Powerbook G4 won't start up, can't eject DVD

While watching a bootleg DVD, I got a black error box telling me in at least languages to restart my computer (I had never seen this error format before). I hit the power button, and instead of the normal rebooting sound, I heard 3 tones, followed by the sound of the DVD spinning, and only a black screen. The white power light on the front edge of the computer blinks 4 times rapidly, then stays on for about 10 seconds, then blinks again.
I have tried restarting many times, and only once got the normal Apple chime. I tried several of the tricks to eject the disk (holding down the mousepad, hitting the eject button).
Any advice is welcome!

There should be a button just inside the drive slot on the right hand side you can use a paper clip to manually eject the Disk....
Only on the original Ti PowerBooks. Later 'books have no manual eject function and fishing with a paperclip could do serious damage.

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PowerBook G4 - Won't Start Up - 3 Strange Beeps then just LED flashes and sudden death - black screen.

PowerBook G4 - Won't Start Up - 3 Strange Beeps then just LED flashes and sudden death - black screen.
Prior that the powerbook also couldn't start but I could see the Apple logo, so via fire-wire (holding T at start up) I backed up the hard disk.
Check via DiskToolPro the structure, defragmented. Via DiskWarrior rebuild the directory
and finally not been able to access the drive I reformatted the drive via fire-wire drive.
Re-started the powerbook holding C to boot up from DVD - nothing
Re-started again and it give me one long beep and black screen. An indication that my 1gig RAM is bad or gone (?) and the DVD is stuck inside.
Bought new one 1 gig, installed it and now I'm getting only three beeps.
I tried all, changed the slots several times and nothing.
I tried more as:
                         c -- to boot from CD (again while the DVD is still inside and I cannot get it out)
                         cmd-opt-p-r -- to Zap the PRAM,
                         cmd-opt-n-v -- to clear NV RAM,
                         cmd-opt-o-f -- to boot into open firmware … and nothing. The DVD is in and I have
                                                black screen with three beeps and flashing LED.
Do I have to replace the Logic Board?   (Anyone has a spare one ?)
But it is the faulty Logic board?
Could anyone help me out? Please.
I'm retired and I cannot afford a new laptop - and this powerbook was a great, great horse for me until that horrible set of three beeps.
Thank you in advance for any advice and help.
Martin
THE SPECS OF MY POWERBOOK:
Model Family:
Powerbook G4 Aluminum
Processor:
1.67GHz G4 (PowerPC 7457B)
Manufacturer:
Motorola
# of CPUs:
1
Codename:
Apollo 7
Display:
Size:
15.2"
Finish:
Matte
Resolution:
1280x854
Backlight:
CCFL
Base Memory:
1gig PC2700 SODIMM
Brand:
Apple
Wireless:
802.11b/g
Color(s):
Aluminum
Original OS:
Mac OS X 10.6.3
Battery:
50-watt-hour removable lithium-ion battery
Graphics:
ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 (64MB)
Base Storage:
80GB 5400RPM EIDE 2.5"
Optical Drive:
8x Superdrive
Model Number:
A1106
Sales Number(s):
M9677LL/A
Machine Number(s):
PowerBook5,6
Dimensions:
13.7 in x 9.5 in x 1.1 in
Weight:
5.6 lb
Production:
Jan 31, 2005 - Oct 19, 2005
Factory:
China
Production Year:
2005
Production Week:
35 (September)
Production Number:
4240

But it is the faulty Logic board?
There was a known issue with LBs in 15-inch PowerBooks with 1.5 and 1.67Ghz processors in which one RAM slot would fail. There once was a repair extension program that fixed the problem at no cost, but it is long-expired.
The problem with seeking a used logic board for these models is that so many had their boards replaced that it increases the chances of the boards in the used/pulled markets having the same problem you have now. The replacement program also came close to exhausting the supply of new boards,
If it turns out to be a bad LB and you can't find a replacement, consider how used computer pricing works: A used computer is worth hugely more in parts than if bought as a working unit. I.E, you can probably find a working PowerBook that will cost less than the logic bard alone. It also possible to find a used MacBook Pro for less that a replacement LB.
If you tell us your approximate geographic location, we can see what's available nearby. I'm also retired, and and visiting my wife's family this week so have even more time than usual to help you search.
Regards,
Allan Jones

So my ipod touch won't turn on and I've tried to reset it but nothing i do seems to work. Also, I can't even get the Apple Logo to appear. It really won't start. what can i do?

So my ipod touch won't turn on and I've tried to reset it but nothing i do seems to work. Also, I can't even get the Apple Logo to appear. It really won't start. what can i do?

try pressing and holding the Sleep/Wake button and the Home button at the same time for at least ten seconds, until either the Apple logo or battery symbol appears.. this worked for me when my ipod touch didnt turn on or show the apple symbol.. hope this helps

Powerbook G4 won't start up

OK, I know others have had a similar issue but I haven't been able to find a solution to this and desperately need some help. My Powerbook G4 with Leopard seems to be dead and I haven't backed it up recently (yes. I know). Yesterday I installed the latest security update, this seemed to go fine other than causing an apparent problem with spell checker. Then I tried to shut it down in the usual way and it didn't work, just stuck on the desktop screen with the whirly grey wheel. After an hour I gave up and held down the power button. Now of course it won't start up, just gives me a grey screen and the grey wheel again. I have inserted the Leopard install disk and used disk utility to repair the hard drive. It said it "appears to be OK". It still won't start though. And I can't even eject the install disk now. Can anyone help??????

Welcome to Apple Discussions!
First off, this is how to eject:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2179
If this doesn't work, your machine may need a new clock battery from an authorized service center.
Furthermore, you will need to recover your data once you are able to boot off the optical drive, either using Target Disk Mode:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1661
Or Startup Manager:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1310
with a data recovery program such as Prosoft Data Rescue II, Subrosasoft Filesalvage, or Boomerang, Boomerang. These must be purchased from an Apple software reseller.
Once your data is recovered, we can try to repair the hard drive with Alsoft Disk Warrior.
If that doesn't work, you may need to replace your hard drive.
In the future never install new software without backing your data*:
http://www.macmaps.com/backup.html
- * Links to my pages may give me compensation.
Message was edited by: a brody

PowerBook G4 won't start up please help...

Hello everybody ho are you doing? Sorry for the long post I'm just in panic mode now because I can't live without my computer
Ok here's my problem, my powerbook g4 will not start up now. How did this happen? I was using safari and the the apple logo came up told me an update was available do I downloaded the update I believe it was for iPhoto, then I went to the apple button, restart. It took me to the point where you hear the tone and then gives the apple logo without the spining sign after about 3 seconds anoter screen come up reads "you need to restart your computer. Hold the power button for several seconds or press the restart button". This message is also in french and two other languages. There's also a logo in the background like a power button sign.

Because replacing the DC-In board is such a pain, be sure to test with another battery before tackling the board replacement.
Yes, the high- and low-res 1.67s use different PRAM batteries:
Low-res PRAM battery
High-res PRAM battery
Powerbook PRAM batteries are rechargeable. Yours is drained now because it isn't being recharged, but that doesn't mean it won't take a charge again when you get your charging system working properly. If I were you, I'd return the one you bought immediately if you can get a full refund or credit for doing so. If a full credit or refund isn't available, then return it only if it's the wrong one and useless to you. If you bought the right one, keep it, but try to diagnose the actual cause of your problem ASAP so that if you don't need a new PRAM battery, you'll still have a chance to return the one you bought before it's too late, at least for a partial credit.

IBook G4 won't start up, can't find HD

My iBook won't start up. It gets to the grey apple screen and nothing else happens. Sometimes when I try to start up I briefly get the icon with the question mark inside a folder.
I tried reseting the PMU and nothing happened. I instaled the MacOS 10.4 installer CD starting up from the CD, tried disk utility but says it cannot repair disk. As a last resort I figured trying to reinstal OS X but in does not find the hard drive.
I'm kind of desperate. Would love to save some files but I'm also open to any suggestions.
Thanks in advanced.

HI Tanya,
Go here for help with the flashing question mark: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1440
The flashing question mark indicates that when you boot the iBook it can't find the drive to boot from... Shut down your Mac. While holding down the C key, press the power button, and insert your restore disk all at the same time. Keep holding the C key until you see the Apple logo on the screen. An Installer window will open, select English. From the Menu Bar, select Utilities/Startup Disk. When that window opens, select MacintoshHD 10.x.x and click Restart. It can take a minute or two for your Mac to find the startup volume, have patience.
The reason it can't repair the disk is because it couldn't find the start up volume to repair. If you can get it to boot into the hard disk, you can then run Disk Utility from the restore disk and check for any errors and repair them.
Carolyn

Itunes won't start up - can't find usr/lib/libstdc++.6.dylib

Hi,
I had to reinstall the OS 10.3.9 on my ti-book. I did an archive and install, but now iTunes won't start up. Console says it can't find this dynamic library:
usr/lib/libstdc++.6.dylib
Since I have a lot of my songs in my personal lib on this machine, and podcast susbscriptions, etc - I don't want to lose them if possible.
Is there a way to just install this lib, or will I have to reinstall iTunes altogheter?
I searched for the above file, but can't find it on the disk.
thx.
'mark

Do you have any iTunes plugins? You may want to get rid of them and try again.
Also, have you tried removing the corresponding com.apple.itunes.plist files from <youraccount>/Library/Preferences, logging out, logging back in again (or rebooting) and then relaunching iTunes? I don't think an archive and install will refresh this file for you. Nor will reinstalling iTunes.

Can't eject DVD - "device is busy"

I'm attempting to install the Orange Box in Wine. It finished with disc 1 and is asking for disc 2. The button on the drive won't eject it so I went to dolphin to eject it but it cannot be unmounted. I tried "eject /dev/cdrom" from the command line and it gives the following error:
/sbin/umount.hal: Unmounting /media/Orange Box failed: org.freedesktop.Hal.Device.Volume.Busy: umount: /media/Orange Box: device is busy.
How can I force it to unmount and eject?

DWilliams wrote:
karol wrote:
DWilliams wrote:Yeah but I don't want to terminate the installer since I'll probably just have to start it all over again and hit the same problem.
Maybe you can copy the contents to your hard drive and 'mount -o loop file.iso /mnt/image'.
Actually I just read the Wine appDB entry for this and they had a solution. I mapped my cd drive to D: in Wine and then called "wine eject D:" and it released it. I'm still disappointed that even root can't eject a drive in use. I thought the whole philosophy of using root was "do what I type regardless of the consequences". I mean, I can make a typo and erase the contents of my hard drive but not unmount a DVD?
I think that even the root can't lift himself by the bootstraps but he can leap out of a tall building - if he wants to.
Root can kill any process and then eject that damn disk but some things are (what I call) logically impossible.

I can't eject DVD

I edited a project on Final Cut Express. I used iDVD to burn the project. I inserted the DVD into another iMac. The DVD did not start. I did not even get an icon on the desktop. And I cannot eject the DVD. I tried the solutions listed below which I found in another post. They did not work. Any suggestions?
Resolution
Important: Make sure the disc is not in use. Quit all applications that are using files on the disc.
1. Place the computer in sleep mode.
2. Press the Media Eject key at the top-right corner of the keyboard.
3. If that doesn't work, drag the disc's icon to the Trash.
4. If that doesn't work, restart the computer, then hold down the mouse button.
5. To restart, choose Restart from the Apple menu.

You don't say if the disc is a plain DVD or whether the DVD has a label stuck on it.
What I think I would try if all the stuff you list has failed to fix the problem will be to try starting up in 'Safe Mode'.
To do this, restart the Mac whilst holding down the 'Shift' key until you see the spinning asterisk. When booted the Mac should display the words 'Safe Mode' at the top of the Accounts menu.
It may take a while longer than usual to get to the Accounts Menu because the Mac does a few checks and things, so I understand. This may clear something. When still in Safe Mode it might a good idea to run Disk Utility to repair permissions.
Try the 'Eject' button on the keyboard again.
If that doesn't work, restart again - holding down the Mouse button again if you wish.
If that fails, and especially if you have used a DVD with a home made label on it, I would suggest taking the computer your nearest Apple Dealer to see if one of their Geniuses can extract your DVD for you.

My PowerBook G4 won't start

Hello all,
I have a PowerBook G4 (running Mac OS X Tiger 10.4.11) that was handed down from my auntie and uncle who have long since upgraded. I presume it was unused for a long period of time with the battery still in because the battery is totally dead. Anyway, that's off topic.
My problem is that when I turn it on, it starts up and gets through the Apple logo fine but when it goes onto the blue screen where the login screen is it refuses to load. Then the screen goes grey and a message comes up saying that I need to restart my computer in various languages (Spanish, French, Chinese etc.).
So I was wondering what on earth has gone wrong and how I can resolve that problem, and should I try to solve it or just discard the laptop (considering that I won't get a new one)?
Many thanks. ^-^

Hello,
Welcome to the Support Community
There are a number of options open to you here.
As you can get it into Safe Mode, you can use disk repair and just try and repair the drive of any faults. This may resolve your problem your having with starting your PowerBook.
Here is a link to help you.
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1417
The second option is to use the Mac OS X start up disk to either use disk utilities to repair the hard drive or just simply reinstall the OS from scratch.
Personally I'd be more incline to repair the hard drive using the Mac OS X install disk and then install a fresh copy of Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger. Seeming that the PowerBook is new to you and I assume most of the files have long been discarded by your auntie.
Best of luck.

Powerbook G4 won't start up either in normal mode or safe mode

Hi everybody,
my fiance has a PB G4. Yesterday he wasn't able to boot his computer anymore. It got stuck w/ the gray screen and the spinning wheel. I started it in verbose mode as well as in single user mode to do the fsck but with no avail. The system just keeps saying that the disk0s10 (his Startup disk) has an I/O error (what exactly does that mean??). After that I tried to start the PB in safe mode but the wheel on the screen just keeps spinning (for more than 1hr right now).
Unfortunately he doesn't have a startup disk anymore as it got destroyed when his apt burned down last year. therefore I cannot boot the OSX from the disc and I cannot run a disk repair or archive and reinstall OSX. We tried using my install disk (MacBook Pro OSX 10.5) but apparently there's a driver problem when using my disc w/ a PowerBook.
any suggestions if we can fix the issue without using a install disc would be greatly appreciated.

ok, now we could get a install disc from a friend w/ another MacBook. I was able to start OS x from the disk. It showed a warning that OS X cannot be installed from this disc. But at least I was able to run the disk utility. The Disk Permissons buttons are not highlighted so I cannot repair the permissons. Verifying and repairing the disk failed. Apparently the node structure is invalid. That's what the disk repair says:
Invalid node structure
The Volume ..... could not be repaired
ERROR: Filesystem verify or repair failed
any suggestions what we can do??? I assume we need to erase the entire disk and reinstall OSX, but I how??? any suggestions??
thanks in advance
Flo

Powerbook G4 Won't Start

I hope you can help a PC guy who is trying to troubleshoot his daughters Powerbook G4.
She tells me the problems started with it not finishing the boot up process, locking up after getting to the sign-in, and then not even that far. Now it will not do anything other than the chime sounds right after pushing the power button, and some fan and/or drive noise is audible. I have not seen the apple on the cover light up, but did see a light on the front flash once. I do believe the CD drive is trying to run. But it does not get to the grey screen.
I have tried safe mode, resetting the PMU, and the PRAM with no luck.
Once and only once since in the few hours I have worked on it, did I get a screen display. This was with the system install CD in the drive, and holding the C key down while powering on, to get into the troubleshooting mode. It got to the grey screen with the apple, and spinning wheel. Stayed there for quite some time and then started to display a graphic screen. There appeared to be a message box in the middle of the screen that started to display but turned to garbage after getting half way through the first line of text. I think it said something like "You need to restart your computer. Hold down the power button." On several subsequent attemps no luck to get to the grey screen again.
Does this mean a dead hard drive or worse? Should the CD disk troubleshooting mode operate without a functioning hard drive? Any help you can provide is much appreciated. I did a search on the forum and have tried about everything, except for one suggestion to take the thing apart and disconnect all the cables to the PMU.
Thanks for your consideration. I had to just guess at the OS version. It is whatever it came with when bought in about August 2005. The install CD is in the Powerbook CD drive and the machine never gets to the point where the eject button works. These things don't seem to have the hole for the paper clip manual eject trick.
Ron
Powerbook G4, 15", 1.67 GHz Mac OS X (10.4.5)
Powerbook G4, 15", 1.67 GHz Mac OS X (10.4.5)

Joe, you are the man!
I removed the 512 RAM card and put it back in. It worked on the first try. However, when restarting to run diagnositics it would not start, and consistently did the three beep thing on each start attempt, with the sleep light flashing periodically. I believe that indicates the memory slot problem which seems to be a frequent problem with these units. So then I moved the RAM card to the second slot, and it has started sucessfully each time since. I think that confirms a memory slot problem. I ran the extensive diagnostics, and it passed everything. I've now confirmed as well that it is the latest OS; 10.4.8.
Has anybody had any sucess getting warranty for the memory slot, when the serial number is outside the range which Apple officially recognizes the problem to be? See link below. My daughter's unit starts with W8535.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303173#faq2

Powerbook G4 won't start up past grey screen

Hello. I'm a little worried about my mac.
It doesn't start up past the grey apple screen. I hear the start up sound, and I hear the hard disk start spinning, but after a while the only thing I hear is the fans. The longest I've let it try was about an hour, and still nothing. I've tried resetting the PRAM and resetting the PMU. I don't have the OS 10.5 install disc with me at the moment, so I can't use that.
Some events that may have led up to the problem:
I installed the latest software update last night. Installation was sucessful, and I restarted. Everything was fine on restart, so I put the computer to sleep for the night. Today when I woke it up, one of the toolbars in the Finder was open (probably not a problem, but unusual). Everything seemed fine and then I opened Text Edit. It was bouncing in the dock for about a minute, so I tried to force quit, and after a while it eventually stopped bouncing. Then I tried a restart, and I got a message saying it was unsuccessful because Text Edit failed to quit, but there was no marker under it in the dock. Tried again, and I ended up having to do a ctrl-command-power. After that, I haven't been able to get past the grey start up screen.
PLEASE HELP Thanks!

If that's the case, then what I would do next is to use TDM to clone the contents of your problem drive onto an external FireWire drive using either SuperDuper! or Carbon Copy Cloner to make sure you have a backup of everything. Once done make sure you test the backup by restarting from the external drive.
Next thing I would do is run DiskWarrior (sometimes it can be a directory issue that might be causing problems) to check that everything is still OK on the drive. It might be worth running DW on the external backup whilst you are at it. If DW finds nothing wrong then I would consider reformatting the drive and installing a fresh copy of OS X onto it to test if everything works fine. On the other hand if DW finds problems, it might be able to fix them so that you can restart properly.
If after all that everything works then you can try cloning everything back from the external drive onto the PowerBook's internal drive.

Uhhhhh, my Powerbook G4 won't start! Help!

Hello, I had a Powerbook G4 laptop a few months ago that worked well and everything was fine, that was until I broke the screen. Then, about a week ago, I found another without a broken screen but a bad Logic Board. So I figured I could swap Logic Boards (both looked exactly the same, same model) and It would work good as new. Boy was I wrong. I've tried everything, and yet I can't get it to turn on. I have performed maentenance on macs before and I am quite tech saavy so to speak, but for whatever reason this will not turn on. I really need help. Any ideas?
I know the Logic board from my older laptop works, I just didn't have a screen to use it. Now I do, but it won't boot. I have 2 batteries (both good), charger, hard drive, ram, and everything that would normally come in a powerbook. Thanks for anybody who could help me troubleshoot and fix this, I've been needing a computer for some time now and I was hoping this would do the trick. Thanks!

Well I tried this but still nothing. I am really unsure about what else to do. I know all the parts work and that they are in the right places. Are there connectors that may be causing issues for it to not get power? Like, the power plug on the back isn't getting a connection to the logic board?
Another thing is, I don't know if my battery is dead or if I need a new one. Same for the charger. Will it turn on without a battery? Like, wiyh just the charger?
Thanks
Oh and yes I have checked the connector from the keyboard to the logic board. Is there another connection that could be causing this issue? i.e. power button isnt connected?

PowerBook G4 won't start OS X

My PowerBook G4 has stalled at the screen that says, "Starting Mac OS X." The blue bar goes all the way across but the next screen never appears. I don't know the version of the operating system and obviously can't look it up since the computer isn't running.

Try repairing the directory as my FAQ* explains:
http://www.macmaps.com/directoryfaq.html
And if you lost the installer disks, call AppleCare for replacement disks:
http://www.apple.com/contact/phone_contacts.html
If you got the machine third hand, contact the seller for replacement disks, or ask them to call AppleCare for you. They are not their's to keep, as the disks are part of every Mac sold.
* Links to my pages may give me compensation.

Powerbook G4 won't start up, can't eject DVD

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