[X-Newbies] ibook won't start

[john mee]

Disk Warrior is good to have on hand. You may just have a corrupt  
system and can still preserve the data if the OS X install will let  
you run the upgrade option with the preserve preferences box checked.  
It's telling you to reformat and not just install? Another way to  
possibly get a peek at the data and even back up just to be safe is  
to start it in firewire mode, if it will boot that way and you can  
get to another FW enabled mac and borrow a FW cable you are in  
business. If a friend has an early generation iPod they may have the  
white FW cable that was used with the wall charger.

John Mee
On Mar 20, 2006, at 3:14 PM, Scott wrote:

>
> On Mar 20, 2006, at 1:45 PM, John Park wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>> I have a g4 powerbook that won't start.
>>
>> I've used disk utility to repair the disk and repair permissions.
>>
>> When I turn on the machine, the spinning bar circle spins around  
>> and around but nothing happens.
>>
>> I thought I could start the machine from the install disk by  
>> pressing C at start up but the prompts I receive make me think  
>> that I'll end up re-installing software on my computer as opposed  
>> to starting from a system on the CD.
>>
>> The machine will start from the install disc when I press C, but  
>> I've only been able to get it as far as disk utility, other than  
>> that,and like I said above it looks like the disc wants to install  
>> software on the machine.
>>
>> Any thoughts?  I don't own disk warrior, but I'm willing to buy  
>> it.  But Disk Utility says that everything has been repaired.
>>
>
> Usually when it's doing the 'spinning bar' thing, it's checking the  
> disk, as happens when you run disk utility. When you did run DU,  
> did it find any errors? If so, even if it did claim to fix them,  
> what happens when you run it again? If there are errors that it  
> cannot fix, given repeated attempts, you can either try DiskWarrior  
> (Alsoft), or erase the drive and start over.
>
> If there are no disk errors, you have an issue w/ the system  
> software. Reinstall OS X. Choose the "Archive and Install /  
> preserver users and network settings" options. The options button  
> will appear as soon as you select what HD to install to.
>
> -- 
> Scott Buntin
>
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