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iBook G4 OS X locking up and display a restart request

C

Caysnowman

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 4, 2009
11
0
About a week ago I had my iBook G4 freeze and display a message that said I need to shut down by either holding the power button for a few seconds or by pressing the restart button (white letters on black screen in 4 languages). I did, it rebooted and ran again. I started to get this on a more frequent basis until this morning the machine would reboot, start to run, would lock up again and then repeat the cycle.

It did not seem to correlate to what I was doing - mostly I Net and E Mail - and was not impacted by running on battery or AC.

I tried to run Onyx to "clean" up the software but the program would start to run and then the system would freeze.

The Restart Request Screen was not accompanied by any other indications of a problem.

Anyone still remember how to fix this old hardware?

Thanks,

Bill
 
it's more commonly known as a kernel panic, have you added any new hardware or software to your machine since they started happening?
 
Bennieboy© said:
hmmm, is your OS fully updated, run software update from the apple menu button on your desktop.
Click to expand...

Sorry, I should have mentioned in my initial post that I am running Tiger, 10.4.11. CPU is a PowerPC 1.42 and 1.5 gig of ram.

I checked for upgrades but found only one for Backup and one for iTunes.

BTW, I am writing this on a 2nd laptop. While I was typing the "kernel panic" returned to the iBook. Prior to that I had just powered it up, checked for upgrades, went back to desktop. The OS ran for about 3 minutes (idling on desktop) before it locked up.

Bill
 
sorry i cant help further, it's always been my knowledge that kernel panics are caused by something changing within the system, not just randomly occuring, if the re-install don't sort it, i think it might be your hard drive, but i could be wrong :confused:
 
Bennieboy© said:
sorry i cant help further, it's always been my knowledge that kernel panics are caused by something changing within the system, not just randomly occuring, if the re-install don't sort it, i think it might be your hard drive, but i could be wrong :confused:
Click to expand...

They will randomly happen if some hardware has failed. could be the hard drive or pretty much anything but more commonly the ram.

Did you get apple care? if so you should have got 'tech tool deluxe' try running that and see if it returns any errors, failing that try a re-install, failing that try new ram. :)
 
Rhalliwell1 said:
They will randomly happen if some hardware has failed. could be the hard drive or pretty much anything but more commonly the ram.

Did you get apple care? if so you should have got 'tech tool deluxe' try running that and see if it returns any errors, failing that try a re-install, failing that try new ram. :)
Click to expand...

I did not get apple care for this laptop.

Google seemed to indicate that Ram was the most likely problem. I dl'ed Remember but when I tried to run the memory tester I got the "Kernel" before the test was completed. I do not think that points to either the Ram or the HD.

I'm going to have to wait until I can get my OS Disk and try to reinstall it.

Any guess as to what new Ram would cost?

Bill
 
Did you try starting up in safe mode?

Hold Shift key while powering on,

Keep holding shift key until you see the spinning radioactive donut and then you can release the shift key.

You will eventually get a login screen requiring password.

After login, use disk utility and repair permissions.

If you can't get this far I suggest getting Leopard and install the new OS.

BTW Leopard probably will not install without removing the added Memory as the install has been known to fail with the added memory installed.
 
When you say you tried to run the memory tester, was that an application you downloaded and tried to run in the OS? What you ought to do is run the Apple Hardware Test included on the first of the two install DVDs for your iBook, which includes a RAM test. Start up with the disc inserted and D held on the keyboard, and run an extended test which will loop the test. As a side note, do you have one of the new dual-band AirPort Extreme/Time Capsules? Is your iBook a client of that router? There's an issue with the dual-band base stations and systems with PPC processors and running 10.4. The fix is either to disable the dual-band, or upgrade to 10.5.
 
JediMeister said:
When you say you tried to run the memory tester, was that an application you downloaded and tried to run in the OS? What you ought to do is run the Apple Hardware Test included on the first of the two install DVDs for your iBook, which includes a RAM test. Start up with the disc inserted and D held on the keyboard, and run an extended test which will loop the test. As a side note, do you have one of the new dual-band AirPort Extreme/Time Capsules? Is your iBook a client of that router? There's an issue with the dual-band base stations and systems with PPC processors and running 10.4. The fix is either to disable the dual-band, or upgrade to 10.5.
Click to expand...

I do not have access to the install DVD's. They are in another location.

I think they are but I am not sure that the Airport Extremes are dual band or not. I have been running the ibook on two networks each configured with an Airport Extreme; the only difference is the cable supplier. Each network is separated by many miles. One of the networks has been trouble free for many years running an iBook, and two MBP's. The second network has had a problem for at least 2 years of dropping the I Net signal (the TV signal was never impacted) although when I check the AE router it showed a green light. The I Net was not available to either the iBook or the MBP's. The I Net could be restored by unplugging the router and plugging it back in.

I have replaced the "old" AE router bought in 2007 with a new one this week. The I Net problem has disappeared since I installed it but the "Kernel Panic" became more frequent. The "Kernel Panic" did not manifest itself until recently (started about 2 weeks ago on the router that was replaced), having run without a problem for about 2 years. The first network running the same MBP's and iBook has never experienced a problem with either the I Net or causing a "Kernel Panic" on the iBook.

Both of the AE routers are from an Apple Store and running the same software version. The iBook is running Tiger, both MBP's run Snow Leopard. I am not using Time Machine.

Hope this helps trace the problem.

Thanks, Bill
 
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