Ibook G4 won't recognise Combo drive

Hi there
I have an iBook G4 12" 800Mhz , when I bought it off ebay it arrived with an issue - the computer doesnt see the combo drive, dvds don't mount, Apple dvd player app gives an error message saying it kind find the drive to play dvds.
I have since taken the ibook apart and tried another combo drive and super drive but with the same results, I thought it could be the flex cable so tried that but again same result. I'm really confused now, am I missing something? do I need to reset Vram etc ? could there be a problem with the logic board?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated as I'm stumped
Troy

Hey,
I have had the same problem with three iBook G4's. It is not hardware, it is your software. Some how when you download a font or such off of the internet it interferes with a setting on your computer that has to be reset. But I do not know how to change the setting back to recognize DVD's except to backup up you hard drive and reinstall your panther or tiger software. This is what I have done and it fixes the drive, and you are able to play DVD's again.

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Ibook won't boot, won't recognise hard drive, PRAM reset etc. Help?

Hi, I'm trying to repair my brother's iBook with limited knowledge. I'm not sure whether it's a G3 or G4 but it was made in 2001, has 2 usb's and a firewire, is white (slightly translucent) and has a 12" screen.
It started having problems starting up so he copied all his important files, just in time as now it won't work at all.
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On one occasion I held the eject key down at startup after having problems getting it out, the screen showed lots of numbers and something saying "panic: we are hanging here" very weird!
I've pressed down on the case on the left below the keyboard.
The battery seems to hold plenty of charge.
Sorry this is so long but I wanted to give as much detail as possible. I've tried everything I can think of & have read about without spending cash or taking it apart. I think the HD may have had it. Any ideas?
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James

James,
No need to apologize for the length. That helps a lot. You can tell the model, speed and size by lifting the keyboard (two tabs outboard of the F1 and F11 keys, make sure it's unlocked - that tiny sloted head between F5 and F6)
There'll be a bar coded sticker there.
However I think it's a 500-900 G3.
It starts up but just comes up with the ?/folder icon flashing. The hard drive starts "ticking" like an old clock ..
That's classic for a bad hard drive.
When it started I had to reset the year and time which had changed to 1976, this is why I reset the PRAM.
That happens when the battery is out with no power plug for longer than a few minutes.
Is there a PRAM battery on these machines that can be changed? Could that be the problem?
No there is no PRAM battery in an iBook. There is a super cap that allows a short time so you can change the battery.
the screen showed lots of numbers and something saying "panic: we are hanging here" very weird!
Yes that's a kernel panic.
So it boots from the CD but needs a new hard drive.
Richard

IBook G3 won't boot hard drive

Hello guys.
Recently I got a whole slew of iBook G3s, broken and new, which I will eventually fix and sell (probably keep one) but I am still in the process of fixing them and have a few questions.
I have this hard drive that I'm almost certain works (I can install tiger on it without it crashing) but it refuses to boot to tiger. I know it's not the iBook itself because I have a different hard drive that boots great, even in other iBooks too. I'm figuring the mbr config is jacked up, and ive already tried option apple pr and reset nv ram, reset defaults, and so forth in the firmware. How do I make this darn thing boot? And yes, I have tried to boot directly from the cd, but when it restarts it just sits there with the two faced mac face and the blinking question mark. I bet I'm going to have to do some magic in the OF, but I don't know what to type, so yeah...
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But you said:
+I'm trying to boot from the OS X Tiger CD, and I know there's nothing wrong with it because I've done a full install on another hard drive and it was fine.+
Are you saying it did boot off the CD and install, but now it won't boot off the CD?
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IBook will NOT boot from Combo Drive

Hi all,
I'm trying to boot from my Tiger install DVD using the usual method - holding down "C" while pressing the power key. The DVD drive never even spins up. All I get is a gray screen with the apple - no spinning bars.
This occurred after the latest security update trashed all logins on the machine (G4 iBook, 512 MB RAM, 80 GB HD, 10.4.9) Immediately after entering a user password, loginwindow would crash, followed by mdimport, followed by crashserver I could briefly boot using command-S, but that stopped working (blue screen).
I then booted of the Tiger DVD, ran Disk Utility, Hardware Profiler, and used terminal to do "nvram boot-args="-v". Disk utility showed no permission or disk problems, and the profiler showed everything was there that was supposed to be there.
Next, I did an archive-and-install. The Tiger DVD passed its verification, the installation appeared to proceed normally, the system rebooted at the end, and up came the gray screen.
All subsequent boots only came up as far as the gray screen. I reset the parameter ram (alt-command-p-r-power), waiting for three beeps. I then tried to boot off the DVD, and now the machine doesn't even spin the drive up.
I have also reset the PMU following the directions on the apple knowledge base.
Is there something I've missed? I do not have another mac to try Target mode. Any suggestions would be welcome!
TIA,
dan
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Another opton is to pop in the disk, restart, holding down the OPTION key, select the disk, and click the lower-right arrow. http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106178 has the details.

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I have a 14" iBook, 800Mhz G3, with a Combo Drive (DVD-ROM, CD-RW). In the past three months, under both OS X (10.3.9) and OS 9.2.2, my CD-tray has popped open spontaneously a least a few times a week. It only does this when empty, and the behavior is exactly the same as if I've pressed the F12 eject key. It's kind of comical. I'll be typing along, and all over a sudden I'll here the little buzzing sound, and then click the drive will open. I just reach up and push it back in and it closes normally. I'm 100%, absolutely certain that I am not accidentally pressing F12 (I know you were thinking it...). Anyone else experienced this problem on any tray loaders?
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Man, you're right. You should have sent it back immediately. What if the screw shorted out the logic board instead of just tripping the optical drive eject mechanism?
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AnnieeR wrote:
Can anyone suggest anything??
these two reads may be helpful: one and two.

Ibook G4 won't recognise Combo drive

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