Problem resolved for now! and it was not iBook specific - just a general G3-G5 type of problem despited being cautioned I was Off-Topic
I brought the laptop and hard drive into this morning's local user group meeting. The problem was a foobared hard drive which we identified by connecting the external hard drive to a G4 Powerbook. It had the same kernel panic, would not mount and even Disk Utility was useless. This ruled out the iBook. However, Disk Warrior was able to rebuild this hard disk and warned it was so severely damaged it could not even give a compare between the original and rebuilt drives. Now to figure out what caused the disk problem - hardware failure or improper handling/shudown procedures. I don't use this computer just maintain it so it will take some time to figure that out. Looks like I need ANOTHER hard drive for backup purposes but it will have to wait for the holiday shopping gift list. On Sat, Sep 27, 2008 at 12:08 AM, Marty Levine <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On Fri, Sep 26, 2008 at 11:46 PM, Charles Davis <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> >> >> On Sep 26, 2008, at 11:10 PM, Marty Levine wrote: >> >>> >>> I have an iBook G4, 1.2 ghz with 768 mb RAM and a Superdrive. This >>> machine has been booting off an external firewire drive for almost a >>> year and is running Leopard since the internal drive failed. >> >> What do you get when holding the 'Opt.' (AKA 'Alt') key while booting? >>> >> >> Should be a screen with Icons for each bootable system. >> WAIT for the cursor to return to normal, select the external drive >> Icon, and hit return. >> >> HTH >> > > When I boot with the Option key held down I get the following > > a button with a curved arrow (clockwise) > an icon for the external hard drive > a button with an arrow pointed to the right > > So far nothing seems to cause a response other than clicking on the > arrow pointing to the right. After that I get the same black screen. > > I have never used this feature of booting with the Option key before. > Is this the normal behavior if there is only one bootable drive > available? > >> Chuck D. >> >> >>> After power on and the grey Apple logo the computer goes to a black >>> screen with multiple languages and says you must either hold the Power >>> key down for several seconds or press the reset key. Is this the >>> dreaded Kernel Panic? >>> >>> Not knowing where the reset key is on this machine (if it even has >>> one) I have only been able to try the power key. The iBook restarts, >>> and just repeats the same failure mode over and over again. >>> >>> I need guidance in trouble shooting this machine. I am guessing the >>> hard drive has not totally failed because I am not getting a blinking >>> folder to indicate that it can not find an operating system. Is that >>> logic correct? >>> >>> I hope to find my Leopard discs by tomorrow - they were moved from the >>> normal storage place. Then I can try booting from the DVD. >>> Unfortunately I probably won't be able to work on this machine for a >>> week. >>> >>> Thanks for your help - Marty >>> >> >> >> >> > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed Low End Mac's G3-5 List, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list?hl=en Low End Mac RSS feed at feed://lowendmac.com/feed.xml -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
