Ticket Options
Question Details
TICKET ARCHIVE -> Powerbookg4 Won't Boot
omnipro - Sep 7, 2005 - 12:45 am
I was using DVD studio, and my computer crashed while I was rendering.
Now when I try to start, I breifly get the folder icon with a question mark, and then it continues to the grey screen with the apple, and the spinner. After about ten minutes it freezes on a blue screen.
I have tried disk utility on the drive, and it says the drive is "OK".
The volume will not mount in disk utility.
I have read all of the Q&A in your support, and nothing works.
I have tried mounted the disc firewire, and the dancing icon freezes, and locks up the host computer.
I have tried using Disk Utility to safe the drive as an image file to an external disk, and that fails with an I/O error after getting about 90% done.
Safemode doesn't boot.
Safemode with the installation disk causes a Kernel Panic.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Now when I try to start, I breifly get the folder icon with a question mark, and then it continues to the grey screen with the apple, and the spinner. After about ten minutes it freezes on a blue screen.
I have tried disk utility on the drive, and it says the drive is "OK".
The volume will not mount in disk utility.
I have read all of the Q&A in your support, and nothing works.
I have tried mounted the disc firewire, and the dancing icon freezes, and locks up the host computer.
I have tried using Disk Utility to safe the drive as an image file to an external disk, and that fails with an I/O error after getting about 90% done.
Safemode doesn't boot.
Safemode with the installation disk causes a Kernel Panic.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
LovesMacs - Sep 7, 2005 - 3:25 am
Hi James :-)
My goodness, after reading your post it sounds like you know all the troubleshooting tips.
Ok, you say you tried DU (disk utility) and it says the drive is "ok". So I take it to mean you accessed DU by inserting the system CD and holding down the "C" key?? Ok, if I am on the right track let me ask you this. While you had the system CD in the optical drive, did you try to reset the MacintoshHD in the Startup Disk folder??? If not, try the following:
Boot the Mac with the system CD inserted holding down the C key until the Apple logo appears. The Installer window will load. In the menu, go to:
Installer>Quit. A dialog box will appear asking if you wish to quit the installer..... click the button that says: "Startup Disk". The Startup Disk pane opens. Select the Mac OS X 10.3 HD icon. Reboot the Mac. What this does it tell the Mac which system folder to boot from. since you said you briefly get the folder icon with the question mark... and ultimately it freezes, it's either looking for a system folder OR, you have a Startup Item incompatibility.
If the Startup Disk suggestion does not work, try this:
Start up in "Safe Mode"
1. Be sure the computer is shut down.
2. Press the power button.
3. Immediately after you hear the startup tone, press and hold the Shift key.
Tip: The Shift key should be held as soon as possible after the startup tone but not before.
4. Release the Shift key when you see the gray Apple and progress indicator (looks like a spinning gear).
During the startup in Mac OS X 10.2 through 10.3.9, you will see "Safe Boot" on the Mac OS X startup screen.
From the Apple menu, choose System Preferences.
# From the View menu, choose Accounts then click Startup Items.
Select all the login items and click Remove.
# From the Apple menu, choose Restart.
<> James, I believe that that happened as a result of your Mac not being able to see a system folder to boot from. I'm hoping the Startup Disk suggestion corrected this.
If any of the suggestions helped and you can your Mac boots properly, I recommend trashing the DVD Studio preference file. It might be corrupted.
To locate that file follow this path:
MacintoshHD>Users>Library>Preferences
Look for the file: com.apple.dvdstudio.plist It might not say exactly that, but that is close. And don't sweat trashing that file, the next time you launch DVD Studio, it will create a new .plist folder for you.
Just post back and I'll be happy to keep trying :-)
Carolyn :-)
My goodness, after reading your post it sounds like you know all the troubleshooting tips.
Ok, you say you tried DU (disk utility) and it says the drive is "ok". So I take it to mean you accessed DU by inserting the system CD and holding down the "C" key?? Ok, if I am on the right track let me ask you this. While you had the system CD in the optical drive, did you try to reset the MacintoshHD in the Startup Disk folder??? If not, try the following:
Boot the Mac with the system CD inserted holding down the C key until the Apple logo appears. The Installer window will load. In the menu, go to:
Installer>Quit. A dialog box will appear asking if you wish to quit the installer..... click the button that says: "Startup Disk". The Startup Disk pane opens. Select the Mac OS X 10.3 HD icon. Reboot the Mac. What this does it tell the Mac which system folder to boot from. since you said you briefly get the folder icon with the question mark... and ultimately it freezes, it's either looking for a system folder OR, you have a Startup Item incompatibility.
If the Startup Disk suggestion does not work, try this:
Start up in "Safe Mode"
1. Be sure the computer is shut down.
2. Press the power button.
3. Immediately after you hear the startup tone, press and hold the Shift key.
Tip: The Shift key should be held as soon as possible after the startup tone but not before.
4. Release the Shift key when you see the gray Apple and progress indicator (looks like a spinning gear).
During the startup in Mac OS X 10.2 through 10.3.9, you will see "Safe Boot" on the Mac OS X startup screen.
From the Apple menu, choose System Preferences.
# From the View menu, choose Accounts then click Startup Items.
Select all the login items and click Remove.
# From the Apple menu, choose Restart.
<
If any of the suggestions helped and you can your Mac boots properly, I recommend trashing the DVD Studio preference file. It might be corrupted.
To locate that file follow this path:
MacintoshHD>Users>Library>Preferences
Look for the file: com.apple.dvdstudio.plist It might not say exactly that, but that is close. And don't sweat trashing that file, the next time you launch DVD Studio, it will create a new .plist folder for you.
Just post back and I'll be happy to keep trying :-)
Carolyn :-)
omnipro - Sep 7, 2005 - 7:07 pm
I have tried selecting Startup disk,and my diskisn't there.
Startup in safemode eventually gets to a unix screen, that spits out
disk0s3 - I/O TIMEOUT
I can boot in singleuser mode. I went through the advice in the mac help 106464. I know can boot passed the blue screen. I am prompted to select my user, then asked to enter password. This proccess is very very slow. After I press login, it waits a very long time. Then it resets the password feild, and makes the login button blue again.
The diskutility from the install disk, still says OK, and has no delays. When I run fsck in single user mode, I get the timeout error.
Also during single user bootup, it says-
disk0s3: I/O error
jnl: update_fs_block: failed to update block 2(ret 5)
jnl: journel_open: Errorreplaying the Journal!
hfs: early jnl init: failed to open/create the journal (retval 0)
disk0s3: I/O error
ls lists all of my files. Is there any way to copy the files to an external firewire drive in single user mode?
Thanks for you help!
Startup in safemode eventually gets to a unix screen, that spits out
disk0s3 - I/O TIMEOUT
I can boot in singleuser mode. I went through the advice in the mac help 106464. I know can boot passed the blue screen. I am prompted to select my user, then asked to enter password. This proccess is very very slow. After I press login, it waits a very long time. Then it resets the password feild, and makes the login button blue again.
The diskutility from the install disk, still says OK, and has no delays. When I run fsck in single user mode, I get the timeout error.
Also during single user bootup, it says-
disk0s3: I/O error
jnl: update_fs_block: failed to update block 2(ret 5)
jnl: journel_open: Errorreplaying the Journal!
hfs: early jnl init: failed to open/create the journal (retval 0)
disk0s3: I/O error
ls lists all of my files. Is there any way to copy the files to an external firewire drive in single user mode?
Thanks for you help!
LovesMacs - Sep 7, 2005 - 10:59 pm
<>
James, yes I think you can. I'm looking for an AppleScript that can be used to do this with Terminal. I'll post back when I can figure it out.
Sounds like you are getting somewhere at least! I'll post back ASAP.
Carolyn :-)
James, yes I think you can. I'm looking for an AppleScript that can be used to do this with Terminal. I'll post back when I can figure it out.
Sounds like you are getting somewhere at least! I'll post back ASAP.
Carolyn :-)
LovesMacs - Sep 8, 2005 - 1:18 am
Slowly but surely.....
If you can do this go to this site from Safari:
http://www.apple.com/downloads/macos...nterminal.html
Download the, "View Items in Terminal" utility.
Double click the file and install following the instructions.
Now, if you can, Control Click any file, I experimented with a small txt file on my desktop. Drag down to "Automator>View Items in Terminal. That will bring up the file in Terminal. Follow the instructions in the Help menu to copy.
Moving or renaming a file
To move a file into a different directory, use the mv command. You can also use the mv command to rename a file by "moving" the file into a new file.
For example, to rename the file myFile as secondFile, enter:
mv myFile secondFile
If you specify mv to move a file to a location and a file of the same name already exists there, mv deletes the existing file and overwrites it with the new file.
For more information on moving files, refer to the mv man page by entering: man mv.
Now, here's the question. Can you see your external hard drive in Terminal????? To move your files to???
Carolyn :-)
If you can do this go to this site from Safari:
http://www.apple.com/downloads/macos...nterminal.html
Download the, "View Items in Terminal" utility.
Double click the file and install following the instructions.
Now, if you can, Control Click any file, I experimented with a small txt file on my desktop. Drag down to "Automator>View Items in Terminal. That will bring up the file in Terminal. Follow the instructions in the Help menu to copy.
Moving or renaming a file
To move a file into a different directory, use the mv command. You can also use the mv command to rename a file by "moving" the file into a new file.
For example, to rename the file myFile as secondFile, enter:
mv myFile secondFile
If you specify mv to move a file to a location and a file of the same name already exists there, mv deletes the existing file and overwrites it with the new file.
For more information on moving files, refer to the mv man page by entering: man mv.
Now, here's the question. Can you see your external hard drive in Terminal????? To move your files to???
Carolyn :-)
LovesMacs - Sep 8, 2005 - 1:19 am
Slowly but surely.....
If you can do this go to this site from Safari:
http://www.apple.com/downloads/macos...nterminal.html
Download the, "View Items in Terminal" utility.
Double click the file and install following the instructions.
Now, if you can, Control Click any file, I experimented with a small txt file on my desktop. Drag down to "Automator>View Items in Terminal. That will bring up the file in Terminal. Follow the instructions in the Help menu to copy.
Moving or renaming a file
To move a file into a different directory, use the mv command. You can also use the mv command to rename a file by "moving" the file into a new file.
For example, to rename the file myFile as secondFile, enter:
mv myFile secondFile
If you specify mv to move a file to a location and a file of the same name already exists there, mv deletes the existing file and overwrites it with the new file.
For more information on moving files, refer to the mv man page by entering: man mv.
Now, here's the question. Can you see your external hard drive in Terminal????? To move your files to???
Carolyn :-)
If you can do this go to this site from Safari:
http://www.apple.com/downloads/macos...nterminal.html
Download the, "View Items in Terminal" utility.
Double click the file and install following the instructions.
Now, if you can, Control Click any file, I experimented with a small txt file on my desktop. Drag down to "Automator>View Items in Terminal. That will bring up the file in Terminal. Follow the instructions in the Help menu to copy.
Moving or renaming a file
To move a file into a different directory, use the mv command. You can also use the mv command to rename a file by "moving" the file into a new file.
For example, to rename the file myFile as secondFile, enter:
mv myFile secondFile
If you specify mv to move a file to a location and a file of the same name already exists there, mv deletes the existing file and overwrites it with the new file.
For more information on moving files, refer to the mv man page by entering: man mv.
Now, here's the question. Can you see your external hard drive in Terminal????? To move your files to???
Carolyn :-)
omnipro - Sep 8, 2005 - 7:53 pm
I am not usre if I can get to an external drive via terminal, my only option is to mount a drive firewire, and I am not sure how.
I am a fraid the the IO errors, are from a failed drive.
I was able to mount the drive in firewire target mode with Data Rescue X, while holding down the option key. I was able to recover my unreplaceables, but many other things had been damaged, also leading me to believe that the disk is damaged. I am now trying to format the disk using disk utitlity, and it wont work, so I think it might b etime to replace the drive. I get error -20 during format, and the partition is un effected. Any suggestions, or do you agree this thing is dead_
I am a fraid the the IO errors, are from a failed drive.
I was able to mount the drive in firewire target mode with Data Rescue X, while holding down the option key. I was able to recover my unreplaceables, but many other things had been damaged, also leading me to believe that the disk is damaged. I am now trying to format the disk using disk utitlity, and it wont work, so I think it might b etime to replace the drive. I get error -20 during format, and the partition is un effected. Any suggestions, or do you agree this thing is dead_
LovesMacs - Sep 8, 2005 - 10:25 pm
HI James,
I feel for you. From what you tell me, you have tried everything you can and then some. I can't make a professional call, only offer suggestions, but if it were me, I'd replace the drive. There's no point really in dealing with all these problems that are time consuming and frustrating to say the least.
James, how old is your PowerBookG4? If it's less than a year old, hardware is still covered under warranty.
<> I'm glad you could recover some files, all is not lost. :-0
One thing I did think of in regards to connecting your external drive via Terminal. If the PB drive is damaged it might have an effect on your external drive via Firewire. I'm not positive on that, but one damaged drive is bad enough LOL ... just my thoughts.
I love my PBookG4 so I really can empathize. I purchased Disk Warrior this past spring and it saved my internal drive twice. It's really worth the investment if you buy a new Mac.
Let me know what you decide to do!
Carolyn :-)
I feel for you. From what you tell me, you have tried everything you can and then some. I can't make a professional call, only offer suggestions, but if it were me, I'd replace the drive. There's no point really in dealing with all these problems that are time consuming and frustrating to say the least.
James, how old is your PowerBookG4? If it's less than a year old, hardware is still covered under warranty.
<> I'm glad you could recover some files, all is not lost. :-0
One thing I did think of in regards to connecting your external drive via Terminal. If the PB drive is damaged it might have an effect on your external drive via Firewire. I'm not positive on that, but one damaged drive is bad enough LOL ... just my thoughts.
I love my PBookG4 so I really can empathize. I purchased Disk Warrior this past spring and it saved my internal drive twice. It's really worth the investment if you buy a new Mac.
Let me know what you decide to do!
Carolyn :-)
IF THIS IS YOUR QUESTION AND YOU WISH TO RESPOND, LOGIN HERE FIRST.
