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TICKET ARCHIVE -> Blinking ? Mark
mathteachergoneastray - Jul 4, 2005 - 1:01 pm
I need some major help on my G4 laptop MacOSX. I have tried resetting the PRAM and PM and opening firmware to change boot setup. Nothing seems to get rid of the blinking ? mark. I can't see extensions to turn them off or access anything past this symbol. I don't want to completely reformat the computer if I can get some help because I will lose some very valuable data I need to access.
Thanks
Thanks
DeltaMac - Jul 4, 2005 - 1:22 pm
The blinking ? means that your Mac can't find the boot software. This could mean that some minor piece of the system software is out of place, or corrupted. This could also mean that your hard drive has failed completely - which I don't think you want to hear.
Speaking of hearing, do you hear any unusual noises from inside the PowerBook - clicks or rattles or other noises you have not heard before?
You should try a normal boot, while holding command (Apple key) and the letter s. You should see a text screen, with a few lines that scroll down, When you see the prompt, type /sbin/fsck -yf and press enter. This is a file system check, which will give you a good idea about the condition of the hard drive. This runs for a couple of minutes, and you should see 'no problems found'. If you see 'file system modified' or something like that, run the same command again, until it passes with no problem found. If it continues with the same error, or repairs the same problem for 3 times, then you need some software that has more capabilities, such as DiskWarrior.
Let me know how it goes -
- Dale
Speaking of hearing, do you hear any unusual noises from inside the PowerBook - clicks or rattles or other noises you have not heard before?
You should try a normal boot, while holding command (Apple key) and the letter s. You should see a text screen, with a few lines that scroll down, When you see the prompt, type /sbin/fsck -yf and press enter. This is a file system check, which will give you a good idea about the condition of the hard drive. This runs for a couple of minutes, and you should see 'no problems found'. If you see 'file system modified' or something like that, run the same command again, until it passes with no problem found. If it continues with the same error, or repairs the same problem for 3 times, then you need some software that has more capabilities, such as DiskWarrior.
Let me know how it goes -
- Dale
mathteachergoneastray - Jul 4, 2005 - 1:38 pm
Thanks, Dale. Nothing happens when I press command s. It still blinks. I had installed AOL before it happened. Is there a backdoor to uninstall AOL from the extensions menu?
DeltaMac - Jul 4, 2005 - 1:57 pm
What happened to your post?
What version of OS X are you using? You did mention turning off extensions, which implies that you are not using OS X, but OS 9 ?
If OS X, have you tried booting to your OS X installer CD?
If OS 9, have you tried booting to your 9 installer CD, or a restore disk.
Either way, you can try to test the disk
OS X, from the Installer menu, choose Disk Utility, and try a Disk repair.
OS 9, Open the Utilities folder and run Disk First Aid.
I doubt that installing AOL would give this result, just a coincidence, and you have to boot to the system to uninstall AOL, which you can't do at this point.
Give these ideas some thought and get back to me
- Dale
What version of OS X are you using? You did mention turning off extensions, which implies that you are not using OS X, but OS 9 ?
If OS X, have you tried booting to your OS X installer CD?
If OS 9, have you tried booting to your 9 installer CD, or a restore disk.
Either way, you can try to test the disk
OS X, from the Installer menu, choose Disk Utility, and try a Disk repair.
OS 9, Open the Utilities folder and run Disk First Aid.
I doubt that installing AOL would give this result, just a coincidence, and you have to boot to the system to uninstall AOL, which you can't do at this point.
Give these ideas some thought and get back to me
- Dale
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