Symptoms The �prohibitory sign� shows up on startup and it stay that way. I've done all I've could based on the apple support docs eg: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106464
But nothing works. Zapping the NVRAM/PRAM didn't change the situation at all. I can't get the CDROM tray to open either (machine ignores the F12 key or the tray release button). Failed to boot the machine off an external USB CDR drive. Single user or verbose mode startup keystrokes won't work. The machine doesn't seem to respond to anything but the command-option-delete keystrokes or the reset button in the back. All trouble shooting was done without any additional external devices (unless they were needed like the external keyboard/mouse or CDR or USB drives). When I last used the powerbook, it was working fine. I shut it down as normal for the end of day. When I started it up thhe day after, It got stuck on start up. About my Lombard: Its a 333 MHz (bronze keyboard) G3 powerbook (1999). The machine had a fresh (format and install) of Panther 10.3.2. The drive was zeroed during formating for the install (via Panther's disk utility). I was starting up the machine with the idea of running the latest update (Security Update 2004-02-23 for Panther Client ) when the problem happened. The machine hasn't had any hardware upgrades/additions for the past 2 years. No PCI cards or processor upgrades have been used on this machine. Until an odd keyboard problem a month ago, it was functioning flawlessly. The keyboard problem was that the tab, backspace, enter, and left arrow keys were needing a lot of hard pounding to work. The fresh Panther install was an attempt to figure out if the problem was a software issue. Despite the fresh install the problem persisted. It wasn't a big prob since I was using an external USB keyboard and mouse. I was planning to buy a new keyboard. It had a RAM upgrade to 384MB when OS 10.1 came out. The original 4GB drive was replaced with a 20GB drive. All these components have worked without a problem. Software/OS customizations. 1. I had enabled the �file vault� feature for my home directory. As a result on some shut downs/ logouts the machine wanted to �recover unused disk space�. A separate password is used in addition to to the account password for filevault. 2. I had installed Fink ( http://fink.sourceforge.net/ ) and Fink Commander, (http://finkcommander.sourceforge.net/) its GUI front end. Fink lets you compile open source applications to run on OSX � either on X11 or command line. I had got GIMP (www.gimp.org) to install and running quite well with it. I bring this up because Apple support documents on the web claim that some startup problem are due to key directories being moved. And it tempting to think that Fink messed around with some system files. One of the key features of Fink is that its installation approach is to avoid messing around with OS X's system files. According to the Fink FAQ the whole fink setup can by removed by deleting just one directory. Further more, the machine had been running fine with fink installed. 3. Xcode tools components needed for fink were installed. I did this via the xcode installer's custom install options. 4. The root password is enabled on the machine. All sharing/directory services have been switched off http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=32478 since I don't use them. (there was a security hue and cry about this a while back). For backups I cloned the entire hard drive onto a external USB drive using carbon copy cloner � after running permission checks from a �default� user account. (I restored all my documents after the fresh install this way). Unfortunately, the cloned drive exists as a dmg file. As I feared, I was not able to start up the machine off the external drive. Luckily I got my key files backedup on a remote unix shell account as text file. Not sure what more I can do other than going to the local Apple shop. I can't recall the last time when my mac unusable like this. I think my applecare has expired. I'm stuck using a XP box :( If anyone has any insights/wisdom about this problem, I'd be ahppy to read them. Thank you for reading this far :) Mathisha -- G-Books is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | -- Check our web site for refurbished PowerBooks | & CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> G-Books list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-books.html> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/g-books%40mail.maclaunch.com/> --------------------------------------------------------------- >The Think Different Store http://www.ThinkDifferentStore.com ---------------------------------------------------------------
