PowerBook Won't Startup

Question

Help!
This is long so bare with me. I had the original OSX on my PowerBook when it was purchased in 2001. I have since updated the system software due to the quantity of programs I use and the demand for new ones. The system software I am now running is 10.4.2. I've noticed my computer running really slow in the past 4-6 months, but I installed 10.4.2 approx. 9 months ago.
Strange thing happened the ther night. I went to print, and the print window just kept running, and it said I had too many applications open to print. I had Mac mail and Safari open. ? So, I tried to quit out of them, and also throw extra applications off my hard drive that I didn't need anymore to free up space, and my computer just froze. I forced restart and have not been able to reboot it correctly since.
I get the Apple image and the little spinning wheel when I restar it, but then it just keep's spinning and eventually goes away to just a blank blue screen. It will stay this way for hours. I've tried restarting holding down "c" and rebooting from it's original system cd. That's not working. It's trying to find my hard drive to reinstall the software, and it's as if my hard drive (and extra external hard drive) do not exsist.
All I want to do is get myself back up and running. I got bills to pay online! Are you feelin' me? Any help here is greatly appreciated!!
PowerBook G4   Mac OS X (10.4.2)  

Answer 1

Hello! When trying to boot from the install cd holding the "c" key down usually requires holding it down for a good 2-5 minutes depending on several factors. As for the external drive if it has a bootable syatem on it you should reboot holding the option key down when will bring up a list of bootable partitions so you can select the ext. drive. Holding the "x" key down forces an OSX boot if a valid OSX system can be found. You might also run fsck.
when you re-start, hold down the apple key AND the "S" key
You'll start up into a command line interface.. it'll look strange but just hang in there.
When it's done booting up, you should see something that looks like this:
localhost:/ root#
at this point, type in 'fsck -f" please note the space before the dash, and of course, ignore the quote marks, then hit return
You computer will no go thru some low level checks on your HD. Most likely you'll get a list of a few files that have problems and this procedure will fix them.
This should take about 2 or 3 mins, so don't be in a rush.
When the line says "VOLUME WAS MODIFIED", this means that changes were made.
At this point you should be back at the same
localhost:/ root# prompt.
run fsck -f again.
Wait for it to finish.
if you continue to get the "Volume was modified" message,
continue to run fsck -f until you'll get a prompt that says
The Volume(your HD) appears to be ok,
again with the localhost:/ root# prompt.
AT this point, type reboot, hit enter and your computer will start up normally.
This is not difficult, but you may want to give it a shot when your feel you have a few moments where you can attempt something new and not stress too much.
Good Luck, Tom