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tominbrazil · Apr 9, 2007, 01:24 PM

I am in Brazil. My iBook G4 dropped off the night stand as I tripped over the powercord. The incident still replays in slow motion in my head. Now my iBook turns on but I just get the apple without the spinning wheel. All my discs are in USA and I will not be returning till April 2008. Mac is not common here in Brazil....please help with any suggestions. Thanks.

anonymac · Apr 9, 2007, 01:26 PM

Guess you are SOL.

That's what you get for living in a banana republic.

tominbrazil · Apr 9, 2007, 01:36 PM

Actually, I am a missionary here in Brazil and was hoping for a more productive response. Thanks for the encouragement though.

Sherman Homan · Apr 9, 2007, 01:53 PM

Tom, you need to figure out if the hard drive is dead. If it is making a clicking sound, stop immediately, you can't repair that without some serious-level software. And continuing to start up can make things worse.
See if you can start up in Single User mode:
Press the power button to start the computer.
Immediately press and hold the Command (Apple) key and the "s" key for single-user mode.
Run # fsck -y
Hopefully, this will run a disk repair.
To exit single-user mode type: reboot
Press Return.
If that doesn't run, then you really do have a problem, regardless of where you live...

ixus_123 · Apr 9, 2007, 02:06 PM

Ubuntu linux is a free download & will work on your mac (provided the harddrive is good).

It also works as a live CD you might be able to poke around your osX system without installing.

If you ask someone at an office block they might be good enough to download it for you or Ubuntu will post CDs out but this can take a month or 2.

I'm not trying to push Ubuntu on you but at least you'd have a system rather than a paperweight.

Might be worth opening up the laptop & re-seating the ram incase it came loose

chipchen · Apr 9, 2007, 02:22 PM

Apple - Find a Service Provider

That's as far as I can get. Maybe that will get you towards a service center.

But, it does sound like your hard drive is dead / dying. If it's making any noises at all, stop use immediately as any hope of recovering that data will go quickly as the drive deteriorates more and more.

Just curious, are you there with a specific organization?

tominbrazil · Apr 9, 2007, 02:26 PM

looks like I really have a problem because when I type in Run # fsck -y
it tells me unknown word. Any more suggestions? I appreciate the advise and help. Thanks.

tominbrazil · Apr 9, 2007, 02:29 PM

Chipchen-

The only noise I hear is the fan going at startup and and the tone sounding when I am holding power button and Ctrl S at the same time. I am working with AGWM (Assemblies of God World Missions)

Sherman Homan · Apr 9, 2007, 02:32 PM

Tom, the # symbol should show up on the screen, you shouldn't type it! Sorry about that, the command line interface is a little stark!
Just type:

fsck -y

The fsck term means file system consistency check.
The -y tells the computer to go ahead and fix anything wrong.

chipgen is right, if there is no hard drive spinning up, or if the fsck test won't run, then shut it down. The more times you try to repair a physically damaged hard drive the more chance of worse problems.

tominbrazil · Apr 9, 2007, 02:38 PM

ok...I am just a rookie with these things so I do appreciate all your help. I typed in just fsck -y and it still tells me unknown word. The screen that appears says:
To continue booting, type "mac-boot" and press return.
To shut down, type "shut-down" and press return.
ok
0 >

cms · Apr 9, 2007, 02:55 PM

Type: fsck -f instead. The f stands for force, and will force the full system consistency check to run in OSX.

mfbernstein · Apr 9, 2007, 02:59 PM

You're in the open firmware, it never got to the stage of recognizing the hard drive. Try zapping your P-RAM (cmd-opt-p-r). If it doesn't make it to the gray Apple logo, you can try typing in 'mac-boot' as recommended. Failing that, 'reset-all' may help.

fsck (file-system check) is only of use if the machine actually starts booting from the hard drive. You'll get a black screen, and a bunch of messages ending in '#' in that case.

It sounds like the machine isn't able to find a disk to boot from (ie the hard drive was either disconnected or damaged in the fall). Was the machine on or off when it fell?

tominbrazil · 03:24 PM

machine was on. Thanks again to everyone for all your help. Well I still just have the Apple logo. It looks like I am going to have to wait till next year and get a service center in the states...thanks for all your help everyone.

tominbrazil · Apr 9, 2007, 04:02 PM

I had one more question....is it worth my time to try to take apart the ibook and see if the hard drive came loose. I am not skilled but do have all of tonight to tinker with it. I just do not know how difficult it would be.

mfbernstein · Apr 9, 2007, 06:43 PM

Is it working or not? Can you get it past the open firmware prompt?

If you've got 2 hours to spare, and a lot of patience, taking apart the machine may be useful, but unless you've got another hard drive and install disks, there probably won't be much you can do. Since the machine was on, there's a fair chance of physical damage to the hard drive platter (this is, incidentally, the main use for Apple's Sudden Motion sensor, released with the final generation iBook G4 (1.33/1.42GHZ) if you have one of those, your chances are somewhat better).

The Linux livecd suggestion isn't a half bad idea, particularly if you've got access to a USB flash drive or something to save your data on. It will let you do basic things, while you try to figure out a longer-term solution.

tominbrazil · Apr 9, 2007, 07:42 PM

no..it still is not working. I can not get it past the open firmware prompt. I have a short term missions team coming to plant a church down the Amazon, so I will ask them to bring a hard drive so I can proceed from there. That will be at the end of May. Mfbernstein...thanks for your expertise and help. God bless.

chipchen · Apr 9, 2007, 09:33 PM

Sent you a PM. I'd love to find a way to help you out.

Dr. DDS · Apr 10, 2007, 01:09 PM

Originally Posted by anonymac

Guess you are SOL.

That's what you get for living in a banana republic.

WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT BRAZIL??? IT'S NOT A BANANA REPUBLIC, DO A LITTLE MORE RESEARCH BEFORE SAYING SOMETHING LIKE THAT.

Tom, you can contact an apple service here, try to look on apple.com.br where to find a service near you.

mfbernstein · Apr 10, 2007, 06:19 PM

Sorry that didn't work out. Perhaps you can have someone back home mail you your system disks (preferably backups, not the originals, given your location)? If you have other specific questions, feel free to PM me too.

liquidsilver6840 · Apr 10, 2007, 07:16 PM

Where can I download the Linux Live CD?

mfbernstein · Apr 10, 2007, 07:50 PM

There are many live CDs. Here's one example. This is getting rather off-topic from the original thread, so if you have other Linux related questions, please direct them to the appropriate forum.

bomb20 · Apr 12, 2007, 02:56 PM

For future reference, iFixit (http://www.ifixit.com/) has a lot of useful information on do-it-yourself Powerbook repair, as well as a selection of spare parts. If there is critical, non-backed-up data on the drive, other posters are correct: do not attempt any more repair on that drive. Companies like Drive Savers (http://www.drivesavers.com/) can disassemble the drive in a clean room and recover data from even heavily damaged disks, but it isn't cheap.

I had a bad PowerBook drive (probably bearing failure) a couple of years ago, and some of the data on it had not been backed up. It wasn't worth spending $$$ for DriveSavers, but here's what I did: (1) replaced drive in Powerbook, using instructions from iFixit, and installed OSX on it; (2) got an external USB drive enclosure (pretty cheap), and put the original drive in that; and (3) repeatedly attempted to read from the external drive to recover what I could.

My situation was a little different that yours, in that you might well have platter damage. In my case, simply tapping the drive and plugging it in repeatedly freed up the bearings sufficiently so that the drive would stay running for a few minutes - long enough, after a few rounds of this, for me to copy off what I needed. I have even heard of people putting bad drives in a freezer in an attempt to free stuck hardware (as the cold causes the metal to contract slightly). Again, you might have a different type of damage, and doing this can cause further damage to the disk, so caveat reader.

mproud · Apr 14, 2007, 12:29 AM

Tom,

Call AppleCare. They'll tell you what to do. I wouldn't wait because your warranty could expire before you get back to the States.

In the US it's 1-800-APL-CARE. You could try calling that and maybe they can forward you, or you could try the number at the bottom of the page at http://www.apple.com/br

Or head to a service center. http://latam.apple.com/service/br/

ixus_123 · Apr 15, 2007, 08:13 AM

and don't forget to mention you were advised to call Applecare from a poster in a forum topic you made on macnn. Nothing like a little bit of publicity to get people moving

Dr. DDS · Apr 15, 2007, 11:13 AM

where are you here in brazil?? I can send you the telephone or e-mail to the nearest apple service...

tominbrazil · Apr 15, 2007, 09:46 PM

Dr. DDS...I am in Pindamonhangaba, SP. I called applecare but they have told me it isn't covered since the machine was dropped. They weren't much help because I do not have the discs with me here.

Klipse · Apr 15, 2007, 09:51 PM

at times like this, you certainly wished that you owned a macsafe power adapter lol

Dr. DDS · Apr 16, 2007, 10:20 AM

Originally Posted by tominbrazil

Dr. DDS...I am in Pindamonhangaba, SP. I called applecare but they have told me it isn't covered since the machine was dropped. They weren't much help because I do not have the discs with me here.

You can leave your ibook with them just to know what's wrong with it and maybe get only an HD replaced. the worst option is the logic board, in this case i don't recomend you to fix it, especially here, the prices are huge

tominbrazil · Jun 20, 2007, 01:52 PM

A team brought me my start up discs. When I run the Apple Hardware test it stop and says:

Mass Storage- ERROR CODE
2STF/4/3:ATA-100 ata-6-Master

Any suggestions?

TH in Brazil

Sherman Homan · Jun 20, 2007, 02:11 PM

Well, that is your hard drive: an ATA-100 Mass Storage device set as the Master.
The message is not good, the drive is dead.
What options do you have for Plan B?
Replacing a drive is not easy, although it certainly can be done with the right amount of patience. An external firewire drive isn't elegant, but it will work.

chipchen · Jun 20, 2007, 02:17 PM

Did you ever get my PM? I had offered to send you discs free of charge.

Now that we know the drive is dead, I'd be willing to offer you a free repair. You just have to get it to me in Los Angeles (either ship from Brazil or have your team ship when they're back in the states).

Or you can go to a local service provider. I think there's a link somewhere in this thread.

tominbrazil · Jun 20, 2007, 02:33 PM

Hey Chipchen,

I responded to your pm with my address...guess you did not get it. Anyways, I would love to take you up on your offer. Let me know how to get your address. Blessings!

TH

chipchen · Jun 20, 2007, 02:57 PM

hmm... that was weird... because I never got it and sent you another PM about it... oh well... I'll PM you my address... let me know if you don't get it.

Dr. DDS · Jun 20, 2007, 03:01 PM

If you need your ibook, You can use it with a firewire external HD like Sherman Homan said