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Powerbook G4 Freezing during Boot

A

Azmodon

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 3, 2005
68
0
Hampton Roads, Virginia
Hey all --

My powerbook G4 keeps freezing whenever I try to start it - as limited as my Mac vocabulary is, the "spinny thing" that goes by during the "gray boot screen" with that there "Apple logo" stops and the entire process is frozen.

Any ideas? Paper season is started here at school - and I hate click-clacking on the cheapo Dells in the computer lab.
 
Try starting it up in Safe Mode by holding SHIFT at the chime. Also, try booting from the OSX discs and use Disk Utility to verify or repair the drive. Do you have any peripherals plugged in? What changes did you make to the system before this started?
 
I was able to boot in safe mode once, and once I was in I ran the Disk Utility to verify/repair the drive. After that, I restarted, but the problem persists.

I don't use peripherals, and as far as I know, nothing really "changed." I put the computer to sleep last night by closing the lid. That's that.
 
Try resetting the PMU. If that doesn't help, then shut down your computer and hold down the Option key and press the power button to start up your computer. When your computer starts up, click the hard disk icon, and then click the right arrow. After the computer starts up, open System Preferences and click Startup Disk. Select a local Mac OS X System folder.
 
dartzorichalcos said:
Try resetting the PMU. If that doesn't help, then shut down your computer and hold down the Option key and press the power button to start up your computer. When your computer starts up, click the hard disk icon, and then click the right arrow. After the computer starts up, open System Preferences and click Startup Disk. Select a local Mac OS X System folder.
Click to expand...

Odd - I was following your instructions, and when I was moving the arrow to click on the right arrow button, it froze.

I'll try it again.

Edit: another odd - I can't do click on anything because the arrow is stuck as a watch, and it froze again shortly after entering that menu/screen.
 
Azmodon said:
Odd - I was following your instructions, and when I was moving the arrow to click on the right arrow button, it froze.

I'll try it again.

Edit: another odd - I can't do click on anything because the arrow is stuck as a watch, and it froze again shortly after entering that menu/screen.
Click to expand...

Did you add any ram recently? It could be faulty ram. Try to boot from the Install Disc and run the hardware test.
 
Zapping the PRAM (Command + Option + P + R, continue to hold until second chime) might be worth a try.
 
dartzorichalcos said:
Did you add any ram recently? It could be faulty ram.
Click to expand...


I know you didn't add any RAM recently, but I still think this sounds like a RAM problem so it'd probably be worth checking it out. Take one stick out at a time and see if you can then boot.

By the way, Safe Mode still won't allow you to repair the drive so if it cam back with any errors you would have to either boot from the OSX discs and repair from that version of Disk Utility, or you'd have to run fsck from Single User Mode.
 
Is it normal that the screws holding the RAM casing panel on are impossibly tight? -_- I've been scratchin' away at it for the past hour with the screwdriver from my eyeglass repair kit.
 
mad jew said:
I know you didn't add any RAM recently, but I still think this sounds like a RAM problem so it'd probably be worth checking it out. Take one stick out at a time and see if you can then boot.

By the way, Safe Mode still won't allow you to repair the drive so if it cam back with any errors you would have to either boot from the OSX discs and repair from that version of Disk Utility, or you'd have to run fsck from Single User Mode.
Click to expand...


I was able to finally pop over that cover and remove the 512 stick that came with my computer, but nothing was different; the computer still couldn't boot.
 
Well, it needs some RAM to boot. When you took out the 512MB stick, was there still some RAM in the machine? Have you managed to run the hardware test from the OSX discs too? :)
 
mad jew said:
Well, it needs some RAM to boot. When you took out the 512MB stick, was there still some RAM in the machine? Have you managed to run the hardware test from the OSX discs too? :)
Click to expand...

Hehe, yeah, there was still a 256 stick in there. And no, I haven't, for I have misplaced said CDs. Very frustrating thing to do.

Can I potentially find someone else who has the CD and borrow their's? I mean, it's just a utility, right? I figure out of all the freshmen I see with new MBs and MBPs, there's gotta be at least one with the OSX disc.

Edit:

Well, this is most certainly odd. This morning, before leaving for class, I just left my powerbook frozen in that boot phase. Well, I come back a few minutes later and it's on the login screen! Sure, it's frozen, but I leave it again, tap the spacebar a few times, and, sure enough, about thirty seconds later, I regain control of the trackpad and pointer! A few dedicated moments later, I regain control of the keyboard, and I'm able to type in my password! Wotcha! I got my computer back! And, because I had to restore my iPod, I got my music back!

Odd. o_O

I'm afraid to turn it off, so I'll be back this evening to check in on both it and whatever ideas you guys have for this problem. :eek:
 
If you borrow a disc, it must be form someone who also has a PowerBook G4. MacBook and MacBook Pro discs will not work. Aim for a retail version of OSX though, that's a safer bet. If you're running Tiger (and the machine's still running) then go to Disk Utility and verify the drive. If it needs repairs, then run fsck form Single User Mode. :)
 
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