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TICKET ARCHIVE -> Power Mac G4 Stuck on startup.

bn228 - Jan 10, 2008 - 12:39 pm

Hi there,
I've been reading the forums and I haven't found anything that works to get past the gray startup screen. It seems that none of the startup commands are working. The only command that works is command v and it will sit there for days on end without finishing going through the messages. Some of which say: localhost can't load /system .......etc.... I don't have the original startup discs because I bought it from someone. Is there anything I could do without taking it to a mac repair place. This is the only mac I have so i can't do the "target disk" mode or whatever it's called.
I would really, really appreciate some help.
YOu can email me here: bn228@hotmail.com
Thanks!

eric2006 - Jan 11, 2008 - 2:32 am

Sounds like you have a corrupted system. Has this system worked for you before? If so, any unusual changes to the system that may have caused this error?

Try running a disk repair, which you can do without disks or another Mac:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214

bn228 - Jan 11, 2008 - 2:05 pm

Thanks for your response. Yes, the system worked flawlessly for me before. I remember downloading and installing some disc burning utilities so that my mac would be able to recognize an external dvd burner. I had some of those files on the desktop. It's really weird. I have no idea why this would be happening. I tried the fcsk repair thing and it said "your drive coffee appears to be OK". That's a good sign, but then I typed reboot, then enter and it still gets stuck on the startup. Any idea what the deal could be? Do you think if I had the mac os discs that I could run some repair utilities and it would work? Can I buy the os disc seperately?
Again, I really appreciate your time.
Thanks,
Jeremy

Serenak - Jan 12, 2008 - 4:17 pm

Jeremy

thanks for choosing macosx.com and I will try to assist you.

Try resetting the PRAM, start the Mac and hold down the Cmd-Alt-P-R keys until the Mac chimes a second time then release them... this resets several internal settings to the default but often makes such problems go away.

You can also try starting in "safe" mode by starting with the shift key held down which turn off all non core system extensions (.kext files)

If either of the above get the system up I strongly recommend using Disk Utility to repair permissions (actually it doesn't "repair" anything merely resets them to the defaults)

Whoever sold you the Mac without the Installer Disk(s) is a naughty boy... people do it all the time so they can sell them separately on e-bay however.

Starting from the Installer would have the advantage of telling you if there was something more amiss than a software fault. But it can't really do much more than the fsck and repair permissions anyway. Then again you could at least do a reinstall (archive and install preferably and with the preserve users and settings option on)

Yes you can buy system disks separately - either from e-bay or Apple or several other online places such as Amazon and you will have to decide whether to go for Tiger (10.4) or the newer Leopard (10.5). Based on the spec you give you might be better off sticking with 10.4 although your Mac is capable of running 10.5.

If you need more advice come back and I will try to advise you some more.