Won't boot up, can't reinstall OS

[dsyroi]

My Intel iMac Dual 2.16 (running 10.4 (.10?) is hooped, and I'm hoping to get it running again without having to wipe the hard drive. It won't boot up - instead of the regular apple icon on boot up it flickers between the apple icon, the kernel panic (prohibitory) icon and the folder with a question mark icon.

Here's what I've tried so far:
1. zapped the pram

2. booted up from the install disc and tried running disk utility. It won't repair permissions - says "Error: No valid packages". It also won't repair disk - says "Invalid sibling link".

3. Tried archive and install - no luck, says "won't verify the installation volume".

4. Tried booting up in safe mode - won't do this - I get the big prohibitory icon and then some text in the upper left corner.
This text reads:
"panic (cpu 0 caller 0x003A92A1) : Unable to find driver for this platform: "ACPI"
Debugger called: <panic>
Backtrace, Format - Frame : Return Address (4 potential args on stack)" and then some long strings of numbers and letters (that I could provide if it will help someone troubleshoot), and then
"Backtrace terminated - invalid frame pointer 0x0".

Oh yeah - I also ran the extended hardware test and nothing showed up. Any help on this would be greatly appreciated. I'm really hoping that I don't have to wipe my hard drive, also hoping that the hard drive is not hooped, but would like to know what to do in any case.

 

[yomi.odeleye]

how to solved u problem

you say that you are using imac, well i will advised you to get extra memory for you system. if that did not work, well you have no choice but to wipe you hdd and strat all over again. i had this same problem when i use boot camp to install windows on my laptop. so i have to start all over agin. this might also be a problem with the hdd itself. i will advise you to check that out as well. good luck. if you have any problem plx holla or any other question.

 

[scaredpoet]

you say that you are using imac, well i will advised you to get extra memory for you system.

You don't even know how much memory he has. And this won't solve his problem.

Unfortunately, it looks like the OS installation is hosed. If you have another Mac you can use or borrow from someone else, and a firewire cable, you can start up your ailing Mac in Target Disk mode, and see if the working Mac can see the drive, letting you back up your data. Then you'll have to reformat and reinstall.

If the install fails again, you probably have a bad hard drive.

 

[dsyroi]

Thanks for the info

Scaredpoet: Thanks for the advice, I'll use my girlfriend's iBook to try this tonight and keep my fingers crossed.

yomi: thanks as well for the advice, but I also don't see how installing more memory would help, unless you're suggesting that I might have a bad memory card.

I did run the extended hardware test and nothing showed up, so I'm hoping that means the drive is okay, although some of what I'm experiencing makes me think that it's just not working.

If anyone is knowledgeable about the kernel panic info, I'm wondering if there are any clues there? In the first line "Unable to find driver for this platform: "ACPI"", seems like that info might point to something - missing driver? I just don't know beans about it though, so any input would be appreciated.

You don't even know how much memory he has. And this won't solve his problem.

Unfortunately, it looks like the OS installation is hosed. If you have another Mac you can use or borrow from someone else, and a firewire cable, you can start up your ailing Mac in Target Disk mode, and see if the working Mac can see the drive, letting you back up your data. Then you'll have to reformat and reinstall.

If the install fails again, you probably have a bad hard drive.

 

[scaredpoet]

ACPI is Advanced Configuration Power Management. In essence, yes, it is driver based, but considering power management is a rather crucial function on modern computers, the loss or corruption of this driver is nothing to sneeze at.

 

[dsyroi]

Thanks for the additional info

Any thoughts on whether a reformat and reinstall will fix this?

 

[IJ Reilly]

Any thoughts on whether a reformat and reinstall will fix this?

Possibly, but I would bet on either a serious hard disk directory issue which Disk Utility is unable fix, or a defective hard drive. If you can get your hands on DiskWarrior or TechTool you stand a chance of repairing it. If that isn't an option, and you have access to another Mac, I'd try the Target Disk Mode solution already suggested.

 

[dsyroi]

Just so I'm clear - you're saying that if it's a hard disk directory issue then wiping the hard drive and reinstalling won't address it? Also, I was hoping that the hardware test would have picked up if the hard drive was defective, but I understand that if it's an intermittent problem sometimes the hardware test won't pick it up?

I am currently trying the target disk mode, and it seems to be working. Can anyone reassure me that there's no danger to the host computer when doing this - I'm using my girlfriend's work computer and it will be a world of pain if I screw it up on her. Guess I should have asked this before I began.

Possibly, but I would bet on either a serious hard disk directory issue which Disk Utility is unable fix, or a defective hard drive. If you can get your hands on DiskWarrior or TechTool you stand a chance of repairing it. If that isn't an option, and you have access to another Mac, I'd try the Target Disk Mode solution already suggested.

 

[IJ Reilly]

If it's a directory issue then a reformat of the drive probably will fix it. If the problem is mechanical then it won't. I presume you are copying your user directory and applications in Target Disk Mode. This won't harm the other Mac and at least you'll have something to copy back when you've figured out the problem and fixed it.

BTW, the results of the Hardware Test are only useful when they find something. A negative result doesn't mean very much, unfortunately.

 

[dsyroi]

I'm doing the Target Disk thing, and so far so good. Thanks for the input, I guess once I've got everything copied over I'll try the reformat and see what happens.

If it's a directory issue then a reformat of the drive probably will fix it. If the problem is mechanical then it won't. I presume you are copying your user directory and applications in Target Disk Mode. This won't harm the other Mac and at least you'll have something to copy back when you've figured out the problem and fixed it.

BTW, the results of the Hardware Test are only useful when they find something. A negative result doesn't mean very much, unfortunately.