[Mellors]

I've been having problems with my 12" Powerbook for about a month now. I initially posted on these forums and got some very helpful suggestions. Sadly however none of them worked in my case.

The thread in question is below. I didn't want to have to write out all the problems and attempted solutions again.
Click

To summarize, my pb wouldn't boot up after a software update and I couldn't get it to no matter what I tried. I got hold of a firewire cable and with my MacMini and target mode, was able to get off a lot of my important data. I also ran disk utility on the pb HD via my Macmini and it all seemed well. Seeing as I'm scared of a hardware fault and hardware tests said all was well, I decided the last thing to try would be to format the pb HD and reinstall Jaguar (I was still running 10.2.8 before all this) with the software DVD.

I formated and then when I inserted the software disk, I got the same weird bootup problem I had before. My heart sank as by now I figured it simply had to be a hardware failure. Then, I decided just to try my Mac Mini disk in pb as that had Tiger on it. Before anyone tells me, I know I'm not allowed to install Tiger on my pb using this disk and I didn't. What was strange is that my pb recognised the disk and began to install and I got to the language selection screen. I have not been able to get beyond the Grey apple for months now and whenever I have tried to boot from the original software DVD I received with the machine, it has just frozen up providing the Grey Screen of death or very strange display errors and freezing...even after a HD format.

So my question is whether it is possible I have a faulty software disk. I've never had to use this disk before as the pb came with all software preinstalled (from what I remember). Is it at all possible that this copy of Jaguar is corrupted somehow (it has 10.2.3 on it) and hence won't allow me to boot from it? I obviously don't wa nt to shell out £90 on a copy of Tiger to install on my PB only to discover that it is a hardware problem afterall.

[Exizl del Fuego]

It's certainly possible to have a bad disc. My copy of OSX Server 10.3 had a bad disc too. I called up Apple and they sent me out a new one. There is a time limit on the defective media warranty, but I don't remember what it is. If we're talking about 10.2, I'm sure you're beyond that point. Try taking it to an Apple store or some mac computer store and have them start it up off a stock 10.4 CD and see if it's bad hardware or software.

If it is jsut bad software, and you dont want to pay for the 10.4 upgrade, search the internet for an older copy of 10.3. Should be pretty cheap.