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TICKET ARCHIVE -> Powerbook G4

crcsby - Aug 20, 2005 - 4:15 pm

A friend of mine has asked me to help her. The Powerbook G4 (titanium) 12" running 9.2.2 has ceased to function.

She told me that it just doesn't start, i have it here and when I try to boot a small square with a globe in it starts to flash and then after several seconds the system folder shows with a question mark flashing.

I have worked on Macs for years and I have tried all the usual start up techniques, from CD, with extensions off, tried zapping the PRAM (it does not work, it just starts normally with that flashing globe icon.

I have tried three different CD's the original syatem 9 disc (original NOT a copy), the OSX disc (Jaguar) and OSX disc (Tiger) and the machine will NOT boot from the CD drive.

Is teher a way to boot from another source or to force it to boot without extensions etc...

please advise.

Thanks.

skapp - Aug 20, 2005 - 6:55 pm

There is no such model as a 12" Titanium. The first 12" Powerbook was Aluminum and did not boot OS 9. Since you say this computer had OS 9 installed, I'm assuming it isn't a Powerbook, but it's an iBook. There are several iBook models with 12" screens, but the G4 iBooks also cannot boot OS 9.

It would be helpful to know what your model actually is. At least that way we can determine what minimual OS versions are installable.

You say it doesn't start from your CDs which could mean a defective optical drive or it could mean the OS versions you have on the CDs are not suitable to boot this model. It would help if you could provide information on what happens when you try booting from the CDs (disk ejects, kernel panic, etc.) You say you've tried booting from a Tiger DVD, but many laptop models do not have DVD drives. Also, Tiger must have 256 MBs of RAM in order to run.

When the computer is restarted do you hear the "normal" chimes?

crcsby - Aug 21, 2005 - 11:40 am

Sorry, I look at the screen (it very well could be aluminum) and below it says Powerbook G4.

If I start up in Open Firmware it says,
Apple Powerbook6, 1 4.5.5f4 and the date is 01/14/03.

The normal start up chime is present on start up, so naturally I thought it was just a system malfunction and I have recovered from these by following a few simple procedures over the eyars with my Powerbook G3 and G4 tower. None of these work.

Even when I try and reset the PRAM nothing happens. When I hold down the C button and try and start from the disc nothing happens but when I boot into firmware the screen comes up, so I'm thinking the keyboard is OK.

I suspect this icon that comes up before it goes to the flashing system folder/question mark screen, may have something to do with this. I have never seen this before.

it is the first thing to show on screen when I start up. It is a small white square with a spinning globe in the middle. This may have nothing at all to do with anything but, it's not normal in my experience.

I guess I can look at the battery,would that help?

It says 12 inch Powerbook G4 Model #: A1079 10.8 V

Other Information:

867 MHZ/640MB/60GB/SD/AP
ETHERNET ID: 00 0A 95 E9 D1 24 EMC#1931
UV33403ANP4

Tia is all iside the battery compartment case. Does that help to tell you what model it is?

skapp - Aug 21, 2005 - 2:23 pm

The powerbook is the first of the 12" models, and it is aluminum. It looks almost exactly like the titaniums, so it's easy to mistake.

I can pass the following along to help with troubleshooting:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106693.

The system folder with flashing "?" usually means that no system can be found for startup. On the other hand hearing the chimes at restart means the basic hardware must be OK. You might try booting into single-user mode (restart and press and hold the COMMAND-S keys until a black screen with white print appears.) If this is successful then you can run fsck from the prompt.

# /sbin/fsck -fy

If fsck returns a message saying the filesystem was repaired, rerun the command (/sbin/(fsck -fy) as many times as necessary until fsck reports the drive appears to be OK. Then type:

# reboot

If this doesn't fix anything and you still can't startup from a CD or DVD Installer, then I'd guess the optical drive is bad or there's a problem on the motherboard.

crcsby - Aug 21, 2005 - 2:41 pm

Steven

Thanks so much for your reply. I had found this Single User Mode start up on another thread on this site but, when I go to start up this way it does not work.

I hold command-S on start up and it goes to the flashing icon.

Steps I followed:

I start up and hold command-option-OF and I get the Open Firmware screen but asks for a password which I do not have.
Can I reset password here? It says invalid and steps to next line.

Shut down - start up hold down option-command- P-R and nothing happens - continues booting until flashing question mark.

Cannot boot from ANY disc. I tried OS 9, you said it will not boot from 9 so I tried the original Panther disc - holding down the C button.... nothing - continues booting until flashing question mark.

I hold down command-S and nothing happens - continues booting until flashing question mark.

i tried to hook it up to my G4 tower holding down the T button to see if I could get the stuff off the drive but - continues booting until flashing question mark.

I just seem to have no luck here. I guess it is a larger problem than just the system software issue. I would like to try a few other things though, if you have any suggestions.

skapp - Aug 21, 2005 - 2:45 pm

From what you've just described the only additional advice I can give is: Take it to the medical examiner, the patient is dead. I think a visit to the service shop is called for. Definitely sounds like a motherboard problem.

crcsby - Aug 21, 2005 - 3:10 pm

Thanks that's what I thought.