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TICKET ARCHIVE -> Ibook Is Crashing/freezing

pioneerten - Mar 24, 2005 - 9:43 am

my loyal ibook (g4) of 1 1/2 years is sometimes not starting. It just goes to a blue screen. If it does start, it freezes in about ten seconds.

this is the first problem i have had. no new programs have been added recently.

any ideas?

thanks

bobw - Mar 24, 2005 - 9:51 am

Hi Frank

First thing to do is Repair Permissions using Disk Utility in your Utility folder. No need to use the verify button, just Repair.

Next, boot into Single User Mode and run fsck

To run fsck, you first need to start up your Mac in single-user mode. Here's how:

1. Restart your Mac.

2. Immediately press and hold the Command and "S" keys.

You'll see a bunch of text begin scrolling on your screen. In a few more seconds, you'll see the Unix command line prompt (#).

You're now in single-user mode.

Now that you're at the # prompt, here's how to run fsck:

1. Type: "fsck -y" (that's fsck-space-minus-y).
(If you're running Panther, v 10.3, then type this "fsck -f"

2. Press Return.

The fsck utility will blast some text onto your screen. If there's damage to your disk, you'll see a message that says:

***** FILE SYSTEM WAS MODIFIED *****

If you see this message--and this is extremely important-- repeat running fsck. It is normal to have to run fsck more than once -- the first run's repairs often uncover additional problems..

When fsck finally reports that no problems were found, and the # prompt reappears:

3. Type: "reboot" to restart,

or type "exit" to start up without rebooting.

4. Press Return.

Your Mac should proceed to start up normally to the login window or the Finder.

============================================

After that, get Onyx here;

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/20070

Use that to run the Cron scripts and empty caches.


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Bob Wood
http://www.macosx.com

pioneerten - Mar 25, 2005 - 10:17 am

many thanks for the help! i`ll try that out. any idea what causes it or a diagnosis? things to avoid?

thanks,
frank

bobw - Mar 25, 2005 - 10:54 am

Frank

OS X has built in maintenance routines (Cron Scripts) that run between 3AM and 5AM, if the machine is left on 24/7 and set not to sleep.

If you don't operate your machine this way, go to this site;

http://www.versiontracker.com/macosx

and get Onyx. You can search for programs on this site, Freeware/Shareqare and Commercial apps. Onyx is free. Use that weekly to run the Cron scripts, use Disk Utility in your Utility folder weekly to Repair Permissions. Once a month run the fsck and your machine should stay in good shape.

Also, bad memory can cause these problems.



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Bobw - MacOSX.com Tech Support

pioneerten - Mar 31, 2005 - 1:22 am

Hello Bob,

Unfortunately, it still wont work. After rebooting, it did run longer before it froze (1 minute) but then the screen turned gray and streaky and froze. After running FSCK, the only warning I got was ¨ASC: :rWPM WARNING: couldnt find IOPlatfor,Monitor¨

Any ideas? Thanks for the help!

ps. I am stuck in the middle of the French Mountains, which is why I havent responded sooner.

bobw - Mar 31, 2005 - 9:18 am

Frank

I would suggest reformatting thr drive and reinstalling the system. If this fails, you have a hardware problem and will need to have it checked to see if it's a hard drive, logic board, etc.


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Bobw - MacOSX.com Tech Support