[dparry]

My daughter called from out-of-state to say her G4 Powerbook was stalling during attempts to boot up. It will get as far as the gray screen with Apple icon and the spinning gear, at which point it refuses to budge. She ran the repair utility from her install disk, but the problem persists. When she tried to reinstall the system, she said there was no hard drive to choose. I feel helpless at this point, a failure as a parent, and she can't find an authorized Apple repair technician near Iowa City (she has no car). Hopefully somebody on the boards can come to her computer's (and my dignity's) rescue. Thanks in advance.

[Detrius]

The easiest solution would be a format and reinstall, but she would lose her data.

Another option... tell her to boot holding down command-v. A bunch of text will come across the screen. Have her take a picture where it stops and post it.

[Link]

Does it completely stop or does it just sit there at the spinning apple for ages?

The only thing I can possibly rule is that the computer is running fsck -- file system check. In 10.2 for some reason this program has a tendancy to go nuts and take forever scanning the HD if you so much as forget to shut it down properly.

If she can, have her leave it running for an hour or so and see if it goes on to boot.

[MacGallant]

Maybe she should try DiskWarrior, 'cause it is known to solve serious HD problems that fsck and Norton Utilities can't even touch.

[rag on a muffin]

the last time that happened to me was with the crappy ibook g4 i used to have. long list of problems, but one was the hd not showing up. had to get the HD replaced. doesn it make any...different noises? clicking louder than normaly specifically.

[dparry]

Thanks for all your replies.
The gear keeps spinning. I told her to walk away and come back later; it kept spinning for the rest of the day.
She called AppleCare, as her Powerbook is still under warranty. They recommended a repair utility, specifically Norton Disk Doctor, TechTool Deluxe (which she already tried since it comes with her AppleCare. No help) , or Disk Warrior. Once I get it sent, she'll try DW.
Again, thanks.

[Talk2Angus]

i agree diskwarrior will sort it out