iBook G4 - Blue screen with black box asking to restart computer... HELP!!!

[stephaniejcoull]

Everytime I turn it on I get a black box asking to shut down or restart the mac...

I have managed to get it to turn on to powersave and managed to update the software...

Thought it might help but just made it worse - it won't boot up at all now past an apple symbol with a little swirly thingy underneath

(I apologise now for my lack of intelligence when it comes to computers/knowledge/names of things!)

The first time I managed to boot the computer up it came up with the grey screen and a little folder flashing between a face and a question mark which I assume meant it couldn't find anything but that appears to have gone away now.

I bought this computer new from Apple about 2 - 3 years ago and no disks were provided with it.

Any help/suggestions would be very much apprieciated or even if it is completely broken just confirmation - I don't want to give up on it yet!!!

 

[mcavjame]

Everytime I turn it on I get a black box asking to shut down or restart the mac...

I have managed to get it to turn on to powersave and managed to update the software...

Thought it might help but just made it worse - it won't boot up at all now past an apple symbol with a little swirly thingy underneath

(I apologise now for my lack of intelligence when it comes to computers/knowledge/names of things!)

The first time I managed to boot the computer up it came up with the grey screen and a little folder flashing between a face and a question mark which I assume meant it couldn't find anything but that appears to have gone away now.

I bought this computer new from Apple about 2 - 3 years ago and no disks were provided with it.

Any help/suggestions would be very much apprieciated or even if it is completely broken just confirmation - I don't want to give up on it yet!!!

The screen asking for a restart is a kernal panic. You'll need to search issues particular to the software/hardware you have. It generally occurs when something new has been added, so stepping back to an earlier time may help. If you have connected any new hardware, like an external drive, try starting up without that drive attached.

 

[stephaniejcoull]

Thanks very much, I have removed all non-essential software whilst it was in safe mode... And no new hardware has been added! Is there any way of doing a factory reset if I don't have the original start up disks?

 

[mcavjame]

Thanks very much, I have removed all non-essential software whilst it was in safe mode... And no new hardware has been added! Is there any way of doing a factory reset if I don't have the original start up disks?

If you have a set of OS disks that are not meant for a specific set of hardware, yes you can. Boot from the install disk, erase and reinstall. Be sure that is what you want though as you will lose any saved data. You still need that set of disks and may be a good investment seeing as the originals are unavailable.

Can the computer be put into target mode to retrieve your data? Press the letter t when rebooting.