PowerMac G5 won't boot, but loads OS X/Linux install CD. Help?

I have a PowerMac G5 with a problem: It won't boot. I tried resetting most things and then finally tried formatting and installing linux (Ubuntu 12.04 PPC). The install appeared to work but on reboot I got a white screen and from there the fans slowly went to full blast.
(The white screen and fans happened before linux, too) The drives work perfectly. The hardware must not be completely dead because it can boot from a cd. Can someone help?
Specs: G5 1.8 ghz(DP), 8GB RAM.

I've not convinced it could not be a harddrive problem.
I'd get an external hd & try installing to the external hd or get another internal hd & try installing to that. You need an external bootable firewire drive.
You need an external Firewire drive to boot a PowerPC Mac computer [ a few G5's will boot from USB ].
I recommend you do a google search on any external harddrive you are looking at.
I bought a low cost external drive enclosure. When I started having trouble with it, I did a google search and found a lot of complaints about the drive enclosure. I ended up buying a new drive enclosure. On my second go around, I decided to buy a drive enclosure with a good history of working with Macs. The chip set seems to be the key ingredient. The Oxford line of chips seems to be good. I got the Oxford 911.
I'd give OWC a call. 1-815-338-8685.
FireWire 800 + USB 3, + eSATA
save a little money interface:
FireWire 400 + USB 2.0
This web page lists both external harddrive types. You may need to scroll to the right to see both.
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/1394/USB/EliteAL/eSATA_FW800_FW400_USB
     (2) FireWire 800/400 Ports (Up to 100MB/s / 50MB/s)
     (1) USB 3.0 Port (Up to 500MB/s / 60MB/s)
     (1) eSATA Port (Up to 300MB/s)
Has a combo firewire 800/400 port. Not sure what this is. Looks like you will need 400 cable.
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/ministack
You could run hd diagnostics.
We will be better diagnosing X than Linux.
Does it work from a linux live hd? Ubuntu 6.06 LTS
I recall Ubuntu stopped supporting the PPC in '96 / '97. Anything later is community supported which for my iMac g3 was unreliable. I had to mess around with the x11 configuration to get the display working. Can you get into command line?
Ubuntu 6.06 LTS with x11 configuration changes worked for me.
Ubuntu
The Ubuntu folks stopped supporting the power PC a while back. You will have to install an older version of Ubuntu.
You need to modify xorg.conf. See:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=219532
Mac G3 modem install Howto
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=355205
You will have adjust adjust xorg.conf. See these instructions:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=234437
I was able to get the last official versions of Ubuntu working on my G3 600.
6.10 Edgy Eft,
6.06 Dapper Drake
I used the alternate install and did the alterations noted above.
These versions are listed at the very bottom of the page.
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/PowerPCDownloads
I'd try Debian etc.
Robert

Similar Messages

Powermac G5 won't boot - but safe mode works fine!!!

[The computer described below is a Powermac G5 dual core 2.7gHz, purchased in late 2005, running OS X 10.4.11]
Here's an odd thing... a few months back, my powermac stopped booting. It wasn't a power supply issue. I would get the white screen with the apple to come up, but when it was time for the blue screen with the user logins, the screen would go black.
I tried swapping out all the RAM, and nothing worked. Was able to get safe mode to work, once, and then never again. Finally I broke down and took my baby to Tekserve.
Tekserve took a MONTH to get it back to me, and they claimed it was a bad RAM set. This sounded really odd to me, since I thought I had correctly tested several sticks of RAM, and even no RAM, without any success. But I'm not one of the experts, so, hey. My computer was running again and that's all I cared about.
Well, now, about 3 weeks later, my computer will not boot. It started with the loud fans. Now I'm not having any fan noise, but it still won't boot. Here's how I've troubleshot it so far:
- The computer boots FINE in safe mode. I verified the disc in safe mode, and everything checks out. Everything also checks out using fsdk -fy in single user mode. So no disc problem, apparently.
- When I reset the PRAM using crtlopt+pr after the chime, the screen resolution changes from 1200x1024 to 800x600. After the white screen, I do get the blue screen, but WITHOUT any user login, and the mouse cursor does not show up.
- When I reset the NVRAM using open firmware (reset-nvram, set-defaults, reset-all), I'm back to my normal problem of white screen followed by black nothingness (and emotional despair).
Tonight I'm going to try swapping out the RAM again, but if that doesn't work, what's next? I don't know where I put the original Hardware Test DVD that came with the powermac... is there a program I can buy to see if this is my logic board, without bringing the powermac back into tekserve? I live in NYC and have no car; bringing this heavy item into Manhattan is a real issue for me!!!
Anyways, any and all info is greatly appreciated. I really hope I'm overlooking something obvious. Natch, neither Apple nor Tekserve want to give me any advice without me shelling over more of my hard-earned cash. And this all went down 3 months after applecare expired... sigh...

Very interesting... they're telling me (at Tekserve) that this problem is caused by bad sectors in my SECONDARY drive. Doesn't make any sense to me at all, but that's what they're saying... pretty sure the RAM and video card are fine. I tried resetting NVRAM and PRAM, and that did nothing... safe mode works fine, as I mentioned... even got it running in normal mode for about 30 seconds one time.
It's the shop now, so we'll see, when I get the computer back, what the real problem was. It makes me flabbergasted that bad sectors in my secondary drive could have any effect whatsoever on boot!

My 2006 iMac running Snow Leopard won't boot even after erasing and re-installing Snow Leopard (via my MacBookPro), either from the HD or DVD drive. Can't get it to run Hardware Test. Disk Utility says disk OK - files are there. What can I do?

My 2006 iMac running Snow Leopard won't boot even after erasing and re-installing Snow Leopard. I erased and re-installed by putting the iMac in Target Disk mode and usin my MacBookPro as the host. But after numerous attempts I still can't get it to boot either from the HD or DVD drive. I just get the white screen after the wheel stops spinning. I can't get it to run Hardware Test - just get the white screen. If I use Disk Utility via my MBP it says the disk appears OK. All the Snow Leopad files appear to have been installed. What can I do?

Hi-NRG Bwoy wrote:
I erased and re-installed by putting the iMac in Target Disk mode and using my MacBookPro as the host.
Reet the SMC and the PRAM
 Cheat sheet to help diagnose and fix your Mac
Perhaps you installed the wrong version OS X onto the iMac, you can't use the disk from another Mac.
clean the disk.
If it's not working then use this method to create a bootable 10.6 USB from the iMac machine specific 10.6 disk or the 10.6.3 retail disk on your other Mac, use it to boot the iMac with.
http://www.maciverse.com/install-os-x-snow-leopard-from-usb-flash-drive.html
How to erase and install Snow Leopard 10.6

Powermac G5 won't boot past apple logo screen

I'm trying to repair a Powermac G5 (dual 2.0, the first model I believe, with a new Radeon 9800 graphics card) that won't boot and I'm having some problems that I can't seem to diagnose.
The machine will boot to the openfirmware prompt or target disc mode and will show the 'OS not found' icon if left to boot from the HD (which has been wiped). If I try to boot from either the included restore disc or a retail 10.4 DVD I've tried it will show the boot screen with the Apple logo on it but no spinning status indicator underneath. It just freezes on that screen. Once it showed the status indicator but it just continued to spin for about 30 mins, at which point I gave up. Same issue if I try to boot the hardware test (except it freezes on the hardware test loading icon rather than the Apple icon). The superdrive appears to work as it is accessible in target disc mode.
I've reset the SMU and reset the PRAM via the keyboard shortcut. The one thing that leads me to think it's a firmware fault is that when I run the 'reset-nvram' command it gives an OK, but when I then run 'reset-all' it freezes rather than rebooting. Any ideas anyone?

I am having the same problem with my Power Mac G5. I have had a problem with the machine for the last few months, I just turned it off waiting for Leopard (started using a laptop for projects).
I got Leopard, tried to boot off the DVD, I only get to the grey Apple logo and then after a few minutes the fans kick on high and I just have to shut the machine down.
I didn't want to lose any thing off my hard drive so I went and bought a new one and installed it, when that failed to install to, I bought a new optical drive. It still won't boot off the optical drive. I can go into the firmware and choose which drive to boot from (I choose the optical).
My configuration at this point is a new DVD drive, new unformatted hard drive, I have used a laptop to try to install from using the G5 in target mode, using the laptop in target mode to use as an optical drive. All of these steps have failed.
I have 4 gig of RAM, Pioneer 112D DVD, Maxtor 250 Gig HD, I have reset the SMU, I have the NVidia card (can't remember which model).
Any ideas where else to look for a solution?

PowerMac G4 Won't Boot

I recently got a PowerMac G4, and have had the thing for a month or so. For the entire month, everything seemed to be working fine. A few ownership changes here and there to allow for reading/writing, but nothing major. After shutting down the Mac (something I regularly do) and restarting it, the machine turned itself off. Restarting, I pushed Command+V to show output.
I get the normal boot messages, but then the machine pauses at this:
jnl: unknown-dev: journal start/end pointers reset!
After that, it continues loading for several minutes, then repeats this line approximately 20-30 times within a 1-2 second period before turning off:
USBF OHCI Driver: OHCIRootHubPortPower bit not sticking (0), Retrying
I removed my third party USB PCI card, to no avail. The only thing I currently have plugged into the logic board USB port is the Apple keyboard and mouse.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
For the record:
2GB RAM - Reseated and tested
PMU has been reset.
All PCI and video cards have been removed to ensure they aren't the culprit.
Red LED light on motherboard above memory is illuminated.
Machine won't boot off CD.
When the machine is turned on, I do get the Apple boot screen, but when it should switch to the login prompt, the machine powers off.

Update:
Here is the complete output of the boot:
Darwin Kernel Version 9.2.2 Tue Mar 4 21:23:43 PST 2008; root:xnu-1228.4.31~1/RELEASE_PPC
standard timeslicing quantum is 10000 us
vmpagebootstrap: 511099 free pages and 13189 wired pages
migtable_maxdispl = 79
Extension "com.apple.drivier.AppleMacRISC2PE" has immediate dependencies on both com.apple.kernel and com.apple.kpi components; use only one style.
Loading security extension com.apple.security.TMSafetyNet
calling mpopoliciyinit for TMSafetyNet
Security policy loaded: Safety net for Time Machine (TMSafetyNet)
Loading security extension com.apple.nke.applicationfirewall
Loading security extension com.apple.security.seatbelt
calling mpopolicyinit for mb
Seatbelt MACF policy initialized
Security policy loaded: Seatbelt Policy (mb)
Copyright (c) 1982,1986,1989,1991,1993
The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
Mac Framework successfully initialized
using 10485 biffer headers and 4096 cluster IO buffer headers
Extension "com.apple.driver.ApplePMU has immediate dependencies on both com.apple.kernel and com.apple.kpi components; use only one style.
FireWire (OHCI Apple ID 31 built-in now active, GUID 00a95fffe6a1270; max speed s800
ApplePMU::CLOCK RESET! PMU WAS PROBABLY RESET SOMEHOW!!
mbinit: done
Security auditing service present
BSM auditing present
rooting via boot-uuid from /chosen:39818732-A5D6-33D1-B8CE-701FF43A41F
Wating in <dict ID="0"><key>IOProviderClass</key><string ID="1">IOResources</string><key>IOResourceMatch</key><string ID="2">boot-uuod-media</string></dict>
Got boot device = IOService:/MacRISC2PE/pci@4000000/AppleMacRiscPCI/ata-6@D/AppleKauaiATA/ATADevi ceNub@0/Apple ATADiskDriver/IOATABlockStorageDevice/IOBlockStorageDriver/ST380024A ST380024A/IOApplePartitionScheme/Untitled@9
BSD root: disk0s9, major 14, minor 7
jnl: unknown-dev: journal start/end pointers reset!(jnl 0x3119f00; s 0x29d000 e 0x29d000)
syncing disks... Killing all processes
continuing
done
CPU halted
USBF: OHCI driver:OHCIRootHubPortPower bit not sticking (0), Retrying,
USBF: OHCI driver:OHCIRootHubPortPower bit not sticking (0), Retrying,
USBF: OHCI driver:OHCIRootHubPortPower bit not sticking (0), Retrying,
USBF: OHCI driver:OHCIRootHubPortPower bit not sticking (0), Retrying,
USBF: OHCI driver:OHCIRootHubPortPower bit not sticking (0), Retrying,
USBF: OHCI driver:OHCIRootHubPortPower bit not sticking (0), Retrying,
USBF: OHCI driver:OHCIRootHubPortPower bit not sticking (0), Retrying,
USBF: OHCI driver:OHCIRootHubPortPower bit not sticking (0), Retrying,
USBF: OHCI driver:OHCIRootHubPortPower bit not sticking (0), Retrying,
USBF: OHCI driver:OHCIRootHubPortPower bit not sticking (0), Retrying,
USBF: OHCI driver:OHCIRootHubPortPower bit not sticking (0), Retrying,
USBF: OHCI driver:OHCIRootHubPortPower bit not sticking (0), Retrying,
USBF: OHCI driver:OHCIRootHubPortPower bit not sticking (0), Retrying,
USBF: OHCI driver:OHCIRootHubPortPower bit not sticking (0), Retrying,
USBF: OHCI driver:OHCIRootHubPortPower bit not sticking (0), Retrying,
USBF: OHCI driver:OHCIRootHubPortPower bit not sticking (0), Retrying,
USBF: OHCI driver:OHCIRootHubPortPower bit not sticking (0), Retrying,
USBF: OHCI driver:OHCIRootHubPortPower bit not sticking (0), Retrying,
USBF: OHCI driver:OHCIRootHubPortPower bit not sticking (0), Retrying,
USBF: OHCI driver:OHCIRootHubPortPower bit not sticking (0), Retrying,
USBF: OHCI driver:OHCIRootHubPortPower bit not sticking (0), Retrying,
USBF: OHCI driver:OHCIRootHubPortPower bit not sticking (0), Retrying,
USBF: OHCI driver:OHCIRootHubPortPower bit not sticking (0), Retrying,
USBF: OHCI driver:OHCIRootHubPortPower bit not sticking (0), Retrying,
USBF: OHCI driver:OHCIRootHubPortPower bit not sticking (0), Retrying,
USBF: OHCI driver:OHCIRootHubPortPower bit not sticking (0), Retrying,
USBF: OHCI driver:OHCIRootHubPortPower bit not sticking (0), Retrying,
USBF: OHCI driver:OHCIRootHubPortPower bit not sticking (0), Retrying,
USBF: OHCI driver:OHCIRootHubPortPower bit not sticking (0), Retrying,
USBF: OHCI driver:OHCIRootHubPortPower bit not sticking (0), Retrying,
USBF: OHCI driver:OHCIRootHubPortPower bit not sticking (0), Retrying,
USBF: OHCI driver:OHCIRootHubPortPower bit not sticking (0), Retrying,
USBF: OHCI driver:OHCIRootHubPortPower bit not sticking (0), Retrying,
USBF: OHCI driver:OHCIRootHubPortPower bit not sticking (0), Retrying,
*Computer powers off at this point.

Macintosh HD won't boot, but disk utility says "The volume Macintosh HD appears to be OK." How do I repair the hard drive?

I have a MacBook that needs its internal hard drive's Macintosh HD partition repaired, as the boot screen freezes on startup. I am running a separate, working mac OS from an external hard drive in order to run disk utility and repair the MacBook's internal OS. The issue is, it has dismounted the internal Macintosh HD partition, and won't remount. And in addition to that, the Verify Disk option returns with, "The volume Macintosh HD appears to be OK." I've run Verify Disk and Repair Disk a few times, all with that same result. And the internal OS still won't boot.
I have attempted to make a disk image of the internal Macintosh HD partition and save it to my external hard drive so I can wipe the internal hard drive clean and restore the image, but I receive errors when trying to create the disk image, and when trying to erase the hard drive (I know, I should try to erase the hard drive when I haven't made an image. When I tried to erase the hard drive, the image wasn't done and I thought it was. I got an error for erase, and I got an error for making the disk image) I have tried making a disk image multiple times and haven't been able to create one.
There is also a boot camp partition on the internal hard drive which is of no importance as to whether it stays or is erased.

Reinstall OS X 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/.

Powermac G5 Won't boot

Hello, last night I was using my computer just chatting with people, then all of the sudden it shuts off. Now it won't boot past the apple grey loading screen, and the fans slowly rev up till they are full boar, and I have to shut it off for them to stop.
I've reset the PRAM, the SMU/PMU, tried holding alt and selecting my drive to boot to. None of these did anything, and didn't help at all.
I've heard it's a processer or logic board failure, or a HD failure, or something else. I'm ready to buy a new computer, I'm actually kind of sick of this one, I just want to know if I can fix it or not.
I will probably take it to the apple store just to make sure, but maybe I can get an answer on here to know how to fix it or just to know that it's dead.
Please help, thanks!

You can call the Apple Store and ask.
Last October a year ago when my PM G5 Quad died I called my local Apple Store. It turns out that they had a guy there who knew how to work on the G5. Over the phone he explained to me how to check it out. After doing all of the checks, what he told me was that I had lost one of PowerPC processors. He then told me what it would take to repair it. I thanked him and then explained that I was going to upgrade to a Mac Pro.
Who knows you might get lucky also.
Allan

OS 9 Powermac G3 Won't boot from CD

My OS 9 CD won't boot on my B&W G3. I want to install OS 9 and then install OS 10.3 on top of that but I can't get it to boot from the OS9 CD. Any ideas?
Message was edited by: plop1234

The Option key at startup should bring up Startup Manager where you can select from available startup disks. If you have the Mac OS 9 disk in the drive, it should be one of the options. Your Panther system should be another option.
If you are using a non-Apple keyboard, I'm not sure it will work, but the Option key is the Alt key on a Windows keyboard. If you were using the C key at startup to boot the optical drive, maybe that's why it did not work, because it was not an Apple keyboard.
A dead PRAM battery can cause startup problems. If it was very weak, resetting PRAM may have drained it the rest of the way. It looks like this
http://eshop.macsales.com/item-specials/Newer%20Technology/BAA36VPRAM/
If you have a voltmeter, you can check your battery to see of you get 3.6v.

PB Screen Dead? Won't Boot, But Second Monitor Will

My 7-year-old G4 17" Powerbook won't boot via it's onboard LCD display...but a second monitor will. I'm assuming the monitor should be replaced, or perhaps a video card?
What's typically the problem associated with these symptoms?
Thanks for any help.
Terry D

Step one is to boot the computer and shine a light through the "Apple" window on the back of the display and see if you see anything happening on the display. This may be a little tricky, but the best time to do this is during the boot process when usually things happen in the center of the screen. (I am assuming that you have already tried the brightness control, as I have had problems with the TiBooks going to minimum brightness on boot for some reason as yet unknown to me, though I can still at least see some detail on the screen.)
Now, if the display is actually changing when you are providing an artificial backlight, then you are maybe in luck a little bit, since it is likely that the so-called Inverter Board has crapped out. These can be replaced with varying degrees of difficulty from almost trivial to a little involved. Find your machine here on the iFixit site for more information and a guide to changing the board.
The other possibility is that the fluorescent panel panel has itself died, which would require a much more involved repair and probably would not be worth it.

Mini 2009 won't boot but will boot holding option key...

My mini early 2009 with OS X 10.8.2, won't boot normally, it will show a black screen after a while then will appear in large letters this:
No bootable device -- insert boot disk and press any key.
So, I unplug the power cord and wait a minute and re-plug it, then I press the start button while holding the "option " key down until the screen becomes grey and there I have the choice to start with the Macintosh HD or the Macintosh Recovery 10.8.2. So I choose Macintosh HD and it boots fine.
After the above, everything is fine. I used Disk Utility to repair permissions and everything was OK then I clicked on repair disk and again everything is ok.
But the problem is still there each time I start the computer.
It started after I opened Boot Camp Assistant to check my Windows XP partition which the icon disappeared from my desktop.
What are my possibilities? Thanks in advance.

Hi RRFS,
as you mentioned: In System Preferences under Startup Disk do you have your Mac HD selected? Did you lock it in (bottom left the little lock)?
The lock was open on the lower left. Using Disk Utilities, after a few Repair Disk Permissions and Repair Disk and downloading the Mac OOS X 10.8.2 Combo update and the 10.8.2 Supplemental Update, then again Verify Disk Permissions and Verify Disk, everything was OK.
So I started again the computer normally, but it took a longer time to boot, then my Desktop came back normally.
So, the problem has finally been solved for now. Now, it's the latest 10.8.3 update.
Thanks for trying to help with a question.

Arch x86_64 won't boot, but i686 will. Live USB and HDD.

To be more succinct, what could cause 64 bit arch not to boot when 32 bit arch boots fine on a non-UEFI system that supports 64 bit, when all other variables are constant?
My first response seeing this post would be to immediately assume the noob (me) posting this doesn't know the difference between a 32 and 64 bit system. However, "ubuntu-14.04.1-desktop-amd64.iso" (latest 64 bit ubuntu iso) boots from live USB and installs without error. It also came preinstalled with Windows 7 (64 bit), so I'm relatively sure it supports x86_64.
I wrote "archlinux-2014.08.01-dual.iso" (MD5 verified) to my USB. Selecting i686 boots fine. Selecting x86_64 restarts my system, eventually sending me back to the arch live menu after it posts.
Upon recommendation by a WonderWoofy on reddit, I tried to install arch x86_64 by bootstrapping and chrooting from the 64 bit ubuntu live usb. I ended up with same problem, where attempting to load arch reboots my system immediately.
Right now, I'm assuming it's the same issue booting from the live usb (arch iso) and from the arch installation on my hard drive, since they seem identical to me. I haven't tried recreating the install for i686 to see if it works (mainly because it's late -- if it'll help I'll do it upon suggestion).
Here's the only text that shows once I attempt to boot into arch. This is from the hard drive and using syslinux (which is pointed at my root partition on sda -- I don't have a boot partition).
Loading ../vmlinuz-linux... ok
Loading ../initramfs-linux.img...ok
Probing EDD (edd=off to disable)... ok
Which doesn't look like it's messing up anywhere...
And of course I'm a noob so go easy on me x)
UPDATE: I found this thread but I'm not seeing his error message, so I'm not sure what to do.
Last edited by SirProudNoob (2014-08-13 02:54:24)

It's an Intel Core 2 Quad processor. Are there any more diagnostic commands that would be helpful? I didn't see anything else in util-linux that might help...
Here's the output for "lscpu":
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ lscpu
Architecture: x86_64
CPU op-mode(s): 32-bit, 64-bit
Byte Order: Little Endian
CPU(s): 4
On-line CPU(s) list: 0-3
Thread(s) per core: 1
Core(s) per socket: 4
Socket(s): 1
NUMA node(s): 1
Vendor ID: GenuineIntel
CPU family: 6
Model: 23
Stepping: 10
CPU MHz: 2327.537
BogoMIPS: 4655.07
L1d cache: 32K
L1i cache: 32K
L2 cache: 2048K
NUMA node0 CPU(s): 0-3

Ibook g4 won't boot, but hard drive seems fine

I have a ibook g4,800mhz. osx 10.4.8
On start up i get the folder & question mark. I have tried the following.
1) i booted with an os install disk. disk utilities reported the drive was ok it but couldn't see a disk partition so disk first aid had nothing to do.
2) next i ran disk warrior which had the same probably, it could see the hard drive, reported that the drive was functioning, but saw no partition.
3) finally i gave up and reformatted the disk, and re installed an os. this worked for 48 hours at which time the problem came back.
4) i can put the laptop in firewire mode connect it to a desktop and access the hard drive. I can format the disk using apple disk tools, i can install an new os, but after all this it still won't boot from the internal hd.
5) I reset the pram. also tried starting up with the option key down .. no hard drive is visible when i do this.
So the hard drive seems to work ok. Two different disk utilities see the hard drive and think its functioning ok. OSx installer runs without complaint, but the &$%! won't boot from the hd.
Anybody got any suggestions?

...this worked for 48 hours at which time the problem came back...
This is the time period that I was commenting on. If something was used during that time that corrupted the OS, it would cause the situation you are in.
If everything is perfect with the OS then something is wrong with the hard drive or the motherboard's interface to the hard drive.

Won't boot, but need to boot!

My G4 iBook won't boot.... I know that other people are and have had this problem because of an over-full system hard-drive.
I have a number of installed applications that I really really need to leave on the system but I'm quite happy to nuke everything else.
I've got the system disc in the drive but it just won't boot it always seems to hang. I've no other Mac can anyone suggest a solution? as I have some important things that I need to do with it!
Cheers
Hvxuser.....
There are various sets of keys you can press during boot to force it to boot from the CD drive... would that help?

Hello,
*"There are various sets of keys you can press during boot to force it to boot from the CD drive... would that help?"*
Try booting while holding down the Option key first.
Startup Manager: How to select a startup volume
Mac OS X keyboard shortcuts
Carolyn

Snow leopard won't boot, but windows bootcamp does.

My mac has a partitioned hardrive. I have xp on one side and snow leopard on the other. Starting yesterday, snow leopard won't boot. I ran the apple hardware test and came up with these 2 codes: 4MOT/4/40000003:HDD-1347 and -1352. The mac still runs properly though if started with xp.

That error is the HDD cooling fan I believe.
Could be many things, we should start with this...
"Try Disk Utility
1. Insert the Mac OS X Install disc, then restart the computer while holding the C key.
2. When your computer finishes starting up from the disc, choose Disk Utility from the Installer menu at top of the screen. (In Mac OS X 10.4 or later, you must select your language first.)
*Important: Do not click Continue in the first screen of the Installer. If you do, you must restart from the disc again to access Disk Utility.*
3. Click the First Aid tab.
4. Select your Mac OS X volume.
5. Click Repair Disk, (not Repair Permissions). Disk Utility checks and repairs the disk."
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214
Then try a Safe Boot, (holding Shift key down at bootup), run Disk Utility in Applications>Utilities, then highlight your drive, click on Repair Permissions, reboot when it completes.
(Safe boot may stay on the gray radian for a long time, let it go, it's trying to repair the Hard Drive.)
If perchance you can't find your install Disc, or are running 10.7+, at least try it from the Safe Boot part onward.
Re-install if that doesn't work.

Msi-865gm3-v won't boot but will power on

Can somebody tell me why my new motherboard MSI 865GM3-V Intel Celeron 2.93GHZ Motherboard Combo won't boot .
i have a new power supply
thank you

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PowerMac G5 won't boot, but loads OS X/Linux install CD. Help?

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