mac G4 startup problem

[tomiko]

hello guy, thanks for this nice place, someone from www.omanbaforum.com introduced me here.

well here's my problem. i have a desktop power mac g4, i'm trying to start it but when i press the power button, an orange screen comes up with an hourglass spinning, then nothing. the hourglass spins forever. i do'nt know what to do and don't know what's wrong. it's a computer i got as a gift. i havenever used a mac before so please be easy on me. how do i fix this?

thanks.

 

[Aldaris]

Ivenever personally come across this behavior before, do you know what model G4 you have? Do you have any OS discs?

 

[tomiko]

actually it's not an hourglass. sorry. it shows a small folder in the middle with a question mark and mac symbol interchanging, then nothing.

i only know it's a power mac g4. i can't tell the model.

this one

 

[dazey]

Get your hands on a system disk and boot from CD. flashing ? means it can't find a startup volume.

 

[tomiko]

it didn't come with a start up disk, how/where do i find one to buy?

there's a development though. i held down the "option" key while powering up and a grey screen appear with 2 buttons. one looks like the refresh arrowed "C" like the refresh sign on firefox and another button with a straight arrow pointing to the right of the screen. do they mean anything? i can't get to click on any of them cause the mouse i plugged in won't work. please help.

 

[cured.not.dried]

the refresh arrow is to rescan for bootable disks, the forward arrow is there by default to select continue booting. since there are no disks to select, the forward arrow isn't too useful.

you're going to need to find either an os x (or mac os 9) install disk (anything up to 10.4 will work for that model G4, sorry no leopard or snow leopard) or the original software restore disk that came with it. when you've gotten that disk, start up the computer with the option key, open the cd drive, put the disk in, click the refresh arrow, then select the install/restore disk. everything else is pretty straightforward from there.

edit: if you can't use your mouse, you should be able to use the arrow keys on your keyboard, then hit return when you've selected what you need

 

[666sheep]

Excuse me silly question : did you opened case and checked if there is HDD at all and is it connected to logic board and powered?

 

[DewGuy1999]

You could try zapping the PRAM. To do this hold down the the command key + the option key + the "P" key + the "R" key on the keyboard all at the same time while pressing the power button. Continue to hold the 4-keys down until you hear the startup sound 3-4 times then you can let go of the 4-keys and maybe it will find the startup drive and boot. It helps to have another person press the power button. Good luck!

 

[tomiko]

Excuse me silly question : did you opened case and checked if there is HDD at all and is it connected to logic board and powered?

yes. everything is connected. hdd is there and powered, everything is ok.

 

[tomiko]

the refresh arrow is to rescan for bootable disks, the forward arrow is there by default to select continue booting. since there are no disks to select, the forward arrow isn't too useful.

you're going to need to find either an os x (or mac os 9) install disk (anything up to 10.4 will work for that model G4, sorry no leopard or snow leopard) or the original software restore disk that came with it. when you've gotten that disk, start up the computer with the option key, open the cd drive, put the disk in, click the refresh arrow, then select the install/restore disk. everything else is pretty straightforward from there.

edit: if you can't use your mouse, you should be able to use the arrow keys on your keyboard, then hit return when you've selected what you need

ok. it didn't come with a restore cd. i got it for free. you have any idea where i can get the restore cd? please?

 

[cured.not.dried]

unfortunately the restore cds are pretty hard to come by if you don't have one already.

you might be better off picking up a copy of Mac OS X 10.4 or 10.3 (depending on whether you have a dvd drive or a cd drive, you can check if you just hold open the drive bay door and look at the label on the drive tray. 10.4 is on a DVD and 10.3 comes on three CDs).

once you boot from the install cd go to the utilities menu, select disk utility, and either repair or erase the drive if you can't repair it. if you erase it you'll have to install the OS from the disk by quitting disk utility and running the installer.

 

[tomiko]

unfortunately the restore cds are pretty hard to come by if you don't have one already.

you might be better off picking up a copy of Mac OS X 10.4 or 10.3 (depending on whether you have a dvd drive or a cd drive, you can check if you just hold open the drive bay door and look at the label on the drive tray. 10.4 is on a DVD and 10.3 comes on three CDs).

once you boot from the install cd go to the utilities menu, select disk utility, and either repair or erase the drive if you can't repair it. if you erase it you'll have to install the OS from the disk by quitting disk utility and running the installer.

ok. thank you very much! i'll try to see if i can get hold of these cds from ebay. else i have to dump the computer. ...thanks

 

[kbfr08]

Buy some DVD -DLs from Best Buy, download a copy of os x from one of the many "legal" distributors on the internet, and burn it. Also, orange doesn't seem quite right, I think that screen should be gray.

 

[DewGuy1999]

Buy some DVD -DLs from Best Buy, download a copy of os x from one of the many "legal" distributors on the internet, and burn it. Also, orange doesn't seem quite right, I think that screen should be gray.

If it's trying to boot OS 9 it could be an orange background on the screen.