get it to print to the new one.
Everything else on the network can print (including my iPhone).
I went back to open printing (http://www.linuxfoundation.org/en/OpenPrinting/MacOSX/hpijs), downloaded what I had to and tried to install it. Everything installs ok on the iBook.
The trouble is I cannot follow the setup instructions - "Printer Setup Utility (Panther), hold down the Option key, and click the Add Printer button in the Print Center toolbar. Within the setup sheet, choose Advanced from the top popup menu; then in the "Device:" popup menu select your printer by name (it should be the last item in the menu list). Finally, select the correct PPD from the model browser and click Add."
The printer shows up when I select rendezvous in the add printer section, but it cannot find the drivers and will not let me select the drivers.
When I follow the above instructions, the printer is not listed.
I have tried using IP printing (no luck), bluetooth printing (nothing), in fact everything from the pull down list.
I am sure I am missing a step somewhere. Should I first install the printer connected directly to the iBook via USB?
If anyone can help, it would be much appreciated.
Thanks
Anthony

Hello Penny
The Leopard Installer DVD is Dual-Layered. For lack of any further information it's possible the original installed Optical Drive on your eMac can't read from Dual-Layered DVDs? Yours may be the Combo Drive instead? Although your model meets the minimum RAM requirements you would benefit greatly if you upgraded to at least 1GB - preferably more. Do you have another Mac or access to someone who has?
HTH?
Tony

Installing combined update for 10.4.11 from an iBook running 10.4.2

My friend's iBook was having trouble running iTunes (stuttered play); I checked to see what version she had and found she was running 7.1 under 10.4.2. I launched Software Update (which was set to search for updates monthly, but hasn't been) and set it to update four or five things--iTunes, Java, Quicktime, and the combined update for 10.4.11. Everything seemed to download and install fine, until the last one, the combined update. There was a red exclamation mark next to it in the Sofwware Update window and an error message popped up, saying there had been an error and it had been unable to install the update, and that the package was in the trash, where we should reopen it using the Finder. We did this; the Installer app launched and immediately closed (with the regular "application has quit unexpectedly" message). Attempts to launch other applications likewise fail. An attempt to download the combined update from the apple webpage was successful, but when we tried to mount the disk image, a "warning message" popped up, saying the disk image failed to mount due to a "broken pipe". The computer now hangs on restart and won't boot up. Any help restoring and/or updating would be greatly, greatly appreciated.

Boot from the Original Install cD/DVD, look in the Menubar for Utilities>Disk Utility, use that to Verify/Repair the HD, then use it to Repair Permissions.
If you boot to the HD, then use Disk Utility from the HD to Repair Permissions then reboot again.

Ibook g4 won't boot or find firewire for booting

thank you for reading this and offering assistance.
i have a g4 (screen is 14.1 -- purchased new 2 years ago, i am trying to boot the computer from a firewire hard drive. the backup image appears to work. an image created for my other mac -- intel imac, and it works great for it.
i have a western digital 500gig mybook firewire/usb/esata drive. i partitioned the drive into 3 partitions: imac image, ibook image, and data backup. i have used several programs (including copy clone) to create an image and the image appears to work. but when i try to boot from the disk (holding options key) only the regular built in drive shows up.
both computers are running 10.4.11
help.... thank you

My 2004 iBook has a 120 GB Western Digital drive which I recently installed, replacing the original 30 GB Toshiba drive. It also has the 800 MHz processor and 640 MB of memory.
The iBook is running 10.4.11. The MBP is running 10.5.2.
The bootable clone is on a 250 GB Western Digital drive (WD2500BEVE) in a firewire enclosure, and this drive is divided into two equal partitions using the Apple Partition scheme. The iBook clone boots the iBook with no trouble.
My other external drive, which contains the clone for the MBP, is a 320 GB Western Digital drive (WD3200BEVT) in a firewire enclosure, and this drive is divided into three equal partitions using the GUID partition scheme. I installed a clone of the iBook on one of these partitions, and the iBook would NOT boot from the clone.
One question here, since you mentioned images earlier on. Are you creating a bootable clone using Carbon Copy, or are you creating a Read/Write "Sparse" Image? I am not at all familiar with Carbon Copy since I use a registered copy of Super Duper, but the Super Duper manual does discuss creating Sparse Images instead of bootable clones. Since a Sparse Image is an image rather than a bootable drive, it cannot be used to start up your Mac. If Carbon Copy has the same option, you may be creating a non-bootable image rather than a clone.
Also, be sure and do the PRAM or NVRAM reset suggested by spudnuty, in case that is a contributing factor.
Good luck!

Mini-DVI to VGA supports PowerBook G4 only?

Hello everyone,
I just bought an LCD TV with a VGA port which allows you to use it as a computer monitor. I lost my mini-DVI to VGA that came with my computer, (iBook G4), and I was planning on buying one. However, when look at the specs on the website, it said it supported MacBooks, iMacs, and PowerBooks. However, the iBook is not mentioned. Does this mean that my iBook will have trouble using this adapter? If no problems, then will I be able to find it at CompUSA, because I didn't see it on the CompUSA website.
Awaiting replies,
iGabe

The iBook does not have the DVI output needed for that adapter. Your iBook should have come with an Apple VGA Display Adapter, part M8639G/A.
I don't see it on the Apple web-site but you might be able to get it here:
<http://www.apple.com/support/diy/>

Flashing Question Mark Folder after Clean Install in Target Disk Mode

I have an old iBook G4 with a failing optical drive and the need to reformat the hard drive and re-install OS 10.5.4. Since the optical drive is failing and unpredictable, I figured I'd do everything in target disk mode.
So I mounted the hard drive of the iBook to my Mac Pro via Firewire in target disk mode. I was able to successfully format the hard drive of the iBook, zeroing out all the data with 7 passes, and I was also able to successfully install OS 10.5.4 from my original Install DVD, again in target disk mode.
After the install was complete, I went through all the registration process and User Account setup and the iBook booted fine albeit still in target disk mode. So I shut down the Mac Pro, turned off the iBook and unplugged the Firewire cable. My Mac Pro booted up just fine afterward. But the iBook now gives me the flashing question mark/finder folder.
I know this means that the iBook is having trouble located a startup volume, or that the startup volume is corrupt or missing data. How can this be, though, after a reformat and clean install? Did I do something wrong in target disk mode? Or did I neglect to do something necessary?
Thanks for anyone's help on this.

Thanks, Niel.
I don't see APM as an option in Disk Utility when booting from my Mac Pro. I only have Mac OS Extended (Journaled), Mac OS Extended, Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled), Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive), MS-DOS (FAT) and ExFAT.
How do I get my Mac Pro to repartition the iBook properly in target disk mode?

Problems sharing external hard drives with Lion

I have 2 external hard drives connected to my imac. I had no problem sharing and accessing my external drives on other computers (pc & mac). Recently I just upgraded my mac os to Lion and since I am having problems accessing my external drives on my PC (windows 7).
On my PC in the shared folder I can see the external drive folders but I am getting an error code when I try to open them. I have no problem accessing my imac folders on my PC, just my external drive folders.
I would like some help because it would be nice to access them wirelessly on my PC without having to disconnect them from my iMac.
Rome.

My external hard drive was formatted in the FAT32 format--my iBook had no trouble reading or writing on this drive, and neither did my family's Dell deskop.
If I recall correctly, the FAT32 format cannot store files larger than 4GB. Also, you will have to partition the drive. My 160GB drive was split into 4 parts, each about 30GB in size. This is another limitation of the FAT32 format.
Formatting my drive was such a pain--and time consuming--that I didn't bother to format the remaining 30 or so gigabytes.
I've reformatted my drive to be HFS and will likely do some work with our home network so that our Dell will be able to send files to my machine & then to the external hard drive.
Programs exist for Windows machines to allow them to read a HFS (Mac-formatted) volume. If you want to be able to use all space possible on the hard drive, purchasing such a program may be your best option.

TiBook with self-assigned IP Address Only

I have a titanium powerbook that has stopped connecting to the internet via the ethernet port. (It does find the internet via its Airport Card, however.) The network utility states that my powerbook as no ISP and a self-assigned one is used instead. I've tried powering down the modem for five minutes. (There is no router.) I've also confirmed that the ethernet source is not the problem, because my G4 Tower connects to the internet via the same cable.
Any suggestions are welcome.
Thanks,
Trevor Monroe

Hi Tim,
Generally speaking, if a computer is set up for DHCP but it can't find a DHCP server, it will assign itself an IP address for that interface.
It sounds to me like the iBook is having trouble talking to the AX (DHCP server). This could be caused by a variety of things, from failing hardware to software bugs to configuration issues.
Has this only happened the one time? If this has only happened once, I'd call it a fluke. If it is or gets to be a frequent thing, we'll need to dig a little bit deeper.

Cd drive malfunction

Hi, my iBook G4 is troubling me. A few weeks ago the internal hard drive "crashed" but rebooting still has been possible by means of booting with command-c and the Tiger install disk inserted to fix the problem at each startup with disk first aid. Yesterday command-c booting wasn't possible any more because of a kernel panic, so I decided to replace the internal hard drive that to my understanding caused the kernel-panic. After reassembling I tried to start my iBook with command-c to format the new drive a to do a fresh tiger install, but the install dvd wasn't recognized. The internal dvd drive spins up for a short moment but that's it. Booting into fire-wire mode didn't work nor does command-s or command-v booting. So I decided to try a open firmware boot and boot the system from an external fire-wire-drive. Work's out fine, so the keyboard is ok as is my iBook in general. But a system check showed the the internal dvd drive wasn't at all recognized?! I reopened my iBook but the dvd-drive connector seems properly connected. Who can help?
Yours,
Frank

addendum: I recently disconnetcted the internal dvd-drive and was able to boot into fire-wire mode and to install tiger from another Mac on my iBook. I also disconnected the (fresh) internal hard drive to see if its a master-slave-conflict, but the internal dvd-drive wasn't detected either.
Frank

Problem conecting and file-sharing between two net-worked macs

I have a Mac Pro (in an out-building in my back-garden) and an Imac (in the house) connected by a long ethernet cable (must be at least 20 metres).
I used to have no trouble connecting one to the other till recently. I still usually have no trouble connecting to the Internet from the Mac Pro using the Imac's internet connection (wireless). The problem is in clicking on the Imac connection to open it in order to share files (also using "connect to server" in Go menu).
Much of the time (but not absolutely always), it refuses to connect, and I get a "failed connection message" (or something like "server does not exist" if using other method).
Sometimes, I can connect successfully, not just as a guest but after entering admin password, and then short time later the connection will disappear. When this happens, the Imac icon previously visible in the finder window also disappears. Unplugging and replugging the ethernet cable has no effect. Once I was using Itunes shared library to play a song on the Imac, and the song just suddenly disappeared.
Just now, after the Mac Pro-to-Imac conection failed again, I substituted my Ibook for the Imac in the house, and there was no problem at all connecting both ways between it and the Mac Pro. I then reconnected the Imac to the Mac Pro and it too connected fine. This proved at least that the ethernet cable was not at fault, but no doubt the problem will re-occur.
I have tried experimenting with the Firewall settings on the Imac, e.g. to "allow all incoming connections" or to "set access for specific services"( the latter is my usual setting on the Imac), but it made no difference. Also, the Ibook has no trouble at all connecting to the Imac when the Imac firewall is set to "specific services" so why should the Mac Pro have a problem (I admit I am a little uncertain about the best setting for the Firewall, but believe "specific services" to be correct).
File-sharing options in system prefs on the Imac are clearly properly set-up or there would never be any connection at all.
Often, although the Mac Pro to Imac connection will not work, the Imac to Mac Pro will, although not today, when the Mac Pro icon similarly was not present on the Imac.
As stated, I am pretty sure that all the time the internet connection from Mac Pro to Imac still works (Mac Pro shares Imac conection).
None of this appears to make much sense and am wondering if anyone has advice.

Hi,
It might be me but I don't think I have fully understood the "My Name's iMac" bit.
If you mean (my Name) iMac as opposed to (My Name) iBook or Shed computer then that is a separate issue I will describe below
Does the "My Name" bit mean like mine does in this pic ?
As you can see I have used the Edit Button to change the Name of this G4 to RalphG4
In System Preferences > Network > (Connection method) > Advanced Button > WINS tab I see this on my G4
I have in fact used the same "Computer name" here (As in RalphG4)
My MacBook Pro has had the Netbois Name changed to Macbook Pro
It shows in the G4 Shares as that.
The Finder's Preferences are set to Display the Bonjour and SMB shares that I can see as I have a Mixed PC and Mac Network here
(Currently only the MacBook Pro is On as well)
SMB Shares are not on in the MacBook Pro settings so it shows as a Mac Server (Highlight and do a Get Info)
Two Computers with Same Name
In Bonjour when two computers end up with the same name (As my two did originally) these double name issue cannot be resolved and the computer may be "Seen" briefly before it then disappears
I have not tried it with SMB shares on my two Macs having had issues with Bonjour.
(Note: iChat goes one step further.
Even if the computer names are different iChat uses the Name in the My Card spot in the Address Book to show as the Buddy Name in the Bonjour Buddy List.
It cannot resolve this if both computers are logged in as the same Person.)
Another reason why a computer may show up twice is how it or they are connected.
Lets say that all are connected to a router either by Wifi or Ethernet.
They will be then seen once.
If one computer is connected by Ethernet and Wifi at the same time then it will be shown twice as each appearance is linked to the Media Access Card it is using and the IP it uses for each connection.
This can also happen if one is linked directly to another with an Ethernet connection or Wifi whilst doing the other to the router.
Back to the naming thing again.
It is better to use the Edit Button (Arrowed in Blue above) (.Local Name) rather than trying to change the computer's Name (Ralph Johns's Computer) as this is less reliable in later versions of the OS.
8:52 PM Sunday; August 29, 2010

One computer can use the network while another can't even see it?

Hello helpful people...
I have a MacBook Pro (original release) and my roommate has an iBookG4. I have had a two-airport network system for years and never had a single issue with connectivity. About 2 months ago, my roommate's iBook started having trouble finding not only our network, but any network... now three shipments to Apple later, they have changed the airport card twice, the logic board, the RAM, etc. All other aspects of the computer seem to be working fine now, except that when I click on the airport icon at the top of the screen, it pulls up no networks. On my MacBook (sitting side by side with the iBook), I usually hit about 10 networks in my condo. Naturally, this would mean that there must still be something wrong with the airport card... but wait... it gets better.
When I take the iBook to the Apple Store... it works PERFECTLY. And I feel stupid. What the ****? Do any of you have any clue as to what is going on?
More specifically, if I type in the name of my network so that it can try to join. It keeps telling me that the password is invalid (and trust me... it's the right one). Also, if I EVER get it to connect to the network (it's hit or miss), it will self-assign an IP address and will never hit the internet. All of this is happening as I use my MacBook Pro on the same network and type this. I am so frustrated (as is my roommate).
Any ideas would be much appreciated.

Yes, you can do this. The registration doesn't have to be done on the same system the iPhone is going to be used with.

Low frame rate with a wired hotel connection

My wife is staying in a hotel and we were trying a video chat. When we're disconnected she gets 15 fps video preview. When we're connected, she gets 15 fps for about 2 seconds and then it drops to 1 fps and it looks choppy on her end and my end. My signal is 15 fps and plays back smooth on her end and my end. She has an iBook g4 1.2 and an external iSight.
So I 'm trying to figure out whether it's her machine that can't handle the video when we're chatting since only my video is 15 fps or if the hotel is limiting bandwidth. If they were limiting bandwidth wouldn't my video appear choppy as well? Unless they have REALLY low upload limits and moderate download limits?
I don't know enough about how hotels deal with this sort of thing, but I suspect bandwidth limiting since her fps drops rapidly after we've connected - as if her usage is being detected and then cut off.

wickerbone,
iChat does monitor what it detects as the apparent bandwidths available to it, and dynamically adjusts input/output. And, hotel networks are just plain junk.
I really couldn't say with much authority whether her iBook might handle video chatting well or not. I do know that a 1.42 iBook has no trouble with it, and I'm pretty sure that Apple built defined limits into what architectures/speeds would be supported by iChat (in other words, iChat would let you know if it would be problematic on her machine). The only way to know without doubt would be to try a "Bonjour" chat across your own private network.
I do know first-hand that it is difficult, at the very least, to get iChat working across hotel wireless access. Ethernet tends to be a bit more solid, when available, but their access is usually poor. Typically, the hotel is employing a single DSL or cable modem connection, and using a standard, off-the-shelf router (wireless or otherwise). The network, itself, tends to get rather clogged up, and you have a situation where many users are attempting to connect through the one bottleneck. Let's not forget that this is a network that was put in place something like 5 years ago, with 802.11a (ssslllooowww) technology. And with perhaps 30 people connected to the network, what are the chances that at least one of them is running P2P software on their POS PC? Humph.
More times than not, I had better results in iChat when I went outside the hotel and connected using a Verizon connection card, instead of the hotel's (supposedly) broadband service.
Scott

IBook G4 OpenFirmware trouble

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