[macirish08]

I'll try to be as brief but detailed as possible while not making things too confusing. I have a 12" iBook G4 that is just over 3 years old. Recently the computer was giving me the question mark folder on boot and an invalid sibling link message when i tried to fsck. I've done a lot of research online trying to find fixes and have tried most everything I've found. I figured it might be a bad hard drive, so I bought a new one, WD 120GB and installed it with no problems. I installed OS X 10.4 just fine, got into the operating system, started to run updates, was forced to restart, but when I restarted I got the question mark folder. Not being able to resolve the issue and having nothing on the hard drive yet, I reinstalled the operating system, got into OS X, didn't do any updates, but tried a regular reboot which led me to the question mark folder.

Just for kicks I put the old hard drive back into the system, was able to fsck_hfs based on another forum post I read and was able to rebuild and repair the old hard drive. So the old hard drive boots fine now every time I try, the new hard drive with a fresh OS install gives me the question mark folder. I'd assume it's a bad hard drive, but I can install OS X fine, boot the first time but never boot again. Booting off the cd and running disk utility won't repair the hard drive, more invalid sibling link messages, and running fsck_hfs on the new hard won't allow any repairs either. I find it hard to believe it could be a bad hard drive if I can install and run OS X fine at least on one boot, I just can't reboot.

I've tried everything I can come up with, safe mode, repairs, fresh installs, disk utility, fsck, etc. etc. This is so frustrating to have this many seemingly "random" issues ... any help would be appreciated. I guess I can fall back and just use the old hard drive, but I really need the upgrade at hard drive.

Thanks!

[macirish08]

I've continued to work with it and I've gotten the computer to boot and have found out this: when I tell the computer to reboot from OS X it goes to the question mark folder. If I turn the computer off at the question mark folder by holding the power button, or if I turn the computer off with the Shut Down from inside OS X, and then use the power button to turn it back on, then the computer boots normally. I'm hoping that the fact I can shut down and boot back up, but not simply restart the computer will be telling for someone and that it might give someone some insight as to what exactly could be wrong. Thanks!

[Langdon]

It doesnt sound like its the hard drive. It sounds like the computer is forgetting the settings that tell it where to boot from.

Try resetting the Power Management Unit (PMU):
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=14449

After that is done go back into the System Prefs and make sure the "Startup Disk" settings are pointing the OSX on your hard drive.

[seanc]

There should have been a jumper that came with your new hard drive to change it between master and slave. Put it on and see how things go. It may be in the box or taped to the outside of the anti static packaging.

[ibook_steve]

Originally Posted by seanc 

There should have been a jumper that came with your new hard drive to change it between master and slave. Put it on and see how things go. It may be in the box or taped to the outside of the anti static packaging.

Laptop hard drives do not have jumpers.

Steve

[macirish08]

I reset the PMU and booted fine, made sure the hdd was the startup disk, tried to restart and got the ? folder again. I'm still able to shut down and boot up, but no restarting. It seems the booting is becoming less stable, for example, the last time I booted it stuck on the apple screen with the gear for about 15 minutes, I did a hard reboot and it came up fine. I'm thinking about just never shutting it off again, lol

[seanc]

Originally Posted by ibook_steve 

Laptop hard drives do not have jumpers.

Steve

The last two 100GB Fujitsu ATA drives I have installed have.

Would you like a picture?

[macirish08]

Let's not start a hard drive debate, I looked online and found some laptop hard drives with jumpers and some without. Regardless, if you don't use a jumper then the drive is set to 'Master' and as I only have one hard drive that shouldn't be an issue.

[nredman]

You should take your HD in somewhere to have it tested. My wife has the same problem with her iBook G4 and had the HD tested. There was nothing wrong with the HD which means there might be something wrong with the logic board.

[macirish08]

Another update, I couldn't get the new hdd to boot so I booted up my cd again to run disk utility. I verified the disk and it said no problem, then I repaired disk permissions, went back to verify the disk one more time for good measure and this time I get:

Invalid B-tree node size
Volume Check Failed

I mean i verified the first time and then probably 2 minutes later tried one more time. The first time worked, the second gave me that error. Is this new hdd shot?

[macirish08]

Here's another update, heh. I got into OS X, ran disk utility inside OS X with no errors, rebooted into single user mode, forced an fsck and found no errors, gave the reboot command and got stuck on the ? folder. Held the power button to shut down, pushed it again to turn on and the system booted fine. This iBook is freaking out and the problem seems to be changing every time I try to work on it.

[macirish08]

Ran Rember to test the memory and an extended Apple Hardware Test with no luck. I figured if I always got the ? folder on reboot then for some reason the computer kept forgetting where to boot from. The only way to get it to boot it seems (or the best way) is to remove the battery and remove the power cable so the iBook has no power, then plug it back in and fire it up. I don't know too much about memory, but I thought taking away all power would clear it somehow and that's why maybe it was booting like that but not with the restart.