Ibook that will not boot (apple turns into a circle with....

my ibook was clicking the other night. it has already been through the logic board recall. this appears to be the hard drive. after tech tool pro, the disk utilities, etc., and all of the alternate startup sequences, i now have an apple that turned into a circle with a slash through it (a do not allow type of symbol). i bought a new drive today and after reading many forums today, i am wondering if there is a recall, warranty or if i should send it in the my local store to get fixed or just do it myself tonight. any advice anyone?

Well, since I don't know your level of expertise, it's hard to advise you. Take a look at the online instructions:
http://www.pbfixit.com/Guide/50.12.0.html
http://www.powerbooktech.com/knowledge,name-Hard-Drive,type-6.htm
and see if you think you are up to the task.

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IBook G3 will not boot! Hangs at "Waiting for Apple Files"

My iBook g3 will not boot past the "Waiting for Apple Files", Blue screen. I have tried everything from http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107210 to http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214. I only have a Panther OSX 10.3 Update CD. Someone please help me!

Mark:
Welcome to Apple Discussions.
I am not sure why you tried replacing the NetInfo database, or what effect that may have or have had on your startup. Here is where I would start:
Reset PRAM and Safe Boot
1. Shut down the computer.
2. Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command, Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously in step 4.
3. Turn on the computer.
4. Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys. You must press this key combination before the gray screen appears.
5. Hold the keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for the third time.
6. Release the keys.
7. Immediately hold down the "Shift" key until grey apple appears. This will make the computer start up in Safe Mode
8. Log in and empty Trash if needed.
9. Restart normally and log in.
Please post back with update or further questions.
Good luck.
cornelius

G4 that will not boot from any disc EXCEPT the Apple Hardware Test CD

We have a DP 1ghz Quicksilver PowerMac G4 that will not boot from any disc EXCEPT the Apple Hardware Test CD that came with the machine.
We were in the process of installing 10.4 Tiger before placing it for sale.
The Mac was originally OSX Server 10.1 that we later converted to a worksation running 10.3 Panther.
It has 1 GB of memory, 80GB hardrive, 250MB Zip Drive and a Radeon 7500 video card.
Since this machine only has a CD-R drive and not a DVD-R, we installed Tiger using another Mac via Target Disk Mode. The installation process went well, but when I tried to reboot I got a Kernel Panic right after startup screen with the grey Apple logo.
On some reboots we get to the blue startup screen, others it stops at the grey Apple logo, others a black box like the a Kernel Panic - but with no text. Twice it went directly into Open Firmware.
We have done the following during our troubleshooting:
- Reseat RAM, Video Card, Hard Drive, Zip & CD-R connections
- Remove RAM 1 stick at a time and reboot
- Replace RAM with RAM from another working Quicksilver
- Replace Video Card with one from another working Quicksilver
- Zap PRAM
- Reset CUDA switch
- Unplug the MAC and remove everything (RAM, Battery, etc) for 30 minutes and try to reboot
- Tried booting from the Macintosh Server G4 Software Restore CD
- Tried booting from Mac OS X Server CD
- Tried booting from AppleCare Protection Plan CD with TechTool
- Tried booting from Diskwarrior CD
- Tried booting from an external FireWire drive with a disk image of Tiger OS Install
- Tried booting with the hard drive disconnected
The Mac WILL boot from the Apple Hardware Test CD and will pass ALL of the extended tests.

Conventional wisdom says that any Mac that will not boot up from a System/Install CD OS 9 or an Install CD Mac OS X, has a Hardware problem.
The diagnostic CD is a red herring because it uses a very primitive method of reading the CD, and so does not properly represent the machines general ability to read CDs.
I would look at the CD drive cables, etc, and see if another drive gives different results.
You have not mentioned using the Startup Manager (option key at Startup) to do any checking:
HT1310- Startup Manager: How to select a startup volume

HT3964 I have a MacBook Pro that will not boot up. The apple symbol Read more: I have a MacBook Pro that will not boot up. The apple symbol is there and a spinning wheel continues to spin. Any options??

I have a MacBook Pro that will not boot up. The apple symbol is there and the spinning wheel keeps spinning. Any idea how I can fix this?

Reinstall OS X.
Reinstalling Lion/Mountain Lion Without Erasing the Drive
Boot to the Recovery HD: Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions: Upon startup select Disk Utility from the main menu. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions as follows.
When the recovery menu appears select Disk Utility. 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 main menu.
Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion: Select Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion and click on the Continue button.
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible because it is three times faster than wireless.
OR
Reinstall Snow Leopard without erasing the drive
Do the following:
1. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions
Boot from your Snow Leopard 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 Utilities menu. 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.
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. Reinstall Snow Leopard
If the drive is OK then quit DU and return to the installer. Proceed with reinstalling OS X. Note that the Snow Leopard installer will not erase your drive or disturb your files. After installing a fresh copy of OS X the installer will move your Home folder, third-party applications, support items, and network preferences into the newly installed system.
Download and install the Combo Updater for the version you prefer from support.apple.com/downloads/.

Ibook G4 will not boot up

Help- My ibook G4 will not boot up. When I Turn the computer on the apple symbol shows up and the clock continues to spin. I tried to start it up from the disk and at first I could select my hard drive, but then the start up failed. When I tried to start it up again I was no longer able to select my hard drive.
From there I ran the hardware test function and when it tested the memory I got an error message MEM/104/.../BUILTIN. I can't remember the exact message but that is the part that I do remember.
Does anyone have any idea what is wrong with my computer?

Hi rdconners
That sounds like your onboard RAM is defective. Unfortunately that RAM is not replaceable only the logic board it sits on.
If you add some RAM to the single expansion slot you will be able to get it going again.
regards roam

IBook G3 will not boot

Hello. Recently my mother's iBook G3 decided to stop booting. The information I have seems to suggest that the Open Firmware is gone, yet the information also suggests it's still there.
When I power the machine on, it makes the "Bong!" noise, but never illuminates the screen. The backlight never comes on, and as far as I can tell, no image is sent to the screen (in fact, I don't even think any power is getting to the screen). The hard disk will spin up, I can hear some disk access going on, and then it stops. The disc is still spinning, and nothing happens. I've let the machine sit for up to 20 minutes with no change.
My first guess was a bad hard disk. To test this, I put the iBook in Target Disk Mode. Much to my surprise, the machine powered on, and obediently went into TDM, complete with the Firewire emblem dancing around the screen. I connected the iBook to my MacBook Pro through a 6-pin FireWire cable, and after letting the machine sit for a bit, I eventually got access to the hard disk. Disk Utilities showed that there was no problem with the disk, and I was able to back up my mother's files with no problem.
This is where I started to think the OS is damaged, and I attempted to boot from the Apple Hardware Test CD that came with the iBook. This was, however, a moot point as it seems the optical drive no longer likes to read CDs. I'd test this by duplicating the CD onto a DVD, but I don't think Combo drives read DVDs, do they? (honestly, it's been so long I can't remember if they do or don't)
I then tried using Super Duper! to copy the disc onto my flash drive, which didn't work (I think that might have to do with the fact that Super Duper! used a GUID partition table, instead of the Apple Partition Map). I also happened to have an external USB DVD-RW drive lying around, but it doesn't seem that the iBook likes booting from that either.
I have also tried booting the iBook into the Disk Chooser screen (holding down option while booting) but that gets me nowhere. I've balanced a battery onto the Option key and let it sit for about ten minutes and got nowhere.
I zapped the PRAM/NVRAM and got nothing. I tried booting into Open Firmware, and got nothing. I tried booting my MacBook Pro into Target Disk Mode and connecting it to the iBook, and getting to the Disk Chooser on the iBook in an attempt to use my MacBook Pro as a $3,000 FireWire DVD-RW drive, but that got nowhere (I know this method works, because I used my iBook G4 as a disk drive for a friend with another G3 iBook which also had a shot optical drive).
I'm quite lost here. On one hand, information seems to suggest that the Open Firmware is shot to ****, but if that was true, I shouldn't have been able to zap the PRAM/NVRAM with the correct key combo. Nor should I have been able to access Target Disk Mode, or get the Boot Bong. This suggests that the hard disk is dead, but that isn't supported by the Target Disk Mode letting me access the disk, and it shouldn't interfere with the Open Firmware.
I'm going to try a couple more things, but at this point, I don't know how far I can get in repairing this without
A) Opening up the computer and replacing the optical drive or the hard disk
B) Booting via USB (is that possible with the G3?)
C) Advice from others
Thanks all for your help!

I'm pretty sure an iBook G3 will not boot from a USB external device, but only from a FireWire external device. So if you want to try booting from an external optical drive, it will need to be a Firewire drive. If you want to try booting from an external hard drive, it will need to be a Firewire drive and the partition scheme will have to be the Apple Partition map.
I have used Super Duper to clone my iBook G4 both onto a drive with the GUID partition scheme and onto a drive with the Apple partition map. I could access files from either one, but could only boot the machine from the one with the Apple Partition map. I don't know why you weren't able to clone the drive onto the USB drive.
There is a kb article that may be helpful, although it sounds like you've tried the steps in it:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1573?viewlocale=en_US
If the hard drive in the G3 is the original, then it is around 6 years old, and could well be going south. Even though you have been able to retrieve the files, it may have problems that won't let the G3 boot from it any more. And it doesn't sound like you have anything else the G3 could boot from since you only have USB devices.
It may well be that the iBook has logic board problems as Ronda suggests, and the pressure test is well worth doing. It's also possible that the ATA bus on the logic board has failed and that is why the iBook won't boot from hard drive. I believe that the optical drive is on the same bus, although it could just be bad.
If you have a firewire external drive that you could set up with the Apple partition map, you could try doing a Super Duper clone onto that, and then see if it would boot from the external. If the pressure test does not get the iBook to boot, the next thing to try would be to try to boot from an external firewire device, which does not use the ATA bus. If that works, you can boot from the external indefinitely.
Good luck!

12" iBook G3 will not boot up

I have an iBook G3 that will not boot. It turns on and I hear the chime, but it just goes to a gray screen. I have tried resetting the PMU with no luck. It will not load to the startup manager, startup disk, target disk mode or open firmware. All that I get is the gray screen. No prohibitory signs or folder icons, just all gray... Any ideas would be much appreciated!

Does squeezing the case to the left of the trackpad allow you to start up and work for a bit as long as you keep the pressure on it there? If so, it is the logic board at fault.

I have a 2011 mini that won't power up. The apple on screen comes onn then turns into a circle with a line in it. Any way to fix it?

I have a 2011 mini that won't power up. The apple on screen comes onn then turns into a circle with a line in it. Any way to fix it? It is running Mavericks on a 1T drive.

First thing, see if it will boot into the Recovery Partition: Hold down Command R at restart.
If it boots up there, then it's likely that the hard drive has failed, or simply doesn't have a working system.
If it doesn't boot up there, then it's likely to be some other part of the hardware.
If it is the hard drive, then this can be replaced. You can find videos showing you how to do this on sites like ifixit.com.
Then you can just restore all your data from your backup. You do have a backup, right?

I have a powerPC 8500 that will not boot up.

I have a powerPC 8500 that will not boot up. Lights come on, drives spins up and nothing. Any ideas? It has been sitting in storage for years. I would like to get some info off it.

If you wish to do further testing to insure it is the PRAM battery at fault before ripping into the computer, there are a couple of things that always worked for me if the battery was really the problem:
1) Zap the PRAM--cold boot and immediately press and hold these four keys simultaneously:
command
option
p
r
Keep holding until you here a total of three (3) startup chimes, then let go the keys. NOTE: In some Mac models, the second and third start-up chime tone during a PRAM zap can be rather quiet. Either crank up the volume, do the zap when the room is quiet, of use headphones to be sure you are hearing teh tones.
2) See if the computer will boot from a system disk by holding c during boot. The disk can be a full retail install disk, a system restore disk supplied with the computer, or a utility disk like DiskWarrior or TechTools that allows booting. If the computer boots and you get video, you can feel confident that the only thing needed is a PRAM battery. You can do a hot boot back to the hard drive and the computer should work as long as someone doesn't unplug it again.
However, if neither of these work, that can mean something more sinister than a PRAM battery has gone walkabout.

Ibook g4 will not boot?

ibook g4 will not boot?

need more info what did u recently download because no matter what apple says macs can crash mine has beffore it was an ibook g4 also

The apple on the gray start-up screen turns into a circle with a slash.

My G5 has been pretty reliable for the past three (?) years. Lately it's been a bit squirrely booting up--once it went into kernel panic during boot, but powering down and restarting seemed to fix that. Lately, too, when I let the machine run and it goes to sleep I'll come back after a couple of hours to find the fan running at top speed and the machine unresponsive. Yesterday it seemed to have problems booting so I reset the PRAM and NVRAM and ran Onyx and it worked fine all day. This morning when I went to boot, I got the usual gray screen with the whirling gear. After about a minute, the apple in the center of the screen turned into a circle with a slash while the gear continued to whirl. How do I fix this?

I've subsequently tried a number of things. I reset the SMU, which didn't help until I also reset the PRAM. Computer booted normally. I rebooted from the Tiger DVD and repaired the start up disk; there were only two small errors to be fixed. The machine booted normally (and pretty quickly) for about a week before the problem resurfaced. I again went through the first two steps and got things working once more.
Lately the problem has returned. First, resetting the PRAM didn't help; only resetting the SMU worked. At the last event I needed to reset the PRAM without resetting the SMU. When I get home tonight I'll try booting from the DVD and repairing the permissions on the start up drive.
At first, I thought I'd leave it running all night, but when I got to the office in the morning the fans were running at full throttle and the machine was in a coma. All I could do was reboot--which it did, immediately going into kernel panic. I shut it down and rebooted, resetting the PRAM in the process. The computer booted and ran fine all day, although it seems slow (I did have Photoshop CS4 and Lightroom running simultaneously, but I do have 5 GB of RAM).
It's been suggested I may have a corrupt RAM chip (computer doesn't chirp at me, as I'm told it would) or, more terrifying, a processor is about to check out. I also have an ATTO SCSI card in this to run a legacy scanner. Could that be a problem?
Any advice?
JP

IBook G3 will not boot from CD/DVD

Ok, I have an iBook G3.
I was restoring it to factory with the Software Restore disks which came with the unit as I was planning to move on to a new unit.. But there was a power cut in the middle of the process and the unit shut off. Now, it does not recognise a HD when booting holding option.
It also will not boot from any CD/DVD other than the Apple HW Test disk provided with the unit.. All other disks spin up and then get ejected, on the odd occasion it does not eject, it boots to a icon of a floppy diskette with a flashing ? (Saying that, I did manage to get it to load from the restore disk 1 once, but it just said it could not mount the image file)
The HW test disk returns no problems
I have reset PRAM multiple times, and reset nvram and all in Open Firmware. I have also reset PMU as a last resort, but no luck
Any ideas?

Hi, and welcome to Apple Discussions.
Do you have DiskWarrior, maybe?

Advice for troubleshooting an emac that will not boot

My mom's emac will not boot, and gets stuck with a gray screen and apple logo along with the circling timer. We have tried the following:
(OSX.2x)
turning off and unplugging computer.
removed all peripherals
reboot in safe mode
reboot from installation disc
nothing works. The computer gets stuck in the boot process. We have run the hardware repair disc, there are no problems with the hardware.
I would like to make as many attempts to troubleshoot problem at home before spending a lot of money by taking it to a repair shop. I would also like some information before I go in order to be prepared to discuss the problem. I do not want to get 'taken' for repairs that may be unnecessary.
Any guidance, suggestions, advice would be very helpful and greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
emac Mac OS X (10.2.x)
Mac OS X (10.2.x)

It sounds as if you've already figured the standard trobleshooting / startup methods. There is one additional thing that can block an eMac from starting: if the PRAM battery is failing, that can prevent the Mac from starting up. My understanding is that a failed battery would block the eMac from starting up to the Apple Hardware Test (AHT) Disk also, through. Perhaps the battery is low enough to prevent a normal start but still has enough in it to let AHT come up? If you have an electronics multimeter, you can test the battery while it's under load (i.e., still in the eMac's PRAM battery holder) and see if it's within 0.1v of the nominal 3.6v specification. If the battery is low, replacing it is straightforward (see eMac - Do-It-Yourself). The 1/2 AA 3.6v lithium battery is available online and is usually in stock at places like Radio Shack, where it costs about US$11 or so (the battery is cheaper online, but after adding shipping and handling, the brick-and-motar store is about the same, plus quicker).

IBook G3 Will Not Boot - ?/face Icon on fresh install to new hard drive!!

Well, this is my first post here, but I hope someone out there may be able to help me....
I've got this iBook G3, and it will not boot. Originally, I got it and the hard drive was kind of suspect. I was able to install Tiger and use it, but it just stopped booting one day. I figured it was the hard drive, because it wouldn't boot to the OS even when stripped of the extra ram and after a fresh install via target disk mode from my Powermac. So, I changed the drive and reinstalled Tiger. It still won't boot.
Oh, and I've tried resetting the PRAM and resetting open firmware. Any ideas?

^^^I'm installing from a family pack and this is the only computer I'm running Tiger on...all of my others are Leopard. Which, now that I think about it, is another reason that cloning the drive to the iBook wouldn't allow it to boot. However, I know the drive is good at least, because my Powermac can boot from it.
Anyway, I put in a 512 mb stick, and it then will get to the grey Apple screen, where it hangs forever. If I do verbose mode, the last line says "creating RAM disk for /var/run"
It sounds like a RAM problem still. I think I have some actual Apple RAM laying around somewhere (maybe a 128 mb), as the stuff that's in it now is not "Mac Ram," but it is what was working when the computer was working before. I'm still at a loss. I know the method I'm using (restored Tiger DVD to partition on iBook due to a bad optical drive), as I've done it before. In fact, it's even the same image from the last time I did it, as I never deleted the .dmg file.

Ibook g3 will not boot in os 9

I just repartitioned the hard drive of my old tray-loading ibook. I loaded os 10.4 in one partition and want to load os 9 in another. The problem is the machine will not boot from an os 9 cd. I've tried a couple of different os 9 system cds, but none are recognized as bootable (either by restarting holding the c key or option key or in the startup disk system preference).
I know I selected the option of installing os 9 drivers when I reformatted the drive (but that shouldn't matter, as I'm trying to boot from cd).
Before I re-formatted I had a working os 9 partition.
Thanks for any pointers.
ibook dual-usb g3 500mz Mac OS X (10.2.x)

Chuck:
Unlike OS X, OS 9 can be copied by dragging from another computer or from a backup on CD or an external HDD. However, you must have OS 9 drivers installed. All you need to do it to drag the System Folder and the OS 9 Applications folder.
Another option would be to boot from the OS X install disk holding down the "C" key. Go to the installer menu and open Disk Utility. Erase the partition in question. Then try booting from the OS 9 installer. Again, OS 9 drivers must be installed or you have to reformat the whole HDD.
While OS X and OS 9 can live together happily on the same HDD/Partition, having it on a separate partition allows you to startup in OS 9 and retain OS X as your default boot drive by Option Booting.
Good luck.
cornelius

Ibook that will not boot (apple turns into a circle with....

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