Help! Fast User Switching Killed My ibook G4!

[dbhays]

Today I was switching between accounts. When I switched to my admin account, the computer went to the original welcome to your new mac set up video with all the welcome words in different languages, then started with the new mac set up stuff, ie, what's your name, etc. I tried apple Q but that didn't work, so I restarted the computer with control, apple, start. Now my computer just shows the white screen with apple and the round spinning circle. Eventually, it will go to a blue screen, then just freeze. Any ideas on how to fix this? Please help!

BTW - it will not read the start up DVD either.

ibook G4 running 10.4

 

[mklos]

Thats an interesting issue.....

So you say the iBook will not boot from the iBook restore DVD? Just a FYI: you cannot boot from any media that has an OS lower than what came on it. So for example, if the iBook came with OS X.4.2, then you can't boot from a original OS X.4 Tiger Installer DVD. It will usually kernel panic.

Do you have an external HD to boot from? If so, then I would boot from it (install OS X on it if you have to), and then grab your stuff to back up.

Also if you have Disk Warrior or TechTool Pro 4 see if you can boot from the CD and run some tests. Maybe they can fix the issue although I doubt it. It sounds like a major OS issue.

 

[dbhays]

Thanks for the quick reply, I am using the restore DVD that came with it, but it is not spinning up. I tried holding down the C button with no luck. I also tried holding down the option key while booting up, I got the selection screen with my HD (no DVD option), but it still does the same thing after selecting it.

I have an external DVD drive at work, I will try that tomorrow.

 

[amd4me]

What exactly is a "kernel panic"?

 

[mklos]

The term kernel panic is a Unix term. Free BSD Unix runs are the core of Mac OS X. So when you hear someone say they had a kernel panic, the core of the OS (Unix) has crashed, thus the OS completely locks up. Apple gives you a nice screen with many languages on it telling you to press and hold the power button down until the computer shuts off. Its quite rare to ever get one unless you have some sort of hardware issue usually.

 

[maxrobertson]

did you try resetting the PRAM?

hold down command + option + p + r at startup until the computer plays the startup sound twice.

 

[dbhays]

update:

I was able to get the restore DVD working with an external drive. Would not restore though. I kept getting error messages, so I did a clean install. Weird though, that my DVD drive and track pad would not work until after I reinstalled the software. I had to plug in my good ol' hockey puck mouse.

I back up daily using ibackup, so I was able to get almost everything back, including my grade book! Now I just need to find my ilife '06 DVD. The biggest pain will be that I did not have my iweb domain file backed up. I will have to start over.

I thought about resetting the PRAM, but my keyboard became unresponsive as well. Even the power button died. I had to remove the battery to turn it off. (everything would die a few seconds after initial start).

Thanks for your help, just hope I don't have this problem again.

 

[mklos]

Yeah that was a really weird problem. I've never heard of that happening before. Something really bad must have screwed up in the OS which is quite rare. But, it just goes to show you that no OS is perfect, even something put out by Apple. ***** can happen and usually does when you least expect it.