[X Newbies] Problem Booting Ibook

[no one important]

On Friday, April 11, 2003, at 01:52  PM, Ankit Shah wrote:

> Hi !!!
>
> I am having problem booting Ibook. I got question mark and men face 
> atlternatively after starting Ibook.
>
> Please tell guide me what to do. I lost the original OS installation 
> disk.
>
> I am really new to MAC OS.
>
> Ankit

 From the trenches behind the Genius Bar, what has worked for me:

Start the iBook.  Press and hold down the "x" key.  Hopefully you boot 
into OS X.  If you do, go to the 'System Preferences' and select 
'Startup Disk' and choose the appropriate folder.

if that doesn't help, reset the PRAM:

Start the iBook. Press and hold all of these keys at the same time  "P 
+ R + Option + Command/Apple".  The computer will chime, then restart 
itself. Once it restarts you can release the keys. That should reset 
your settings, and you might then be able to boot into one of the 
installed OS's.  Then use the 'Startup Disk' control panel/Pane to 
select the correct OS.

This is not a hardware issue, just software, so you shouldn't get too 
worried.

If either of these doesn't help, then you will definitely need to get 
replacement CD's from Apple.

For reference (or if you'd like to hear it straight from the Boss: 
AppleCare Knowledge Base article    #58042

Jorge Zubiran
 mac specialist, pt genius, apple product professional 01, 02 ... 
going for 03
<http://homepage.mac.com/jzubiran/Menu19.html>