800 Mhz G3 iBook won't boot into OS X

[nigrunze]

My friend just got a 800 Mhz iBook G3 from someone. I think it's the April 2003 model. It has a CD-ROM drive so I think it's that one.

The iBook has Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger on it. The problem is that in normal boot, it hangs right before the "Starting Mac OS X" screen with the bar. The mouse pointer just stays in the corner. The computer can boot into Safe Boot.

He tried reinstalling the OS with Archive And Install keeping the same settings but it still does it. Apparently he says that he had to boot into the Mac OS X Install Disc in safe mode by holding shift. Starting the computer holding Option and selecting the Install Disc caused the installer caused it to hang in the same way.

He is currently doing another Archive And Install with the keep settings box unchecked and has yet to do an Erase And Install.

Would an Erase And Install fix it or zapping the PRAM or something?

Thanks.

 

[yellow]

Does it have built-in firewire?
Is the firmware up to date?

Because if it doesn't/isn't it can't boot Tiger.

Most likely it's firmware.

 

[nigrunze]

Yeah. It has Firewire. MacTracker says that it supports up to the most recent OS(Tiger). It originally had Jaguar where it had the same problems.

And I'm pretty sure it doesn't need any firmware updates.

 

[MacsRgr8]

The computer can boot into Safe Boot.

Important part....

Have you tried doing a backup of his home folder (boot into FireWire target disk mode, and copy his home-dir onto another Mac), and then do an Erase & Install?
If it can boot into Safe Mode it usually implies a damaged 3rd party driver orso...