ibook plays dead after startup!!

[whyrichard]

my 1ghz ibook is going nuts.

at best, the thing goes through the login screen, then it just goes black!

i resetted pram, to no avail. any advice? quickly needed --student!



r.

 

[whyrichard]

and i try to startup in single user mode to run a system check, i hear a tone, and the sleep light blinks. nothing happens.


am i screwed?



no!!!!



r.

 

[mad jew]

It could be a power issue? Maybe your battery or powerblock aren't working properly... When you plug it into the wall, is the connection the usual green/yellow colour?

 

[whyrichard]

still nothing...

with a power adapter all it does is spin up the fan...



r.

 

[mkrishnan]

When you reset the PRAM, did you also try resetting the PMU, a la this?

Also, sometimes people have had success dealing with issues like this unplugging from power, disconnecting all peripherals, removing the battery, waiting a couple of minutes, putting the battery back in, and starting by holding down the power button....

 

[whyrichard]

i just tried that. and upon attempting startup the fan just runs. no screen.




today has been a not so good day.



please... what should i do? a trip to a genious bar tomorrow?

i don't want it to have to come to that, it is so far away....

r.

 

[whyrichard]

right now i've started up with a "powerbook g4 software install" cd while pressing c.

it's strange. once it started off the cd, and asked to install osx, i declined, restarted.


and twice it just booted up regularly, as if everything was fine. i'm running off normal system software. last time this happened, i put the computer to sleep and it just shut off. this time i'm posting this before i try to make sure it's working correctly, but i think it very much isn't working correctly!



what the?



r.

 

[hogman]

right now i've started up with a "powerbook g4 software install" cd while pressing c.

it's strange. once it started off the cd, and asked to install osx, i declined, restarted.


and twice it just booted up regularly, as if everything was fine. i'm running off normal system software. last time this happened, i put the computer to sleep and it just shut off. this time i'm posting this before i try to make sure it's working correctly, but i think it very much isn't working correctly!
r.

Ya know this makes me think that it may be a problem with ur hard drive. Ill ask my frend who is an absolut comp. genious and get back to you tomorow.
Definetly the HD i think

 

[dvdh]

Have you tried accessing the machine through target disk mode? Trying this could help to isolate where the problem is. To try target disk mode:

Find another person with a Mac. Link the computers with a firewire cable (the second machine can be running while you do this). Start up your machine while holding down the "T" key. This will cause the machine to start as a firewire drive to the host machine. If this does not work, it could indicate a hard-drive failure.

Alternatively, run your software test CD. This CD should load up fine if the problem is in the harddrive, but will likely fail if there is problem with the logic board.

 

[hogman]

Ya know this makes me think that it may be a problem with ur hard drive. Ill ask my frend who is an absolut comp. genious and get back to you tomorow.
Definetly the HD i think

sry dvdh but i talked to my friend and it is definetly his hard drive. so he'll probably need a new one
sry

 

[dvdh]

sry dvdh but i talked to my friend and it is definetly ur hard drive. so ull probably need a new one
sry

Not my hard drive, it is whyrichard's hard drive that's in question. . . so direct your sympathies his direction . . .

 

[mkrishnan]

This is such an ancient thread that randomly got resurrected...does whyrichard even still have this problem?

 

[hogman]

Not my hard drive, it is whyrichard's hard drive that's in question. . . so direct your sympathies his direction . . .

i know that i was sayin that it wasnt anything else ill edit my lats reply
just bad wording