Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

MAJOR iBook G4 issues. Please help!

N

nyguy4u

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 21, 2008
97
4
Hey guys, hoping I can get some input on what to do here.

I bought a used 2005 iBook G4 locally where I live. Took it home, and it worked great.. I was very happy. But then on accident, I deleted the entire Application folder. Don't ask me how I did that - it just happened :( I noticed that EVERYTHING was deleted. iChat, Utilities, Terminal, address book, everything. So, I thought maybe I could get one of those data recovery programs to get back what I deleted - well no such luck with that either.

I Googled OS Mac Tiger, because I don't have any recovery CD's for this machine. I got this download link from CNET. So, I downloaded that onto a flash drive - and noticed iCal, Utilities, etc was in that file - so I went ahead and installed those. Well, bad move. Computer boots up, but literally - the ONLY thing I can do is go on Safari. I can't get to the Finder, can't access anything on the dock (other than Safari), can't do anything on the desktop, can't boot from a CD, can't access software update, literally can't do nothing. I was going to buy a recovery CD from eBay, but again - it won't allow me to boot to a CD. I tried booting into Safe Mode - and the same problem.

Is there anything possible that I can do to get this to work? What's my options?
 
nyguy4u said:
I was going to buy a recovery CD from eBay, but again - it won't allow me to boot to a CD.
Click to expand...
It will. The ability to boot from a disk is built in to the firmware, it's not called from the OS.

The best thing to do would be to get a retail copy of Tiger/Leopard or a suitable backup disk, boot disk utility and wipe the drive, then install the OS.
 
AdrianK said:
It will. The ability to boot from a disk is built in to the firmware, it's not called from the OS.

The best thing to do would be to get a retail copy of Tiger/Leopard or a suitable backup disk, boot disk utility and wipe the drive, then install the OS.
Click to expand...

Just for the heck of it, I booted from my Snow Leopard recovery disk that came with my iMac hoping it would work. And it still didn't work.
 
Only retail disks of leopard and anything lower than leopard will boot on the ibook. Leopard is the last OS to support your iBook. Or if you can snag a device specific install disk for your iBook it will boot from it. Snow Leopard does not support PowerPC Macs, fyi.

It is a long way for you to go.

Have you checked your trash on your dock? Have you emptied your trash?
 
You are going to need a leopard retail disc or a restore disk specific to the iBook G4.
 
Thanks for the responses guys.

I would have thought that even though my Snow Leopard disk wasn't compatible.. that it would have at least booted to it, and let me know that it wasn't compatible. It just didn't do anything at all, and went straight to the corrupt OS that didn't allow me to do anything other than go to Safari. I mean even right clicking on the desktop, literally.. nothing works.

I went ahead and bought OS Tiger on eBay just now rather than a restore disk - figured it would be less hassle. Hoping that it works when it comes in the mail!
 
found this on the apple support forums...

With the Powerbook connected to the iMac in Target Disk Mode, double-click the Trash icon on the iMac. Everything in the Trash on both hard drives — the iMac's and the Powerbook's — will appear in the Trash window that opens. Drag the System folder that you find there to the Powerbook's hard drive icon (be sure it's the PB's drive icon, or you'll foul the iMac up too) and drop it. You will be asked whether you want to replace the one that's already on the Powerbook's drive, which is the one you copied from the iMac. OK the replacement. Now you should have the right System folder back in place on the Powerbook. Shut down, disconnect the Firewire cable, and try to boot the Powerbook normally again. I don't know whether or not it will work after all this mucking around, but it's worth a try. Let us know how it goes.
Click to expand...

and this on this forums...
Code: /Users/user_name/.Trash

This is in your home directory of course.

It's a hidden folder. You can use the Go -> Go to Folder... menu option, fill out the path, or tab complete it. You can enable the viewing of hidden folders in Finder or just use Terminal.
Click to expand...
 
Hey guys,

No, no files were in my trash. That is why I had this problem, because I deleted them before I realized that I needed them. I thought they were shortcuts when I deleted them. Won't be making that mistake again!

First, want to thank everyone for their input on this.

I went ahead and purchased a full retail version of Tiger on eBay for $40 - booted from the disk, and everything is working great! I ended up putting the disk back on eBay, and got my money right back!! :) Little laptop is working great, although with a MBP, iMac, and iPad - I don't need it LOL!.. at least I have a little laptop for a backup.

Now one last question, I realize that Snow Leopard won't work on this little iBook. But, I can install Leopard on it, correct? Any huge advantage of upgrading to Leopard from Tiger?

Thanks again everyone!
 
The thing I would reccommend is that although Leopard is FANTASTIC, you need to be very careful if you want to restore it from that. If your iBook only has 512 Mbs of RAM or lower... good luck. My old iBook only has 256mbs and running 10.4.11 (Tiger) is disastrous... very slow though I love this machine dearly... if you have only 256 mbs, then I recommend going to panther or jaguar, if you have 512 then totally go to Tiger, and if you have 1GB or more... Leopard's the way to go.
(If you said RAM... so sorry!)
Hope this helps! :):apple:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back