PowerPC :: Dead IBook - Gray Screen Goes On And On?
May 14, 2007
I signed up here to ask a life or death question for my iBook G3 While transferring through an airport last week on one of those moveable walkways, I got clipped off by another passenger who was running through the terminal to catch his flight. Unfortunately, he somehow managed to send my briefcase- with the iBook- sailing ten feet accross the terminal, landing onto the floor with a sickening thud. Although the iBook was fortunately in a protective notebook cover, and there were no cracks to be seen when I retreived it, my attempts to fire up the iBook have failed. That is, when turning the machine on, everything seems to lead me on that its going to run normally- the OS9 to OS10.3 transfer clicks in, I get the grey apple symbol on the grey background with the running circle below- and then nothing. The grey screen goes on, and on, and on. I tried it again this morning and it stayed like this for an hour. Worse, I cannot simply turn the machine off without hitting the reset button, and all attempts to reinstall the programs or do a hardware test lead to nothing. If I had more time, I'd probably search high and low through the forums to see if there was anything I could do to bring the iBook back to life. Unfortunately, I have to leave in two days again, and wanted to bring the laptop with me. is there some way that I can get this dear old beast running again, or is it curtains for my beloved iBook?
I have recently come across an extremely cheap ibook (free) which i was able to keep if I got it too work. Well I've been successfully fairly by using it for a few weeks, then it just died. Not sure how it did but it did. The problems seem to be with the flashing (Finder/?) folder on a gray screen back ground. I've already run through the [URL] tutorials of what's wrong and have successfully done a PRAM and a PMU reset with no result. One of the times that I restarted the iBook and after the flashing folder got two new separate folders. One with an arrow turning clockwise on the left, and another folder with an arrow pointing right on the right. Both in blue folders as the flashing folders. Now I believe the problem is that the iBook is unable to find and utilize the Startup Disk. Forums I have read state to put in the reinstall disc, which I don't see how that will work on account of the CD tray not responding to anything I've yet put in there. Not trying with disc until i know that is the only possible solution. Don't want to loose my disc. Maybe some of you have come across this situation and know of a sure fire way to fix it. If not, Ill have to just send it in to some site.
after my six year old daughter dropped it(on hardwood floor).
I tried this:
<command> <opt> <p> <r> Letting it chime 4 times. But, no luck - it just sits there witht the gray screen/dark gray apple logo and that thing twirling around like it's thinking.
check that I've left it on and it has now worked its way to the blue screen. Cursor shows up and the twirling thing is gone(as are the little clicking noises inside like it's actually trying to do someting).
Now you're really going to let me have it. I don't have any of my original disks.
Guess I should take it to the Apple store and see what they say(no applecare).
I was running Tiger(latest version) and the ibook G4 is a 1.33 with 768mb of ram if that matters.
Luckily all my photo's and music are on my powerbook and mac mini.
Basically, the iBook G4 (last revision) will not turn on. What is happening I press the power button, the iBook chimes, HDD makes its regular "computer was just turned on" noises and then the computer sits at the Grey Screen and the little swirly loading thing comes up and nothing else happens. What happened before the issue I was browsing the web last night and before turning it off for the night I ran MainMenu's batch tasks. I have been using MainMenu for several months with zero issues up till now. My sister said she needed to use my computer for a few minutes so I turned it back on. It sat at the Grey Screen for 15 minutes so I force shut down and tried again. After another 15 minutes I went to bed (it was getting late) and left it to see what happened over night. Somewhere in my 8 hours of sleep the computer gave up and turned itself off. I have not heard any tell-tale signs of an HDD failure - no clicking, buzzing or scratchy noises. Possible Culprits UNO - has been installed for over a month but it does have access to system files so I'm not clearing its name. MainMenu - Been using for a while but it was the last thing I did before the problem arose. What I've done to fix it - Reset the PMU by pressing Shift + Option + Control + Power Button - Boot off restore disk and repaired the disk in Disk Utility. The volume bit map and volume information needed repair. is the poor sucker dead?
I'm trying to resurrect an iBook (translucent white case, 14.1 LCD) that was long neglected, so not sure on its past service history. The following do NOT work: - won't boot up past the gray screen with Apple logo and spinning gear icon (just hangs) - same problem if I try to boot from install DVD ("c" or using "option" then selecting DVD) - same problem with safe boot with "shift" - reset PRAM It will connect via firewire target disk mode to another computer, and I used that to completely wipe the disk and do a clean install of 10.5. When I tried booting into single-user mode (cmd-s), it fills about 2/3 of the screen with normal-looking messages, but then hangs after this (no keyboard response): Got boot device = IOService... [various other stuff] BSD root: disk0s6, major 14, minor 5 I'm out of ideas. Any suggestions? The machine is old enough that it's probably not worth the diagnostic fee of the local Apple shop. Since I can't get it to boot, I can't even run TechTools.
I purchased a used ibook from owc in January and have had it back to them twice for repairs. Lately, it stopped booting up again and they told me to use [URL] to take the mobo out and ship it to Arizona to have the solder refloated. I did and got it back, put it together and it would boot up, only to run for 15 minutes and shut down. Thinking I missed something, I dissasembled it today and reassembled it. Now it turns on with a blank screen, the fan runs on high, and it will go no further. I tried to reset the power manager, reset the p-ram, the hard drive is only a few months old and my brain is getting fried with frustration.
A friend of mine brought over his 14" iBook G4, 1.33GHz, 60GB HDD and 1.25 GB RAM. The problem with it is that upon start-up, the grey screen with the apple/turning gear comes up, then after a few moments a blue screen will appear, though no box showing the start-up process. I've run a few basic diagnostics on this, including the lovely disk utility (which did nothing), I've run fsck, zapped the PRAM, etc, no success as of yet. At one point, I received a screen with alternating folders, one showing the smiley mac face, the other folder with a flashing "?". I cannot replicate this for the life of me. I have attempted to acquire files via TDM, though am not able to see the hard drive despite using 2 different laptops. Possibly the firewire cable itself is spent, though it's brand new! Here is where I become increasingly frustrated: I ask my friend for the boot disks as the ones for my own 12" iBook don't work (for whatever reason). He tells me that he loaded Leopard this summer (currently running 10.5.2, no updates loaded since), then proceeds to bring over boot discs for a MacBook...:headdesk: To begin with, it seemed like the HDD was fried, however, after running disk utility (and not hearing any negative sounds), it does appear that the HDD is fine. I'm thinking a kernel panic, though not sure how to resolve these.
My iBook G4 is dead (can't turn it on, get power, anything - RIP, iBook) and I've already ordered a new MacBook. However, a CD is stuck in the disk drive and I can't get it out...Any ideas on how to manually do this?
I have a 5 year old Ibook G4, which I belive just quit on me 4 nights ago. Ive had problems with it the last couple of months, like spotlight not longer working, the wifi indicatior, batteri indicator and the clock dissapeard from the top hand right corner.. and could not seem to get them turned on again. What happend; I was going to watch a movie with VLC, which kept switching itself of, I tried to restart it several times,. I then restarted the whole computer, but it would not boot up to the OS, but instead it was a black screen with a few lines written, but it did not stay on long enough that I could see what was written. Afterwards the window with MacOSX is starting up.. and the regular light blue screen. Then the MacOSX "tablet" dissapeard, and all that where visible was the light blue screen, and the mouse courser.. I could not turn up or down the brighness of the screen, nor would the volume. I restartet the machine 3-4 times but the same results. Tried the morning after, but to no use. I did download a Flash blocker program 2 days prioer to this happening, but I dont think that would "kill" of the Mac. I did try to restart it after some advice on another board, with holding the Shift button in.. this is what happend.
Then I wrote some jibberish as login and password.. it just keeps repeating itself over and over again. I pulled out the network cable, and restart.. and this appears:
Uninet: monitor linkstatus, link is down My name - ibook - g4. local (console) Login: Password:
Also, I held in apple+s and wrote /sbin/fsck - fy, let it run through and it said: Found 34 files, should be 35. HD was sucessfully reparied. Mac HD appears OK. Then I rebooted. all that happens is I get the light blue screen, and the mouse courser.. which works fine. What has happend to my machine? Is it dead? It's only 5 years old.. it has had such a short life.
a friend of mine with an ibook g4 1.4 ghz, Is having some troubles as he described it to me; an apple comes on the screen and blinks off then the screen turns white the whole screen then it turns red then blue then green every 3 seconds do you guys have any idea what this could be he is out of the apple warranty.
My iBook G4 has dropped dead--the hard drive is toast, and it won't boot. I had everything backed up, and I bought a shiny new Macbook Pro to replace it, so I thought all was well. I still had a DVD in the dead iBook's drive. Does anybody have any ideas how to eject the durn thing, when the computer won't boot?
My mum has an trusty iBook G4, and finally, after ~4 years now, the battery is on the fritz. I have tried resetting PMU, but it appears the battery itself is on the way out. Is it worth purchasing a new battery for it? Or should I tell her to take the plunge and buy a low-end Macbook [non pro] to replace it?
I have just bought an old ibook g3 on ebay, the battery in it is dead, if the battery is one of the ones effected in the recall will I apple just send me a new one even thought the battery is already dead?
I've been given an iBook g4 (Late 2004 Model according to apple) and... It's completely dead! No lights come up on the Battery when I press the button. I've tried restting the PMU..But nothing yet. I dont have the offical Apple plug, its a replacement one. Can that make much of a difference?
My iBook G4 is refusing to turn on. Yesterday it started going really slow and pressing the power button wasn't bringing up the usual options, so I held the power button to switch it off. On turning it back on it got stuck on the screen with the Apple logo and spinner for a long time so again I powered it off with the holding of the button. I then let it cool down (it was really hot) but now when I switch it on the spinner spins around 6 times then it turns itself off. It is still chiming. I'm away from home and don't have any discs - anything I can try or is it time for the Genius bar?
My iBook of six years gave up the ghost last week It's so old, I can't see any point in getting it fixed. Just wondering if it's worth selling some of the parts on eBay or the like? Airport Extreme card, battery, adapter etc.
A friend gave me one of these, said he didn't test it. i tested it but have observed the following: ring on PSU plug illuminates fine, was orange but now greed thus battery charges ok. battery button works too, pressing that initially showed 1 dot, now shows 4. charge ok and accepted. pressing the power button though, i hear the fan spin for 1 sec, the disk and the cd drive click in, but no chime and nothing on the display. no response nothing, a hard reset (hold power) turns it off. I did the PMU reset, and the pmu did do a reset, but nothing. I also did the PRAM, and again nothing. I am suspecting a faulty logic board, I hope i can get this going as aesthetically it's in good condition. For the info it appears to be an iBook G3 model A1007, If you need any more info then give me a shout.
My logic board is getting ready to crap out for the third time. I hadn't planned on wasting $$ on replacing it, but I have a friend who has an old iBook with a dead screen who told me I could have it. So, my quetion is how hard is it to switch out the logic boards? Has anyone done it? I'd prefer not to pump more money into this thing since it's probably going to die again in 6-9 months.
Also, is there a fan in the 500mHz iBooks? I'm thinking that may be the problem, b/c it's been running incredibly hot lately and have never heard the fan come on.
My ibook G4 died last night. After having some trouble with the battery (i have to replace it), the laptop finally did'nt turned on never again. Although is plugged with the power cord, the computer does'nt make any sound and it does'nt turn on, it does'nt even sound the cooling fan spining.
(I just posted this over at [URL] but figured I might as well post it here too) My Old iBook g4 1GHz, has just started kernel panicking. it wont start at all, it kernel panics my MacBook Pro when i try to start it in Target Disk mode, and it wont boot a DiskWarrior CD, or an OS Install disk i have either. I did manage to run an Apple Service Diagnostic Test CD, and it found no errors. ive booted into Single user mode, run fsck -fy and get no errors.
I tried: /sbin/mount - uw / and get the following message: " panic(cpu 0 caller 0x00110824): "/SourceCache/xnu/xnu-1228.7.58/bsd/vfs/vfs_journal.c:3109: tr blhdr max_blocks looks bad: 31 " @/SourceCache/xnu/xnu-1228.7.58/bsd/vfs/vfs_journal.c:3109 Latest stack backtrace for cpu 0: Backtrace: 0x0009B518 0x0009BEBC 0x00029DDB 0x00110824 0x0025EC9C 0x00268FAC 0x0025EF44 0x0025A6B0....................
I just got this iBook 12" in the mail been to a mac shop before I bought it where the owner was told the screen had died. Motherboard was said to be Ok by the repairer. I replaced the screen with a know working one and the screen was dead. Then after the fiddle of pulling it apart again wondered if I could use the hard drive on another ibook. The hard drive I put in another iBook which loaded up fine with display. Later I tried again but it was a dead screen? Is it that both ibooks have faulty motherboards? Motherboard determines a display? Or could it be the display module? What else could cause dead screen? Cables good.
I started up my iBook today and it took me all the way through sign-in to my desktop before giving me a grey overlay with a little box saying that I need to restart. So I did and then it took me to my desktop again before scrolling code across the screen in a very messy, un-mac-like way. I tried getting into safe boot (restarting and pressing shift from after the tone until the apple and wheel show up) and it just ran the apple and wheel grey start-up screen for a while before kicking back into a normal restart and giving me the earlier results. So I went and got myself into single-user mode and ran the fsck -yf command. It told me this: Checking Catalog file Invalid extent entry (4, 190) Volume check failed Is there any way to fix this, to save my computer? I don't know anything about code or computers. My general mode of operation has been "I bought a /mac/. I shouldn't ever have to look at code."
I have an iBook 500Mhtz PPC G3, 384 RAM, 10GB HD, Dual USB. Several months ago, I opened it up and it simply would not start up. No start up sound, no noise from the fans/HD/anything, motionless. Completely dead. I've held (many times) the PMU, and tried almost anything. Is there anything else I can do to get it to AT LEAST turn on? The battery is dead, and the charger is fine, but the battery won't charge. I tested the charger on a PB G4. I'd rather sell the whole computer as a working computer. I figured I'd get more money that way. do I need to sell it for parts?
I have an eyelash-sized dark streak on the center, bottom (dock area) of my Powerbook G4 15". At first, I thought it was dirt, or another external blemish, but if I move the cursor over it, it obstructs the view of the blemish (instead of appearing beneath it.) Also, I have a small, almost white, faded dot which appears to grow and expand larger if the Powerbook is running for longer than 4-6 hours.What is frustrating is that neither show up under screen captures. Is my monitor full of external stains and blemishes which I cannot remove, or is there something actually wrong with my display?
I recently found in a dumpster a 17' inch iMac G4 (1Ghz, 80 HD, superdriver, 512MB). All components seem to be ok. When I power up the PC, you can hear the chime, but no image comes up. You can see there is backlight but the screen is as dark as night. I really do not care about the lamp case. I was hoping to move all the components to a spare PC case that I have in my basement. Can I use a regular ATX power supply? If I can use a regular PC case with a external LCD monitor (attach to the MB's external LCD port), that would be awesome.
If DVI out to external monitor works, does this mean that the GPU works? When I run the hardware test I get a Video RAM error, 2DIS/16/2, googling that is inconclusive. The LCD panel is new and verified to be functional, so that's not the problem. Could a faulty video cable or something else that is cheap to replace cause a Video RAM error? Or is it in need of a new logic board?
I've had my Dual 2.7 G5 since early 2005. It has been a great computer for me over the years. Noisy as hell, but great. A month ago my screen started to distort every now and then (see pics below). The computer would freeze when the screen distorted. Then when I would reboot, the distortion and artifacting would occur even at the grey boot up screen and lock up. With enough reboots it would finally get back to the desktop and be fine for a few days. This no longer works anymore. I haven't successfully booted the computer in over 2 weeks. After the distorted grey boot screen it will go black and all you see is the artifacts, never getting to the desktop. Is this a dead video card? I'm running the stock AGP Nvidia GeForce 6800 GT. If this is a dead video card, do you have any suggestions for the best AGP replacement. I'm looking for something powerful. All I'm finding are very pricey 256mb cards. I'm willing to pay for a powerful card.
I have an old PowerBook G4 that my son uses for simple stuff. One day the screen went dark gray (not powered off) and it won't boot. When I try to boot from a Tiger disk, I get what appears to be a kernel panic. I don't get any strange startup beeps
My problem is a screen that is lit but grey, with vertical lines very faint in the background. when connected to a monitor all is well. I have replaced the screen with a second hand one from ebay and it is exactly the same. what is more likely- both screens are duff or is there something obvious i'm missing. i was given the ibook by a friend replaced the harddrive and gave it to my son and it worked for six weeks perfectly until the display suddenly went never to return.
