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Gokhan

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 7, 2003
703
0
London
I have just brought a apple G4 powerbook off a mutal friend who has moved to australia,my nightmare has started.

Problem one is he did not format the harddrive as he promied

Problem two is now i can't log in to the system because i don't know his password and i am having diffuculties contacting him.

Problem three is i have tried booting from os 9.2 and a error type 11 comes up during set-up telling me to restart the machine with extentions off which i did to no avail.

Problem four is i tried booting from os 10.2 and it just crash's with white horizontal lines or just tell's me to re-start in four languages.

I have tried zapping the pram , resetting it , taking out one of my memory sticks still !!!!!!!!!! to avail

I need help despertly as i really want it to run.

please please please help me help me help me, apple have not been very usefull apart from telling me it is most probably a hardware issue and that starts at a flat rate of £300 which i have not got after spending £800 buying it , can any users come to the rescue ??????????
 

shadowfax

macrumors 603
Sep 6, 2002
5,849
0
Houston, TX
you really booted from the OS 10.2 install CD and it kernel panicked?

that's really your only hope, there. if you can't get that fixed, you'll have to wait till you can get the password from your friend or buy a new hard drive, i guess. and there are no guarantees that the latter will work, if the laptop is broken to the extent that it can't read a disc, but i can't imagine how that would happen.
 

weev

macrumors regular
Jan 21, 2003
181
0
Sydney, Australia
try booting from an external hard-drive.

If that works, you'll be able to check the machines drive.

otherwise find a tech, really, 300 squid, fark
 

flyhigher

macrumors newbie
Jul 19, 2003
3
0
Find another mac that has firewire, and make sure you have the 10.2 CD handy.

Boot the powerbook into firewire disk mode by holding down the 't' key while you power it on. Hold the key until you see the firewire symbol on the screen.

Connect the two macs' firewire ports. The powerbook's drive should show up on the other mac's desktop. Erase it. Now using the 10.2 CD, install OS X onto the drive.
 

Gus

macrumors 65816
Jan 1, 2002
1,078
0
Minnesota
Acctually, you want to connect the two machines together before you boot the firewire target computer.

Regards,
Gus
 

t^3

macrumors regular
Oct 17, 2001
179
0
A similar thing happened to my 15" AlBook where I installed some bad ram and when I put the original ram back in, I couldn't get past the gray Apple logo on startup - I'd always get the "You need to restart your computer" message, even if I try to boot from the Install DVD. What worked for me was that I took out the HD from the AlBook (I know, very bad idea, but I was feeling very brave, and it was actually quite easy!) and put it into my iBook, put the Install DVD in the iBook, and reinstalled OS X. Putting the AlBook in Target Disk Mode just made my iBook crash when I hooked them both up. If you don't have another laptop to do this, you can try getting an external case for laptop drives. If you're not willing to open anything up, then I'm afraid I can't help you there.
 

Gokhan

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 7, 2003
703
0
London
thanks guys i knew i could count on you, hopefully i can hook it up to another mac and delete the harddrive but it's a type 11 error so i would not hold my breath , maybe i can boot up from an external drive with mac os on it and format my powerbook's drive any idea's ??????????????
 

Spock

macrumors 68040
Jan 6, 2002
3,398
7,141
Vulcan
Also try to boot from a OS 9 CD then you could format from their and install 10.
 

pncc

macrumors regular
Jul 23, 2002
179
0
The Firewire target disk mode solution is your best bet-assuming this is a software issue. If this doesn't work, you have either motherboard or drive problems. Target disk mode doesn't use RAM (only the openfirmware and the hard drive) so that would not be a factor.
1) Turn your PB off and connect a 6pin-6pin Firewire cable from it to another Mac's Firewire port. Preferably, that operating Mac will be running OS 10.2.x.
2) Now power-on your PB while holding the T key down until you see the FireWire icon on your screen. Cross your fingers and watch your PB show up as a firewire drive on the other Mac's desktop.
3) Run disk utility and erase your PB's drive
-decide if you want to install OS 9 or use this as a firewire drive on OS 9 machine and if so, install the OS 9 drivers. Partition the drive the way you want. I believe it is useful to make at least two partitions-especially if you install OS 9 on the other partition. That way, you can boot from the other partition if you have disk problems.
4) That should solve your problems. Install OS X and be on your way.
 

Gokhan

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 7, 2003
703
0
London
powerbook questions ???????

i hope it is not a hardware issue but i am dodgy about my samsung ram ,which i tested by taking one out and vice versa to no avail if it was a ram issue one of them at least would be working, or maybe not i hear these samsung's are problematic, but if that was the case then the os version already on thier would not have booted from cd when originally installed, i think it may be a openware problem where it is protected against booting from cd if you don't know the start-up passwords, maybe just maybe the firewire thing may delete these settings , cause i reset the pram so it is unlikely to be a bios issue if it is maybe i can upgrade the bios in firewire mode. !!!!

anyway i will let you guys know happened hopefully good news
 

Gokhan

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 7, 2003
703
0
London
powerbook nightmare cont

can someone attemp to answer any of the questions above so my mind can rest as to whether it is or is not a hardware error because i really am lost !!!!
 

pncc

macrumors regular
Jul 23, 2002
179
0
"i hope it is not a hardware issue but i am dodgy about my samsung ram ,which i tested by taking one out and vice versa to no avail if it was a ram issue one of them at least would be working, or maybe not i hear these samsung's are problematic, but if that was the case then the os version already on thier would not have booted from cd when originally installed,"

Is this the RAM that was installed when you received the PB or something you added??
Both RAM chips failing is very unusual.

"i think it may be a openware problem where it is protected against booting from cd if you don't know the start-up passwords,"

Open firmware password gives you a screen to enter a password at boot before the login screen so this not the case. Didn't you say that you can get to the login screen, but don't know the password?
"maybe just maybe the firewire thing may delete these settings , cause i reset the pram so it is unlikely to be a bios issue if it is maybe i can upgrade the bios in firewire mode. !!!!"
There is no upgrading the bios on a Mac like on a PC.

Have you tried FireWire target mode? You need to do that before I can help you any further. The best way to determine a hardware problem is to eliminate software as a possibility. Specifically what odel PB G4 do you have? Does it have a DVI video port or a standard VGA? What OS CDs or DVDs are you using? The ones that came with the PB or retail? What OS version of OS 9?
 

Gokhan

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 7, 2003
703
0
London
answers !!!!

i have eliminated a open firmware issue because the lady at apple talked me through resetting the op passwords so i really don't know the only thing she could suggest was a apple hardware test cd which i dont have and dont know where to get and then taking it to a service center to pay a dork £60 to tell me whats exactly wrong with my pb that i might not be able to afford the repair maybe i will take it to tottenham court road where a independant retail shop can tell me whats wrong with it for less or nothing or try a generic os 9 or 10 install cd to perform a all to zero format if it lets me ,i have a hunch that it could be the logic board in which cases i am stuffed !!!!!!!

thanks for your help anyways

any other suggestions ???????

p.s i am trying to install os 9.2 and 10.2 and i tried the machine with base ram and still no luck i got all my hopes pinned on target disk mode which i will try tommorrow at college hopefully .
 

bertagert

macrumors 6502
Jan 13, 2003
326
0
All I know is that was the longest run-on sentence I've ever seen.

I think your really need to do a firewire target mode before anything else. Go find another Apple somewhere and test first.
 

Gokhan

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 7, 2003
703
0
London
still not working

i have tried the firewire thing and deleted everything on my hd and tried to install os 9 and get the same problem's as before so i really don't know what it could be ?????????

on top of that i tried to get apple to fix the powerbook but appartly i am giving them the wrong serial num ,one digit too many according to them, which i am not cause i am giving the number by removing the keypads not the serial number near the battery cause thats come off !!!!!!!!!

apple not being helpfull

nothing seems to be doing the trick

and stupid tech's want £70 to tell me the thing has a problem as if i don't know !!!!!!!

help anybody !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
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