ibook g4 won't boot into any OS

M

meowerr

Registered
after wiping out the ibook g4 i gotten from ebay, i tried to clean install OS10.3 from the legit CD i got at the store. However, due to an unknown reason, the machine froze at the grey apple screen.

What I did:
- restart the computer with OSX Panther Install Disk 1 (legit copy) in the cd rom drive holding down the "C" key.

What Happened:
- the machine froze at the grey apple screen after the apple shift about 5 pixels to the right and leaves a rainbow colored line at where the apple was supposed to be.

What else I tried:
- I did the same thing to my old ibook G3 as well as my G4 Quicksilver, same things happened.

- I borrowed my friend's copy of Tiger and did the same thing, this time, instead of the apple shifting to the right, the machine froze with a "do not enter sign" replacing the apple.

Another Try:
- I firewired the new ibook G4 as an external HD to my old ibook G3 and hoped to install Panther from there. (Install Destination to ibook G4) installation seemed OK.

What Happened Now:
- the new ibook G4 won't boot unless connected to the old ibook G3 or the G4 Quicksilver

- doing nothing will lead to the interchanging "question mark folder" and "finder" icon and then the apple icon will show up, 3 seconds later, replaced by the "do not enter" icon.

- holding the "C" key with Panther disc inside: froze with shifted apple and rainbow stripe

- holding "C" key with Tiger disc inside: froze with "do not enter" icon replacing apple

- holding "option" key: able to choose to boot between the cdrom or OSX on local HD.
*choosing cdrom: froze with shifted apple and rainbow stripe
*choosing OSX on local HD: froze with "do not enter" icon replacing apple

Is there anything else I can do now?

Thanks people!

~j
 

Are there any third party hardware items installed ? Did you get a Hardware Test CD/DVD with the purchase?
I am not sure, can you run Disk Utility on the iBook HD from target mode? If so, or any other way to get information about the Hard Drive. If possible, totally erase the iBook HD from within target mode. Use the first aid feature to see if the iBook HD is working properly.

In the event you can't use Disk Utility within target mode. You can try booting verbose mode. Not sure if you familiar with some Unix commands for verify and formatting a HD. Let us know, we can provide you with some commands you can try.

Starting the iBook in verbose mode, if possible will give you the ability to use Unix command line.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106388
 
thx powermac for your reply :)

my new ibook G4 does not have any 3rd party hardware installed... nor did it came with Hardware Test CD/DVD.

After running Disk Utility in Target Mode, no errors were found even though I still "repair" it just in case.

Couldn't even startup using Verbose mode. Could use Open Firmware though...

There were other sayings that one cannot install older OS versions (pre-10.4, eg Panther) on newer Apple Computers (iBooks and PowerBooks, G5s, iMacs, eMacs... everything post mid-2004) Can anyone confirm this?

Thanks! :)
 
yep, done that too... resetting PRAM leads to a "grey" (scattered pixels of different colors) square replacing the apple logo (or the "do not enter sign") and froze...

have already gotten thru most of Apple's official site such as articles 106464, 88152, 58042, 106805, 25517... but still no avail... :(

i've just tried to boot from the ancient OS9 CD and that didn't work either... any suggestions??

~j
 
As you have found, it's impossible for your iBook G4 to boot with OS 9, and will only boot to OS X 10.3 or newer, depending on the model.
Recheck this Article, http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=25517
which might help you decide that the commercial 10.3 installer is too old to work, if you are pretty sure the iBook is newer than March 2004, which would mean that you will need to find the OS X 10.3.5 commercial installer set, or newer.
You should be able boot to Tiger either way.
Try removing the Airport card, and any RAM that has been added to the iBook - even if it came from Apple. If you can boot from the installer CD, and install, then one of those is bad.
 
I am having this exact problem with 19 iBook 1.33ghz 12" laptops and I was wondering did you ever figure out what was wrong?

THANKS!
 
The original poster was trying to install Panther (OS X 10.3.x), is that the problem that you are referring to? That OS version can't work for you.
Your iBook, 1.33 GHz, 12-inch, requires OS X 10.4.2 as minimum to install. 10.3.x won't install, nor boot. 10.4 probably won't load, either. You need an installer higher than 10.4.2. Unless you are certain that you have the original set of installers, then you need to have a commercial OS X installer set, which was available as version 10.4.3, or 10.4.6
Recheck your disks carefully, and let us what you have tried, and the result - (error messages, odd screen display). Try to be as detailed as possible with your observations.
Are you able to boot to the installer disk that you have, assuming it's one that your iBook CAN boot from? Do the iBooks have additional memory installed, and have you tried removing that additional memory? There's 512MB on the logic board, which will boot any newer current OS, even Leopard.
 
I was trying to boot off of any CD in general and it wouldn't. it will lock up and show the dead pixels exactly as the original person posted. It won't boot any OSX, tech tool pro, knoppix... no cd's will boot. My symptoms are exactly the same as the original posting.
THANKS!
 
Unless you're using a PowerPC version, Knoppix won't boot on your iBook. As for Mac OS X and TechTool Pro, the Mac OS X installation has to be the minimum version supported by that model. If that's 10.4, then you can't use 10.3 as it won't work. If TechTool Pro is using an older version of the Mac OS to start up and it's an older version that's not supported minimally on that iBook, then it won't work either. It all boils down to the minimum version of the Mac OS that is supported by that iBook.
 
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