PowerBook booting mystery...

Hi there, I'm an experienced mac user (Mac owner since 1990) and I've never encountered something like this... I hope someone, somewhere has encountered this issue and knows how to fix it!
I acquired a 15" PowerBook G4 Aluminum (1.25 GHz) from eBay. The computer will only boot if I hold OptionCommand+EP (really close to a PRAM reset, but not quite); otherwise it doesn't even make it to an open display (doesn't even get to Startup Manager when holding option alone, TDM, Single-User Mode or even a PRAM reset) unless I hold these keys right after the startup chime for 5-10 seconds.
Here's what I've tried so far:
- Resetted PMU
- Resetted PRAM
- Resetted NVRAM (reset-nvram and reset-all)
- Made sure firmware is up-to-date (no update on this model anyway)
- Formatted Hard Drive and installed new OS
- Try booting to Single-User Mode, TDM, Startup Manager, Safe Boot (all failed unless those dang key are held first for 5-10 seconds)
- Changed the Backup (PRAM) Battery which was dead
I feel like I've done everything possible but have the logic board changed!!! Could it be a special open firmware security measure? How could I reset the firmware to factory default (holding the power button until the high-pitched noise is heard only preps it for an update... I've tried that already)? This is driving me nuts!!!!
EDIT: Oh, and I almost forgot. I also tried removing a RAM chip, booting, reset NVRAM (failed to resolve the issue), put it back again, tried to boot (still failed), reset the NVRAM and tried to boot again (failed again...)
Anyway, if anyone has any suggestion, it would be much appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

Does any of this KB article make sense?
Features of Open Firmware Password Protection
When turned on using one of the models listed above, Open Firmware Password Protection:
* Blocks the ability to use the "C" key to start up from an optical disc.
* Blocks the ability to use the "N" key to start up from a NetBoot server.
* Blocks the ability to use the "T" key to start up in Target Disk Mode (on computers that offer this feature).
* Blocks the ability to start up in Verbose mode by pressing the Command-V key combination during startup.
* Block the ability to start up a system in Single-user mode by pressing the Command-S key combination during startup.
* Blocks a reset of Parameter RAM (PRAM) by pressing the Command-Option-P-R key combination during startup.
* Requires the password to use the Startup Manager, accessed by pressing the Option key during startup (see below).
* Requires the password to enter commands after starting up in Open Firmware, which is done by pressing the Command-Option-O-F key combination during startup.
Joe

Similar Messages

I have a PowerBook 145B but something is wrong with the systemfolder so it wont boot. I've downloaded System 7.0.1 from Apple and put it on Floppys with my Macintosh Classic. The PowerBook boots from the floppy, after a minute its just white. What to do?

I have a PowerBook 145B but something is wrong with the systemfolder so it wont boot. I've downloaded System 7.0.1 from Apple and put it on Floppys with my Macintosh Classic. The PowerBook boots from the floppy but after a minute it just comes up a window thats completely white.
I've tried a lot of things, but my Macintosh classic (with original floppys) runs 7.0.0. And the PowerBook needs atleast 7.0.1 and did run 7.1.0 as original OS.
How do I fix this?

Because your PowerBook 145B shipped with OS 7.1, it can't run an earlier version of the Mac OS, such as 7.0.1. Unfortunately, Apple never made OS 7.1 available for download. You can run OS 7.5.1, 7.5.3, and 7.5.5 on your PowerBook, but I'd recommend doing so with the maximum amount of supported memory - 8 MBs. The 19-part download of OS 7.5.3 is segmented, so that each one will fit on a 1.44 MB floppy disk. The problem is that the 19-diskette set isn't an installer set as such, having no bootable disk. It's solely intended to be used to transfer the individual segments to the resident hard drive in the computer. Once that's done, double-clicking the first .smi segment creates the OS 7.5.3 installer disk image on the desktop, which you drag onto the hard drive icon. This produces a folder with the OS 7.5.3 installer in it. I've done this before with an old Mac LC and it works. You can also download the 3-diskette OS 7.5.5 Update and run that. These downloads can be found on the same page where you found the OS 7.0.1 download: Older Software Downloads.

My Powerbook boots up every few times and the hardware test still gives me -9972 error

René O'Deay wrote:
My Powerbook G4 15" aluminum 1.67Ghz 10.3.9 Panther won't start up.
(I did a backup on an external drive not long before it failed)
have gotten lost in my research on apple forums and knowledge base.
From the original install discs:
The Hardware test gives the error.
"2STF/8/3 ATA-100 ata-6-Master (-9972)"
The Disc utility does see my harddrive but fails to repair with the messge:
1 volume cannot be repaired,
'Invalid node Structure'
Disk 'no valid packets (-9997)'
I do have a useless partition from TechTool 4 and had successfully run the programs just before Powerbook failed.
aid everything was ok, with no warnings.
found somewhere a link to a hardware test code list, that said 9972 could be the cable (ribbon?) to the drive needed to be reset, replaced, or the harddrive replaced.
our local New Orleans 'official' Apple Tech guy calimed it was the harddrive and not worth replacing. he whined that it would take hours, tho the guys on ifixit claimed only half an hour.
i have since got a refurb MacBook (even older it turns out) with Tiger, but I miss my 15 incher Powerbook. (on very tight budget)
the battery got zapped by lightning last year and have struggled with it ever since. it won't fully recharge.
Right now have got it on the AC without the battery to try to charge the backup battery.
I have managed to restore it several times after crashing, inspite of my tech guy claiming otherwise. but have never really opened it up besides just looking at the memory slots. just one filled with 512 card.
so any advice, or suggestions.
I've been messing with my Power book for like 10 hours and finally finished replacing the hard drive. (just installing the software and all the updates took almost 2 hours by itself) Now it boots up every few times and the hardware test still gives me -9972 error.
<Re-Titled By Host>

My friend. Do not despair.
Firstly, you have a backup. Kudos.
Secondly, i suspect the hard drive in the machine is more than just a few years old. Hard drives die. I suspect the hard drive is the issue, not the cable.
Thirdly, it is worth changing the hard drive and take the ifixit advice. Simple to change. If it will be your first time changing the hard drive, just be organized and follow the steps carefully.
Now, before we decided it is the hard drive we need to confirm this.
I would check if SMART reports favorable conditions for the drive. Disk utility can tell you.
If good then I would zero out the drive. This allows the drive to excercise every sector and will build confidence of a well prepared drive going forward.
You can then restore from backup.
The other option is to replace the internal HD with a new one, perhaps with more storage.
As an FYI, I replaced the drive on my powerbook G3 and it's faster, quite , has more storage and gives me some peace of mind. Worth the money. The little guy runs beautifully.
Sent from my iPhone

Powerbook boot problem

I was using my powerbook and it suddenly froze. So after no responses from the keyboard i switched it off by holding the power button.
When i restarted, all i get is the flashing file icon (i know it cant find the mac HD)
I tried to use disk utility but that cant find the Mac HD aswell.
The thing is my boot disks dont work for some reason. So i cant do system restore.
What are my options?
Any help would be much appreciated.

I seem to be giving this as the answer a lot (makes it look like that's the only thing I know, ha ha) but it's what I'd do if I came across the same problem.
Connect your bad PowerBook via "Target Disk Mode" to another Mac, and see if that Mac will recognize your PowerBook's hard drive. Even though your PowerBook can't see it, your other Mac might be able to see it since it has a working System Folder while your PowerBook, after the forced shut down, does not.
(By the way, connect your PowerBook to your other Mac via FireWire, and restart holding the "T" key).
If your PowerBook's hard drive mounts, you're now one step away from recovering and repairing.
In Disk Utility on your other Mac, open it up and find the AAPL FireWire disk (or it might show up labeled as whatever your PowerBook hard drive was named) and then try to diagnose and verify/repair from there.
You shouldn't need your restore/system discs for this. At least, for diagnosing.
If your PowerBook can't be recovered, then you will need your system/restore discs to reinstall. (Or any other Mac OS X installation disc that was made on or after--not before--your PowerBook model was made).
**did you mean your restore discs don't work because they itself don't work, or it didn't work when you popped them into your PowerBook?

Strange Powerbook Boot Issue

I am currently seeing a very odd issue with my 15 inch Powerbook G4 1.5ghz. When the power button is pressed, the notebook will power up, I can hear a chime, but then it powers itself down about 5-10 seconds after the hard drive starts spinning up.
The interesting part is that if I press fn-f7 repeatedly as soon as I hear the chime, video appears on the screen and I can use the option key to select my firewire drive and boot normally. I have tried clearing nvram via open firmware (the keys for clearing PRAM do not work for some reason) and holding down the power button with the battery and power disconnected to clear the power management chip (forgot the exact term.) The fix only works with fn-F7. Using command, option, control-F7 or F7 by itself does not seem to help.
The internal hard drive has been getting ready to check out over the last 6 months ago and recently it gave up the ghost altogether. I can still boot off my firewire backup if i use the F7 trick mentioned above. I suppose that the bad hard drive could be causing the no video/boot problem, but I would not think that hitting F7 would help if that were the case. The notebook was dropped and is not much to look at, but it works great once you see the apple logo on the screen.
I am planning on replacing the drive, but I would love to get this fixed before investing any money in the unit. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
Jake

There might be an issue with your RAM or with the RAM slots on your machine. Try removing one module & running the machine with just the one. You could also try Rember:
http://download.cnet.com/Rember/3000-2094_4-52452.html
To see if it finds any errors.
~Lyssa

Speaker pop during PowerBook boot

Ever since installing Leopard, my PowerBook makes a rather loud pop noise from the internal speakers. It always happens during the boot process, at the point where the gray screen with the spinning gear changes to the blue screen. At that point, one of my speakers makes a single loud pop. It is usually the right speaker, but it has happened from the left once or twice. I don't have any external speakers connected. Anyone else seeing this?

I also have one of the new iMacs - one of the 20" models. I started having the same problem just a couple minutes ago. It worked without any problems for a solid week and a half, and now this? Puts a damper on the track I was working on in Logic. It just popped 3-4 times and then no sound eventhough my song was still playing and the volume meters on the mixer for each track were showing movement. Tried playing some songs in my iTunes library and still no sound - speaker output meter is at the halfway mark. My first thought was hardware issue, but who knows.

Powerbook G4 will not boot normally, only in safe mode.

So...about a month ago I updated my powerbook with all the updates that were available, one of the updates was 10.5.8. I came back after the update had run for a while, and found my computer with a black screen, and a faint white bar towards the bottom of the screen. The computer wouldn't respond, and I was forced to do a manual shutdown. The computer would then not boot, instead finally resting on a light blue screen with an active mouse pointer after passing the gray apple screen.
In safe mode, I downloaded and installed the combo 10.5.8 update, but it made no difference.
I assumed it to obviously be a software issue, and so I backed up my info, and reinstalled Leopard. I then updated to 10.5.8 using the combo update. My computer functioned normally for about a week, and then froze, mouse responsive, but nothing else. After manual shutdown, same problem, computer started to blue screen with pointer.
Since that time I've reset the PRAM, run disk utility a million times (no errors), repaired permissions, all to no avail. I've run the Techtool diagnostics on it, and it found no hardware failures. The computer will not boot from an external hard drive, ruling out the HD.
I've replaced the RAM with different RAM, again will not boot. The computer boots without fail every time in safe mode.
History on my computer, one of my memory slots failed to recognize memory any longer, and my logic board was replaced a little less than 2 years ago while I still had applecare.
So to sum up:
Powerbook boots only in safe mode
Stays at blue screen with mouse pointer when booting
May work properly for a few days after erase and install of OS, but then fails again with same systems shortly thereafter
Any ideas???

Have you tried running the Apple Hardware Test from DVD?

Powerbook G4 looses settings for booting for firewire?Need Help

I have a powerbook g4 17 inch al..
1.67 pro
2 gigs ram
and I formatted a seagate firewire 800 drive to be my hdd replacment <<it died
well its installed fine ( partations is for powerbook boot)
however when i shut down it doesn't find the drive..
I tried ... setting the startup disk in preferences
disk repair... permissions repair...
if i press the option it doesn't find the drive... however it might have once found it before i migrated all my settings from time machine to it...
the only way it works for me right now is to use the cd and then disk utilities..then choose startup disk... then it stARTS...
any help would be great...
thanks stateapple

war is still on because computer are the key to uniting this world and ending war...
and at macs prices they will not be the choosen machine...
the prices are still high... and the prices 15 years ago were out of control...
you get what you pay for... well this forum is proof that macs as far as hardware is concerned is no different then a pc of the same caliber ...both break down
only difference is the pc doesn't cost an arm and leg to get it working again...
why do you think i am trying to boot from firewire...
because my harddrive quit after 3 years..right after warrenty ends....hmmmm
when will a computer company ofer the same lifetime warrenty i can get from sears for my tools....
yea i need to renew it every few years but at least they stand behind there product as long as I choose...
I would still have my mac under warranty... but it wasn't an option... what does that say about the product or the company selling it to you....( keep in mind Sears offers a warranty for all tools and I could keep the warranty going forever)
but that not what i was asking....
how do I get help online with a professional to help solve my computer issue?
i live an hour and half from the closet apple store.... 2 hour round trip...
thank you...

Help me!!! My powerbook do not boot!!!!

Hi,
I have tryed to install mac os 10.2 on my powerbook g3. I have seen that it is impossible because that cds are unable to boot from my computer.
Than I went on startup, and I click something (but I do not know what...).
After few minut I have shut down mt pb and my powerbook boot on an image white with a grey apple but cannot come back into os 9. Is completely blocked!

I have solved the problem inserting the restore disk.
Before the initiualization of the system I have press "C" and I reinstalled the system without problems.

Can I use my Powerbook 12" without the internal HD?

Hi everybody!
I have a Hard Drive (160GB, Samsung) in my Powerbook12", that's about to fail. I bought it less than a year ago, so I can get a new one for free, except that I have to pay for, or do, the extraction from the computer. As some time may elapse before they send me the replacement drive that I will install, I wondered if I would be able to temporarily use my Powerbook, booting from an external firewire hard drive, but with no internal hard drive. Thanks for your help!

Thank you for your answer. In fact, I was wondering if the physical absence of the internal HD might be a problem when reassembling the computer to use it, this led me to the idea of installing the old initial internal drive, which I was given back when my present hard drive was installed. Does this make any sense?
Or can I really reassemble my computer leaving the hard drive bracket empty, and make it work?
More generally, are there other options for upgrading a 12" 1.33 GHz Powerbook, apart from increasing the hard drive size and RPM?

My Apps wont open, and the computer (Powerbook G4) starts super slowly.

Every time I boot up, my Powerbook boots very slowly, sometime taking up to five minutes. In addition to that, I can't open any apps, except for Finder, Firefox, Internet Explorer, and the basic functional things like settings. By they won't open, I mean the icons will bounce for a while, then a box pops up that says, for example;
The application Microsoft Office Setup Assistant Quit unexpectedly.
Mac OS X and other applications are not affected.
Click Relaunch to launch the applicationagain. Click Report to see more details, or send a report to Apple.
I really need to be able to use Microsoft word and stuff for school, and I can't afford a new computer. I'm running OS X 10.5.8
I've browsed several sites, and I tried all of the following things:
Restarting in SafeBoot mode,
Making a new admin account to see if it launched quicker/ let me open apps (It didnt),
Pressing Control + Option + P + R (it worked once, but it hasnt worked since)
Used OnyX, (which now won't open either)
I checked to see what login items I had, and there weren't any.
Please help!
Thanks,
Avery
Also, I don't have any disks for this computer on hand, as it used to be a family friends. /:
Message was edited by: Avery.Apple.Green

Hello Avery,
I received an email notification about this topic even though I have this forum set to not send them so I think perhaps you sent it to me deliberately hoping I might have some ideas?
First of all I think we should concentrate on your not being able run your essential apps and the crashes. The disk repaired buttons being greyed out is usually because the account trying to do it doesn't have admin privileges. It's a good idea to create a spare account that has admin privileges incase anything should ever go wrong with your default account. From your post I think you know how to create a spare account via System Prefs.
I'm not sure whether we can fix the problem but we can try to identify it at least. If you have any irreplacable data on your PowerBook I think you should back it up as a priority and if you don't have a backup drive or can't afford one at the moment then beg or borrow one.
I don't want to alarm you but if it turns out that your PowerBook is finally giving up the ghost your precious data will have at least have been backed up and ready to restore to a replacement machine. Not long ago and in good condition a 12" aluminium PB G4, which I believe was 1.33GHz, sold on eBay for £45 ($72). Early white MacBooks still pop up too and are inexpensive and faster and more RAM than PB G4 so all is not lost. If we end up having to go down that route it might come in useful to make a note of this link:
http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/powerbook_g4/index-powerbook-g4.html
Paste it into Stickies or Text Edit as they don't require a lot of system resourses so should be stable when launched. If it turns out you need to replace any components the site will have links to suppliers. Using that link you'll also be able to check the detailed specs of any second-hand Mac being sold on eBay before purchasing.
It would be useful to know exactly which PowerBook you have and how much RAM is installed. Click the Apple logo top right of screen\About this Mac\More info.
My first inclination is that it sounds like a possible RAM problem, either faulty or not enough. You have 10.5.8 installed which might be the most recent OSX that you can upgrade to which we won't know until you let me know the exact model. That the case was with my PB G4 874GHz on which I had 1Gb of RAM installed (512MB is the official maximum but 1Gb worked fine and has been stable). I should say at this point that with 1Gb of RAM it was quite spritely running OSX10.4s but started to struggle when I upgraded to 10.5s. Did you upgrade only to 10.5 only recently I wonder?
Let's try this: go to Applications\Utilities\Activity Monitor\Memory and launch a couple of an app and see how if Activity Monitor is spiking. Start with light app like Stickies. While still monitoring open and use another app, perhaps text edit. Keep them open and playback soundfile perhaps, through a little player rather than iTunes if possible. Is it overloading? Once you've checked the memory do the same for the processor and the harddrive.
I've enabled this thread to receive emails so take some notes, set to with the various things I suggested if you think they might help, and get back to me when you have something. I'm working this afternoon (it's 09.58 here in the UK) but will be around this morning, later this evening and for some of Saturday. I may of course have already given it my best shot but I'm happy to help if I can. If we don't make any progress it might be worth compiling your posts from this forum and posting in the MacBook Pro forum as there are plenty of experts in there that might be able to help more than I can.
Good luck,
K

HELP!!!! I need to be able to use my PowerBook 5300c!

HELP!!!! My PowerBook 5300c with System Software 7.5.5 won't boot with extensions! One thing I know is that on June someting, 2008, I wanted to put stuffit expander on my mac. I would download it from an archive site, and put it on a DOS FLOPPY!!!! (Not knowing what data and resource forks are). Then I opened it on my mac, WHAM!! it opened word and crashed with "Sorry, a system error occurred, Type 10" messages were flying all over the screen! I stripped the data and resource forks using DOS floppy format. Does anyone know about how to fix this, any software. REMEMBER, this computer uses System Software 7.5.5 so, I don't need things only for Mac OS 9!

My PowerBook 5300c with System Software 7.5.5 won't boot with extensions!
Would it be correct to assume that the PowerBook boots with Extensions Off (press the Shift key at startup)? If so, try to isolate the offending file. This can take some time. You can either use the Extensions Manager or just manually move files (one by one, with a restart in between) out of the Extensions and Control Panels folders. In order to speed up the process, one can use a divide-by-two method for a large number of files.
Generally speaking, a Mac with System 7.5.5 (and the PC Exchange control panel active) should not have a problem with a PC floppy.
If necessary, StuffIt Expander for Macintosh can be obtained via a PC like this: Download the MACDISK.EXE file here onto the PC. Prepare an empty PC-formatted 1.44 MB (HD) diskette via FORMAT A: in DOS or the "full" formatting option under Windows (this is important). Run the MACDISK.EXE program on the PC. Follow the on-screen directions. The resulting floppy is ready for immediate use in a Mac, and contains a StuffIt Expander 4.0.1 installer.
Jan

IMac will not boot up when printer is plugged in USB

After buying my new iMac (with Tiger) I successfully transfered everything from my old iMac (with Panther) and all was well.
The problem is that when my printer (Canon Pixma MP130) is plugged in on start up, the iMac will not boot up (no gears turning on the white/grey screen). When I unplug the printer from the USB and start it up, it works fine. Its not a super big deal because I can just plug the printer in when I need it. But why does it do this?
I foound on the internet someone else who had the same issues. It was suggested to him to search the printer manufacturers website for updated drivers. I did this, installed them etc..... still no luck.
I am without any mac guru's here in Yellowknife......help!
Angie

Hello there,
I hope it is OK to recycle this old thread.  I did not want to create a new one since I am experiencing the exact same issue as the original poster *flying girl* as well as other posters in the following threads:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=4190807
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=3950255
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=4201169
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=4490899&#4490899
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=4470944
I have two Macs, a PowerBook G4 and an Intel iMac 20" (Aluminum)--please refer to my signature or profile for the specs of these machines.  Of course, I got the PowerBook before I got the iMac.  I am running the latest version of the Canon MP130 drivers, printer drivers version 4.8.3 and scanner drivers version 12.11.0, on both machines.
When I turn on my PowerBook with the Canon PIXMA MP130 multifunction turned ON and connected via USB to the PowerBook, the PowerBook boots up just fine.  I have even experimented with both a USB hub and a direct connection to the Canon MP130, and the PowerBook boots fine in both instances.
However, when I turn on my iMac with the Canon MP130 turned ON and connected via USB to the iMac, the startup tone plays, and then the iMac hangs at the blue/gray solid screen--it does not even show the Apple logo or the spokes--that is, until I turn the Canon MP130 OFF.  When I turn it off, the Apple logo appears, the spokes move, and my iMac boots up just fine.  And as long as the MP130 is OFF, I can boot the iMac fine from scratch too.
I tried starting in verbose mode (⌘V) and single-user mode (⌘S), and the gray/blue screen still appears after the startup tone plays; again, if I turn the Canon MP130 OFF, the rest of the boot sequence resumes as normal, and only then do I get to see the descriptive text for those startup modes.  But the text goes by so fast that I miss most of it--I did manage to catch something that said something like "get full config descriptor = NULL," but I am not sure if that was the exact wording.  I would need a good camcorder or even just a digital camera or another device to capture exactly what the screen says in verbose mode.  If I had those options, I would post pictures here.
I was thinking about contacting Canon, but since the issue happens on one Mac only, I figured they would tell me that it is a problem with my Mac.  So hopefully posting the information here is OK.
Another key feature is that the Canon MP130 has a built-in card reader.  I made sure that my Startup Disk preferences were set to boot from the system drive, and they still are.  And I have reset the SMC and PRAM on the iMac.
I would like to mention the following link:
http://www.ehmac.ca/anything-mac/50389-intel-imac-wont-boot-when-canon-printer-p lugged.html
If you go to page 2 on that above thread, it shows one user who allegedly physically disconnected the card reader connection from the inside of the Canon MP130 (I would NOT recommend that myself).  I just wonder if there is a more feasible resolution to this issue.
Does anyone else experience the same issue with other printers or multifunctions?  Also, why does the issue occur only on my Intel iMac 20" (aluminum), and NOT on my PowerBook G4?
Please let us know about your experience as it seems many of us are at a loss for a solution.
Thank you very much for your help; we await!  :)
Cya!
\m/ Mad Metal Mage \m/

How to boot up from firewire disk?

Hi everyone,
I just bought a 250Gb Lacie D2 triple interface external hard drive to go with my 15" 1.25ghz G4 powerbook.
I partitioned the External drive into two volumes, one of which I will reserve exclusively for backing up my entire Powerbook hard drive.
I used the software (Silverkeeper) that came with the Lacie disk to copy the powerbook hard drive onto the Lacie disk. When I commenced the copying, a dialog box asked me if I wanted to make the copy 'bootable' I clicked yes.
Now for my question..... How do I boot up from the copy???
I had assumed that if I switched off the powerbook & then re-started it, (with the Lacie disk connected... Firewire 800) that I would then be given the option of booting from either the Powerbook hard drive OR the Lacie hard drive. Not so.... Powerbook booted up as per normal, having 'recognised' the Lacie disk & placed it's icons on my desktop.
Obviously there is a simple step I am unaware of, probably holding down a combination of keys whilst re-booting???
So....How do I boot up from the copy?
regards
Ian
15 Powerbook 1.25Ghz Mac OS X (10.4.4) 1.25gb ram

Well to be accurate it is not at all "permanent" - a better and more usefully accurate term would be persistent.
If you are updating the OS on it you might want it to persist through reboots vs using the very time consuming Option key method each time.
To go back to the original boot disk or any other one just go to preferences and select the one you want again. Much faster.

Leopard 10.5.8 won't boot

Here's is a mindbender for you to ponder:
Had a power outage.
My hopped up G4 tower with 2 - 200 GB EIDE drives on an EIDE PCI card. It crashed and one 200 GB EIDE drive didn't survive.
(Yes it was on a UPS but the UPS ran dry and the G4 crashed before it could be gently shutdown)
I removed the crashed drive and made sure the remain drive was jumpered as a single master drive.
It wouldn't boot. All I got was the gray screen (no logo no paddle wheels, no start-up gong)
I replaced the battery on the motherboard (commonly known as the PRAM battery)
It wouldn't boot but I heard the start-up gong.
I booted off the Leopard install DVD and ran Disk Utility repair disk and repair permissions. No problems were found.
It wouldn't boot. Still gonged though.
I installed Leopard onto an external firewire drive and connected it. Restarted holding down the option key to select a boot drive. Selected the Firewire drive.
It wouldn't boot - gray screen only (and the gong).
I installed Leopard onto the surviving drive and it appeared to install properly.
It wouldn't boot (get used to this result).
I erased the 200 GB drive and installed Leopard onto it.
It wouldn't boot.
I took my trusty PowerBook - booted it in target mode and then connected it to the G4 and booted off of it. Success! That worked. So I downloaded the Leopard Combo Updater and updated the Leopard on the 200 GB drive.
Tried to boot off the 200 GB drive.
It wouldn't boot - however now I have an Apple logo on the gray screen - still no paddle wheel though.
At this point I was reseating PCI boards, EIDE cables, and all that stuff. Yes, yes, I reset PRAM a few times and so forth.
It wouldn't boot.
I pulled 2 SCSI drives out of another G4 tower and installed them and "option-started" the G4, selected a SCSI drive to boot from and it booted off an old version of Tiger.
Once it booted, I could see the 200 GB EIDE drive and put files on it and everything! So, it's not like the drive is broken. I ran Disk Utility again just to be sure and it appears to be fine.
When I select it as the start-up disk, it won't boot.
I am seriously out of ideas. Do you have any?
Many thanks.

The "boot" drive is jumpered "Master" and connected on the end connector of the IDE ribbon?
Only the drive on the Master setting and connector is bootable with the Sonnet ATA/133 controller.
The latest firmware is 4.5.0:
http://www.sonnettech.com/support/kb/kb.php?cat=330&expand=_a3_a13_a2_b52_a1&act ion=b325#b325
Wonder if a firmware update is doable or would help....... such an old card in an OS way newer than the cards support level, always a scary thing to mess with......

PowerBook booting mystery...

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for