[quietjim]

My Pismo died the other day and now refuses to boot. It sticks at a grey screen; no pointer shows (it does do the startup chime). It refuses to boot the Hardware Test cd from the internal cd reader. I tried swapping the hard drive for another one, but it didn't make any difference; also tried removing the airport card-- no joy.

Any thoughts on what is wrong?

[Marid]

My old pismo did this to me once or twice. First, put your ear next to your keyboard to see if you can hear the hard drive start up. If so, then it can probably be fixed.

Things to try:

1) Reset the PRAM (command-option-P-R while starting) and PMU (button on back lower left).
2) Can it boot into open firmware? Hold command-option-o-f while starting it. If it does, type 'reset-all' then 'mac-boot'.
3) If you have OS 9 installed hold down the option key to see if it will give you a choice of start-up folders.
4) If you have another computer try accessing your Pismo through Firewire with target disk mode (hold 't' while starting). Maybe Disk FirstAid on another computer can fix things on your Pismo.
5) The trick to always remember: While starting hold 'command-s' to get into single user mode. If this works a bunch of text will scroll by and a prompt will appear. Type 'fsck -f' and let it work (fsck == file system check). If any problems appear and are repaired type 'fsck -f' again. When no problems are found type 'exit'. This trick has saved my butt many times.
6) Finally, you can start up in safe mode by holding the shift key. I'm not sure how useful this will be unless you recently installed some drivers.

When my pismo gave me fits a combination of 1) (sometimes) and 5) (always) fixed it everytime.

Good luck!

[fisherKing]

this happened to me last year...dead logic board (sigh)
$400 to replace (by apple).

definitely explore all other options first (like Marid's tips, above).

otherwise...off to the shop!

[quietjim]

Thanks for the help. So far...
It WILL boot into open firmware...

It WILL NOT
boot into single user
target mode
boot into OS 9

any further thoughts?

[fisherKing]

did you try booting from the osx cd?
running disk utility?


may be time to reinstall the os...
try an archive & install (so you keep your stuff!)

[MrForgetable]

how does an archive work?

[fisherKing]

Originally posted by MrForgetable:
how does an archive work?

it's an option (an important one) in the install process.
select it, and you can keep your home folder, your user & network settings, etc.

only the os is replaced.

i just did this when i had a problem with the 10.3.5 update (kernel panic during the upgrade!)

still...
had to reinstall a few apps, and re-setup my palm software (a major nuisance).

archive&install is the way to go, UNLESS you're all backed up, have all your application installers, and must start clean...

[MrForgetable]

Originally posted by fisherKing:
it's an option (an important one) in the install process.
select it, and you can keep your home folder, your user & network settings, etc.

only the os is replaced.

i just did this when i had a problem with the 10.3.5 update (kernel panic during the upgrade!)

still...
had to reinstall a few apps, and re-setup my palm software (a major nuisance).

archive&install is the way to go, UNLESS you're all backed up, have all your application installers, and must start clean...

thanks, good to know if something goes wrong