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l008com · Nov 25, 2004, 01:15 PM

So My new ibook has been working great for hte first week or two. Then today i was using it in disk target mode for a few hours. After that, it wouldn't boot back into regular OS X. I see the blinking ? folder. When I hold down option, it sees no drives installed at all. When I start my G5 in firewire target mode, and plug it in, it doesn't see that either. I can however, still start the ibook in firewire mode and access its hard drive on my G5. So it seems like soe sort of a hard drive issue. But when I try to boot off a cd, and i tried a bunch different cd's, every one of them either would either give me the grey apple, then fragment the apple and lock up, or it would give you the grey apple, then switch for the [�]. I tried two differnet 10.3 intall discs, a norton disc, and a techtool disc. This is weird, it seems like its got a fried motherboard but that seems strange that it would jsut start out of the blue, plus i thought apple took care of all those issues?

pat++ · Nov 25, 2004, 05:23 PM

Try to boot in Open Firmware (Press command-option-O-F during boot), then type :

reset-nvram
reset-all

and see if this helps.
You can also try to repair the disk with disk utility when the iBook is plugged on the G5, it might help.

l008com · Nov 25, 2004, 07:24 PM

I tried to repair the disk when it was hooked up to the G5, it showed no problems at all. But it is fixed now. Its funny, I tried two different 10.3 install discs, a tech tool and norton disc, none would even boot, then I tried one plain 10.3 boot disc i made with some boot utility that just copied my own 10.3, somehow that booted, and i was able to use the startup thing to choose the ibooks own hard drive and it seems to be back to normal. That was very strange that it wouldn't boot an external drive or that it wouldn't boot a CD or even show the hard drive when i booted holding down option. Very very strange.

Abit667 · Nov 27, 2004, 01:10 AM

I am having the EXACT same problem with my ibook right now.

A friend of mine got a Tiger disc so we thought it would be cool to check out. I had most of my stuff backed up so we figured we'd use my ibook. Well after tiger sucked hard I wanted panther back again. Wouldn't boot off any of my 10.3 cds. Would just display that picture of the sort of corrupted apple, yet booted fine off the tiger dvd.

Did the reset nvram and reset all, that got it to make the � after the apple came up. Reset again and its back to the corrupted apple.

Still boots the Tiger dvd just fine. I am kind of at a loss what to do here, I need the computer for school stuff tomorrow!

l008com · Nov 27, 2004, 01:13 AM

Try booting the ibook in firewire mode, and connecting it to another mac, then boot that other mac off the 10.3 CD, and install 10.3 on the ibook that way. That might work for you.

Abit667 · Nov 27, 2004, 01:23 AM

Originally posted by l008com:
Try booting the ibook in firewire mode, and connecting it to another mac, then boot that other mac off the 10.3 CD, and install 10.3 on the ibook that way. That might work for you.

I totally forgot I had a firewire cable, I'm going to go try this. Once finished installing should the ibook boot up on its own?

l008com · Nov 27, 2004, 01:32 AM

it SHOULD... but we shall see, won't we

Abit667 · Nov 27, 2004, 02:11 AM

Originally posted by l008com:
it SHOULD... but we shall see, won't we

Well, got Panther all installed over firewire. iBook now boots up to broken apple image. Does the same thing with 10.3 cds, even after nvram and pram resets.

Somehow though it boots the Tiger cd without a problem. I tried using the set boot drive in there to the 10.3 install (which it sees) but it still reboots to a corrupted apple picture. I don't see how their can be anything physically wrong with my computer as the stupid tiger runs on it.

Abit667 · Nov 27, 2004, 02:19 AM

What was the boot utility that you made that disc with? I think I may need to try that.

l008com · Nov 27, 2004, 02:23 AM

Im not sure of the name, search macupdate for like 'boot cd' or something

Abit667 · Nov 27, 2004, 02:38 AM

Originally posted by l008com:
Im not sure of the name, search macupdate for like 'boot cd' or something

Found it, what programs did you add to the cd that fixed your ibook?

l008com · Nov 27, 2004, 02:48 AM

I just added all the basic ones, like everything in the utilities folder. But to fix my ibook, all i did was boot the CD, then choose the ibook as the startup disc.

Abit667 · Nov 27, 2004, 03:19 AM

Originally posted by l008com:
I just added all the basic ones, like everything in the utilities folder. But to fix my ibook, all i did was boot the CD, then choose the ibook as the startup disc.

Hmm, did that, still getting the corrupted apple at bootup. Looks like it's off to the apple store tomorrow...