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TICKET ARCHIVE -> Boot Issue - Os 9 On a Ibook M2453
mes - Aug 2, 2005 - 1:51 am
I am visiting a friend on the East Coast who pulled out an iBook M2453 from her closet that she had not used for two years. The idea was to load AOL on it so her mother could use for email.
It booted just fine and AOL seemed to load fine. It then froze for some unknown reason. After turning the system off and back on, the OS came up again, but not fully because the "watch" pointer never turned to a normal pointer and you could not do anything with the system, even after leaving it a half hour. After turning the system off and on again another time, it only played the "greeting sound" goes to a blank dull gray screen with nothing on it.
I found an FAQ on your site with startup mode information. I followed the directions to bring the system up in Safe Mode, Single User Mode, and to reset the PRAM, in that order. The results did not change except that I did get the second "greeting sound" as described in the PRAM reset instructions..but no pointer, no prompt; just a blank screen. In fact since trying the PRAM reset, I don't even get the "greeting sound" anymore.
I pulled the plug and battery out for over a half hour with no change afterwards. The disk sounds like it is spinning OK.
Any ideas for getting somewhere beyond a spinning disk and blank screen? Is this thing just dead? The owner will be back tomorrow but I doubt that she has the OS disk. I have systems experience with VMS, UNIX and Windows, but no experience beyond a user on Macs and that was almost ten years ago.
Any ideas would be appreciated.
Mark
It booted just fine and AOL seemed to load fine. It then froze for some unknown reason. After turning the system off and back on, the OS came up again, but not fully because the "watch" pointer never turned to a normal pointer and you could not do anything with the system, even after leaving it a half hour. After turning the system off and on again another time, it only played the "greeting sound" goes to a blank dull gray screen with nothing on it.
I found an FAQ on your site with startup mode information. I followed the directions to bring the system up in Safe Mode, Single User Mode, and to reset the PRAM, in that order. The results did not change except that I did get the second "greeting sound" as described in the PRAM reset instructions..but no pointer, no prompt; just a blank screen. In fact since trying the PRAM reset, I don't even get the "greeting sound" anymore.
I pulled the plug and battery out for over a half hour with no change afterwards. The disk sounds like it is spinning OK.
Any ideas for getting somewhere beyond a spinning disk and blank screen? Is this thing just dead? The owner will be back tomorrow but I doubt that she has the OS disk. I have systems experience with VMS, UNIX and Windows, but no experience beyond a user on Macs and that was almost ten years ago.
Any ideas would be appreciated.
Mark
Cheryl - Aug 2, 2005 - 9:00 am
Mark,
All those things you did work when you have OS X installed. Do you know exactly what OS is on the iBook? Do you know how much memory is installed on it?
Depending on what OS is on it, will depend on the next step. I await your response.
--------
Let me know if you need further assistance and thank you for using MacOSX.com !
Cheryl
All those things you did work when you have OS X installed. Do you know exactly what OS is on the iBook? Do you know how much memory is installed on it?
Depending on what OS is on it, will depend on the next step. I await your response.
--------
Let me know if you need further assistance and thank you for using MacOSX.com !
Cheryl
mes - Aug 2, 2005 - 9:24 am
My friend is back today and she told me that she purchased the system used on eBay about four years ago with all the software installed. Nothing else came with it.
I remember seeing an OS/9 screen when I booted it prior to the AOL install, but I can't be more specific than that since I can't get any useful responses from it. Since there doesn't seem to be a Windows-like "Bios Setup" that I can find, I am not sure how to figure out how much memory it has. Is there anyway to tell without being able to boot the system? Since I am not that familiar with Macs, I have hesitated to open it up and look at the cards. When it was up, I did see that it had a 4.7 GB disk which was about half used.
Since the system hasn't been used for awhile, there is no need to recover any data from it. If she had the distribution that came with the system, I would just try to re-install the operating system and AOL. I am not sure how Apple licenses it OSs, but I guess that I could just buy a new OS distribution. I am not sure if it is worth it with this old system or what versions would fit on this system. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Mark
I remember seeing an OS/9 screen when I booted it prior to the AOL install, but I can't be more specific than that since I can't get any useful responses from it. Since there doesn't seem to be a Windows-like "Bios Setup" that I can find, I am not sure how to figure out how much memory it has. Is there anyway to tell without being able to boot the system? Since I am not that familiar with Macs, I have hesitated to open it up and look at the cards. When it was up, I did see that it had a 4.7 GB disk which was about half used.
Since the system hasn't been used for awhile, there is no need to recover any data from it. If she had the distribution that came with the system, I would just try to re-install the operating system and AOL. I am not sure how Apple licenses it OSs, but I guess that I could just buy a new OS distribution. I am not sure if it is worth it with this old system or what versions would fit on this system. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Mark
mes - Aug 2, 2005 - 9:38 am
My friend is back today and she told me that she purchased the system used on eBay about four years ago with all the software installed. Nothing else came with it.
I remember seeing an OS/9 screen when I booted it prior to the AOL install, but I can't be more specific than that since I can't get any useful responses from it. Since there doesn't seem to be a Windows-like "Bios Setup" that I can find, I am not sure how to figure out how much memory it has. Is there anyway to tell without being able to boot the system? Since I am not that familiar with Macs, I have hesitated to open it up and look at the cards. When it was up, I did see that it had a 4.7 GB disk which was about half used.
Since the system hasn't been used for awhile, there is no need to recover any data from it. If she had the distribution that came with the system, I would just try to re-install the operating system and AOL. I am not sure how Apple licenses it OSs, but I guess that I could just buy a new OS distribution. I am not sure if it is worth it with this old system or what versions would fit on this system. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Mark
I remember seeing an OS/9 screen when I booted it prior to the AOL install, but I can't be more specific than that since I can't get any useful responses from it. Since there doesn't seem to be a Windows-like "Bios Setup" that I can find, I am not sure how to figure out how much memory it has. Is there anyway to tell without being able to boot the system? Since I am not that familiar with Macs, I have hesitated to open it up and look at the cards. When it was up, I did see that it had a 4.7 GB disk which was about half used.
Since the system hasn't been used for awhile, there is no need to recover any data from it. If she had the distribution that came with the system, I would just try to re-install the operating system and AOL. I am not sure how Apple licenses it OSs, but I guess that I could just buy a new OS distribution. I am not sure if it is worth it with this old system or what versions would fit on this system. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Mark
Cheryl - Aug 2, 2005 - 3:14 pm
Mark,
There is no Bios on a Mac. I have arguments with my husband about that - as he thinks all computers have a bios that you can get into. Not the case on a Mac.
With OS 9 on that iBook, you are going to need Norton Utilities and the OS 9 CD.
Norton Utilities for Mac should be available at any Apple store or store that sells Apple products. Os 9 is a different story. You will have to get it here:
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/software/
(OS 9 is the first on the list)
With Norton Utilities (or Disk Warrior for OS 9) start up the computer. Use the AC adaptor, start up the iBook, insert the CD, then immediately hold down the c key.
The computer will start up using the CD. You will see the CD icon at the top left. The hard drive icon should be just below it.
Click twice on the CD icon if it does not open automatically.
Click twice on the Norton Utilities icon. It is a picture of a man (the original owner Peter Norton).
A new window will open. You want to select Disk Doctor.
Now click on the hard drive icon in the next window and let it begin. If the hard drive does not show up, Disk Doctor has several menu options at the top of the screen. You want to select Scan for disks. It should find the hard drive, and then you can have it go through the tests and have it repair all the problems it finds.
If Norton can not fix the hard drive, it is time to re install the system.
With the OS 9 CD and the adaptor, start up the iBook and then go to the Utilities folder that is on the CD. Use Drive Set up to erase the drive and format it using Mac OS Extended. Once done, you then can quit Drive Setup, and click twice on the Mac OS Installer icon.
Now just follow the prompts.
--------
Let me know if you need further assistance and thank you for using MacOSX.com !
Cheryl
There is no Bios on a Mac. I have arguments with my husband about that - as he thinks all computers have a bios that you can get into. Not the case on a Mac.
With OS 9 on that iBook, you are going to need Norton Utilities and the OS 9 CD.
Norton Utilities for Mac should be available at any Apple store or store that sells Apple products. Os 9 is a different story. You will have to get it here:
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/software/
(OS 9 is the first on the list)
With Norton Utilities (or Disk Warrior for OS 9) start up the computer. Use the AC adaptor, start up the iBook, insert the CD, then immediately hold down the c key.
The computer will start up using the CD. You will see the CD icon at the top left. The hard drive icon should be just below it.
Click twice on the CD icon if it does not open automatically.
Click twice on the Norton Utilities icon. It is a picture of a man (the original owner Peter Norton).
A new window will open. You want to select Disk Doctor.
Now click on the hard drive icon in the next window and let it begin. If the hard drive does not show up, Disk Doctor has several menu options at the top of the screen. You want to select Scan for disks. It should find the hard drive, and then you can have it go through the tests and have it repair all the problems it finds.
If Norton can not fix the hard drive, it is time to re install the system.
With the OS 9 CD and the adaptor, start up the iBook and then go to the Utilities folder that is on the CD. Use Drive Set up to erase the drive and format it using Mac OS Extended. Once done, you then can quit Drive Setup, and click twice on the Mac OS Installer icon.
Now just follow the prompts.
--------
Let me know if you need further assistance and thank you for using MacOSX.com !
Cheryl
mes - Aug 2, 2005 - 5:55 pm
Thank you for the help. I'll find a computer store in the area tomorrow.
Mark
Mark
Cheryl - Aug 2, 2005 - 6:03 pm
Mark,
Keep me posted on how you do.
--------
Let me know if you need further assistance and thank you for using MacOSX.com !
Cheryl
Keep me posted on how you do.
--------
Let me know if you need further assistance and thank you for using MacOSX.com !
Cheryl
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