[hirise123]

Hi, I just bought a G5 I Mac off eBay, It Is supposed to have Leopard installed. When I turn it on a white screen comes with the Apple symbol and timer wheel, that is as far as it goes, just sits there spinning. When I start it up holding the options button down the screen has 3 icons, arrow circle hard drive icon with gray X , right arrow. There is a clock at the far left. I can not click on any of the icons, in a bit the screen changes back to the white screen and the timer wheel just sits there spinning. Thank You

[Spheric Harlot]

Whatever he's installed, it's not capable of booting that computer.

To make sure it's not some hardware issue, reinstall the system software using the included restore disks.

If those disks aren't included, contact the seller, as the machine he sold you isn't complete.

If he's selling the install disks separately, he's violating the terms of the software license agreement, which bind the software to the machine it came with.

If he's lost them, you can buy replacements from Apple for a nominal fee ($20 per disk, IIRC).

[olePigeon]

Or if you have another computer, download a copy off BitTorrent. It's not piracy if you own it.

[Spheric Harlot]

Not a good idea. For security reasons.

You could install from another Mac's system disks using Target Disk Mode, though.

[Waragainstsleep]

Is this what you are seeing:



?

Thats normal. You should be able to click the HD icon then hit the right arrow or the enter key to start booting. Sometimes it takes a while though. (Actually you might not need to click the icon since its the only one there) Open Firmware Startup Manager was very slow.

Try the following:
Boot holding the spacebar. This might take ages but if it works should come up with a login screen that says Safe Mode.

Boot holding Command-V, report back with what it says on screen at the point its hanging.
Boot holding Command-S. It will give you instructions on using a command called FSCK. Follow them and see if that helps.

[hirise123]

Thanks for the replies, I tried to use the install disk but the comp stays on the same screen. It seems like it does not recognize the CD player or it is caught in a boot loop. Nothing changes.

[hirise123]

The Command- space bar went to the same screen. The command- v went to a black screen like DOS.

[Spheric Harlot]

And then what happened? What text?

[hirise123]

Mac frame work successfully initialized. It list most of the components of the comp. They all seem to be working

[Waragainstsleep]

Which one did it get stuck on? Is it consistent if you try it again?

Spacebar doesn't need the command key.

[hirise123]

Yes it is consistent, I did start it with just the space bar still the same. both the command- v and command-s goes to the same screen. Dos like screen Mac frame work. I can not use the mouse on the blue screen with the 3 icons, or the direction arrows.

[Waragainstsleep]

No mouse? Thats not a good sign.

It sounds like a faulty install or a faulty disk. Difficult to diagnose much further without trying a reinstall or booting from another disk.

[Waragainstsleep]

Actually try booting it with the mouse unplugged.

[hirise123]

I ran the fsck, came back with, invalid node structure and volume check failed

[hirise123]

tried booting without mouse, still the same

[olePigeon]

Sounds like it's corrupted. You could try fixing it, but if you don't care what's on there, probably best to erase it and start fresh. Hopefully you can get a 10.5 disc from somewhere.

[Waragainstsleep]

OK, I didn't think it was getting far enough to run fsck.

Node structure issues can typically be fixed by Diskwarrior but olePigeon is right, probably best to wipe it and start over.

[hirise123]

Thanks for the help. I'll reinstall.

[ibook_steve]

Originally Posted by hirise123 

Thanks for the replies, I tried to use the install disk but the comp stays on the same screen. It seems like it does not recognize the CD player or it is caught in a boot loop. Nothing changes.

I'm assuming you are holding c during boot to boot from the optical drive, right?

Steve

[hirise123]

Yes, I tried it again and it did install, now I have to learn how to use it. I am used to win 7 and XP. So far this looks good. I got it for my grand son because they use I Pads at school, Now I can down load similar programs on the I Mac.

[Big Mac]

Holding the Shift key boots in Safe Mode, not the spacebar as previously stated.

[Waragainstsleep]

Oops. Its been a while since I used it.