[lydiabug]

Out of the blue, my Powerbook (G4, 15", combo drive, OS 10.3.9) stopped finding the OS and started booting directly into open firmware. It gives an error message at the top of the OF screen:
Illegal Instruction at %SRR0 ff85aeec %SRR1 00081000
I can type in all sorts of things at the prompt and get responses, but when I type in "mac-boot" it only gives me the flashing question mark.

The hard drive is ok enough that I could take it out, put it in a USB case and transfer my data to my roommate's MacBook. But maybe the OS is corrupted? When I try to dir hd:\ in open firmware it says "can't OPEN the device".

To make matters worse, I cannot seem to boot from the cd either. When I type in dir cd:\ in open firmware with my 10.3 cd in the internal drive, it will give me a list of directories on the cd, so it must be able to read it. I held down the C key and even tried "setenv boot-device cd:,\\:tbxi" - and nothing but question mark.

*And* I have just replaced the logic board. Should I return my new board as DOA? Is a bad processor causing the illegal instruction error? How can I tell?

Any hints on what to do next?

[chipchen]

Some obvious questions:

- Did you try resetting open firmware?

- Try booting from external drives?

- What about from the multi-boot screen? (starting up with option key or OF command: multi-boot)

- Zap PRAM?

- Since you've got it open, what about popping in a drive that you know has a booting OS?

If none of those are getting you anywhere... I would say yes, MLB problem.

[lydiabug]

>Did you try resetting open firmware?
Yes, both reset-nvram and reset-all, no luck.
>Zap PRAM?
Command-Option-P-R, right? No luck.
>Try booting from external drives?
>Since you've got it open, what about popping in a drive that you know has a booting OS?
I only have a USB enclosure, and 1 hard drive. I guess it's worth buying another for backup purposes...

>What about from the multi-boot screen? (starting up with option key or OF command: multi-boot)
Will try when I get home.