iBook G4 won't boot up

[Adamo]

My friends iBook now refuses to go past the white loading screen - any idea how to force it to boot? Seems she restarted during a software update, so no idea what to do now.

 

[mad jew]

Can you boot from the CD, holding C? A Safe Boot might also be worth a try.

 

[Adamo]

I'll give it a try, cheers!

 

[Adamo]

Any more help?

 

[mad jew]

How far did the other boots get? Did they stop at the same spot?

 

[Adamo]

Not had the chance to try yet, doing that tonight. What do you suggest I do when/if it boots?

 

[Adamo]

It seems it wants to load in Safe Mode (as in it acts busy), but it just sticks on the original loading screen.

 

[disconap]

Boot into single user mode (command + s on startup) and run Applejack (if you have it) or just fsck (instructions on how to do either should be there at the prompt; if you are running 10.3 or 10.4, type -fy in stead of -y at the end of the command line). When done, follow the instructions in Applejack or type "exit" to exit to the gui. This may work...

Otherwise, do an archive and install, which keeps all your settings, apps, and users but replaces all the system software. Then update as per usual; some of the single updates this year have caused kernel corruption in some machines (four of mine went through it), but the combined updates are safe. Good luck!

 

[Adamo]

Tried a few things, then the mount thing through FSCK, and it's now saying:

disk0s3: I/O error

Any ideas?

 

[disconap]

Is the drive making any noise, like perhaps a clicking sound? If not, I suggest an archive install and back-up followed by a full clean install. If so, sorry, but your dirve needs replacing. On the plus side, you have a neat new paperweight (does anyone even use those anymore?).

 

[t1mm3h]

Reinstalling

...
Otherwise, do an archive and install, which keeps all your settings, apps, and users but replaces all the system software. Then update as per usual; some of the single updates this year have caused kernel corruption in some machines (four of mine went through it), but the combined updates are safe. Good luck!

Does this mean that your files will be safe and not deleted when you reinstall