[Returnofthemac]

My wifes powerbook's hard drive took a crap this weekend so i installed a new one and restart it with disk one of two and hold down the c key i still get the folder with the apple face on it.
Maybe i am forgetting something or overlooking the obvious. Please help me out.
Brian

[imitchellg5]

Well that's what you are supposed to do. Did you disconnect the keyboard?

[Returnofthemac]

Well ya i had to disconnect the keyboard to put the the new hard drive in. I hope the keyboard is connected right the cap locks lights up when pressed. I hear hard drive noise and superdrive noise so i am unsure. Any other round about ways to do this?
BRian

[ibook_steve]

Perhaps you are not holding "c" long enough. Hold the "c" key until you get the gray apple and spinning gear.

Also try an external keyboard to be sure.

Steve

[Returnofthemac]

I took it all apart and tied again and and even hooked up an external keyboard and still just get the folder with the the apple face and a question mark.
Any other things i can do.

[pdevine]

You could try starting up holding down the command, option, shift and delete keys.

[amazing]

I've recently installed HDs in 2 separate 12" PBs with no problems. Two questions:

You are presumably using either a universal install disk (ie not one from an iMac or the like?)

Do you have an external firewire HD with a system folder on it that you could start up on?

The only other thing I could think of is whether you've locked the firmware to prevent starting up off a CD? It's called Open Firmware Password Protection. I'm thinking it should ask you for a password in the case, but I can't quite remember... In any case, you can disable firmware password protection by taking out the RAM chip and trying to startup.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1352