ibook that wont boot

[rudeboy]

anyone have a clue on how to revive an ibook that wont boot. wont even go to fsck if you hold on command + s at power on. after the start up sound the ibook just goes to a blinking question mark and mac face inside a tiny folder. ibook is running on mac os x 10.3+, 800+ mhz 256 ram combo drive.

arnel

[gonz]

Hi there -- try this: insert your Mac OS 10.3 Install CD 1 and restart the iBook while pressing the "C" key. Keep it pressed until you see the gray Apple logo. Once the first Mac OS Installation screen comes up, click on the File menu at the top left of the screen, and select Disk Utility. If your hard drive shows up in Disk Utility's left window, then click on it once to select, and click the button to repair the disk.

If your hard drive doesn't show up, then it has probably crashed, or perhaps has suffered severe directory damage. You may want to try Alsoft Diskwarrior 3, TechTool Pro or Norton Disk Doctor to repair the damage. If all of the above fail, it's time to seek the aid of a data recovery professional to attempt to rescue your data.

Good luck!

[caloysam]

i had the same problem a couple of weeks back. i actually put up a post regarding it so future members who encounter the same problem would have the solution. anyway, check this thread out.

[caloysam]

By the way, in case you're wondering where the startup disk image is, go to system preferences and you should find it there.

[gonz]

Originally posted by caloysam
i had the same problem a couple of weeks back. i actually put up a post regarding it so future members who encounter the same problem would have the solution. anyway, check this thread out.

Actually caloysam, rudeboy is experiencing a different problem. The issue you experienced was delayed startup because your Mac's startup disk was inadvertently set to a NetBoot volume. The "folder with flashing question mark" that rudeboy is seeing has nothing to do with NetBoot -- it's the icon a Mac puts up when it cannot find a valid System Folder from which to start up. FYI.

[caloysam]

ah thanks for te info.

[rudeboy]

well i think this is all due to faulty upgrading to panther. anyway will try your advice and post results. thanks

[caloysam]

i think gonz is right with this one. if you want more information, i did a search and here are the results from apple support

[rudeboy]

well the disk utility does not show the hard drive and so it has crashed. re-installation seems to be the solution. my guess is that the upgrade to panther was not done properly. anyway thanks for all the help dudes.

[gonz]

Originally posted by rudeboy
well the disk utility does not show the hard drive and so it has crashed. re-installation seems to be the solution. my guess is that the upgrade to panther was not done properly.

Um, actually not. If your hard drive has crashed, then reinstallation will not be possible. You see, you will not be able to mount a crashed hard drive to reinstall OS X. A crashed hard drive is dead, kaput, tepok -- as in, it's time to buy a new hard drive. FYI.

[Edited on 5-17-2004 by gonz]