PowerPC :: IBook Won't Turn On - Gray Screen
Jul 17, 2007
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?
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May 5, 2007
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.
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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?
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Dec 30, 2010
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.
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Dec 30, 2008
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.
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Jul 11, 2009
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.
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Jan 4, 2009
Had (used) iBook G4 several months now & thoroughly enjoy it, even tho' I live in the sticks where there's no hi-speed/wireless available; I connect to internet & power, which is fine.
This weekend I went to turn off my iBook & it wouldn't turn off. It's now permanently on, with opening info barely visible (like I need to click on F2 to brighten up, except nothing happens).
Currently using my "back up" computer, my iMac Grape, which is pretty much an antique by now.
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Jul 14, 2009
a few hours ago my mac froze up so i reset it but when i turned it back on it was just gray with a folder icon with a question mark in the middle blinking. i then turned it off and left it alone for a few hours and when i went to turn it on again the screen is just gray with the apple icon and the loading icon under it, which is what always comes up when i first turn it on but it wont change, its been the same for like a half hour now.
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Apr 6, 2008
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."
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Jun 17, 2012
I turn on my computer and it has a blank/gray screen. I can turn it on and off, but that's all.
Info:
MacBook Air
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Jun 23, 2007
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.
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Jun 9, 2009
Here's a fun one for you guys. My teacher in my class (tech school for computers and networking) acquired an old iBook, 14 inch. He has no idea what model it is, or what the specs are. He gave it to me to try to repair, being the only Mac guy in the Here's the deal. It charges the battery, and but won't turn on. I tried the PMU reset.
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Jul 27, 2008
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?
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Jan 16, 2009
I bought an ibook a little while ago because I wanted a small, simple notebook and I love my home iMac. I found one for a good price on eBay and when it arrived everything seemed ok. I wanted to re-install the OS and set everything to my specifications because I was having a little trouble with some of the apps. Anyway, I went through the lengthy re-install and just as it finished counting down the seconds to completion, it shut down. I thought it might be in sleep mode because the little white light was on, so I hit a key and the light went off but nothing happened. Nothing on the screen, no HD noise, nothing. I'm at a loss because I really don't know much at all about hardware or software, which is why I liked the user-friendly Mac so much. The only thing that tells me it's getting power is the little green light at the power connector. I tried a PMU reset (there's no reset button on my model so it was a button combo of shift-ctrl-option-power I think) but that didn't do anything.
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Jun 11, 2008
I bought a PowerPC iBook G4 second hand from ebay, it was working fine until one day, it stpped turning off. My lecturer told me to hold the power key down until it turned off.
This was fine for a while but now it won't turn on, whenever I try to turn it on it just comes up with a grey screen and wont load. I have important information on my Mac which is vital to the course I am studying, I have tried turning it to hard drive mode to try and get the information from it but it doesn't show up on my other mac.
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Apr 3, 2008
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.
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Aug 31, 2010
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
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Nov 26, 2007
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.
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Feb 6, 2008
At the tech dept we have this G4 that refuses to boot past the grey screen with the rotating wheel. The logic board has been replaced, we've removed all sticks of RAM save 1x512, we've tried a known working optical drive, replaced ribbon cables (optical cable was frayed on one end) No dice. Option booting works, but once we select the DVD we can't boot from an install PPC CD either, it just gets stuck at the grey screen. We also have a tech HD inside that the computer does not boot from either.
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May 1, 2009
I recently required a Power Mac G4, and it was working fine, albeit a bit slow but I just assume that was because there's too many files on it, but that's another story. I shut it down before I left work, when I came back in the morning it was just the grey screen with the apple. I reset it, still no response. I reset the PRAM, nothing. I tried to boot in Single user mode, nothing. I tried to boot in verbose mode, nothing. I force ejected the CD and put in an OSX disk one from my laptop, asked it to force read by restarting and pressing "C" and still nothing. I am not sure if a cable inside has been jarred lose.
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Jan 25, 2010
I think my hd went out. I have a G4 dual 1ghz (pretty sure, can't see it right now) mdd, os 10.411, and it froze up so I did a hard restart: hold the power button for 10 seconds till it shuts off. When I turned it on the next time it would not boot up. Gray screen withe the spinning wheel of bars like it is thinking, searching, and longing to start up. Booted from the install cd to access the hd, but it acts like it wants to install the os fresh.
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Jul 17, 2010
I was given a PowerBook G4 15" today. I need to fix it, but I can't find out what exactly is wrong. I've used MROOGLE and I can't find any problem quite like what I'm experiencing. In my case, the laptop will turn on, make the chime, and stay stuck on a white/grey screen. No apple, no spinning gear, no nothing. Just a blank white/grey screen. However, when I insert the Leopard DVD and hold down "C" the apple appears as well as the little spinning gear. That goes on for a few minutes. BUT, after those few minutes are up the small gear still spins, but the Apple logo is replaced with a prohibitory sign (like what you would see on a non-smoking or no parking sign) and it sticks there and sometime says that I need to re-start my computer. The same happens with the Tiger disk. Also, when I place the Leopard or Tiger disk in the SuperDrive and hold down "option" so that I can boot OS X from the DVD, I click the little continue arrow and nothing happens. I've reset everything there is to be reset, and I've opened up the computer and re-seated everything that could possibly be re-seated. RAM, HDD, all connector cables, etc. There isn't any visible physical damage inside of the computer either.
The most recent thing I've tried was to boot off of a PPC-specific Ubuntu disk. It does some stuff and lets me run the kernel, but after that the computer gets stuck on a black screen and does nothing at all. I'd really appreciate it if you all could offer some advice as to what may be wrong. All suggestions and ideas are welcome too.
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Jun 3, 2009
It will turn on and go to the white screen with the gray apple but even after several hours it wont do anything. I tried holding down C since my copy of leopard is stuck inside and it does the same thing.
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Dec 17, 2006
are these two LCDs swappable? Can I stick a G3 iBook Screen into a G4? I have no idea and I'd like to have some idea.
does the hinge and everything line up, too?
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Dec 26, 2008
just installed 10.5.6 on their last gen. iBook.She left the iBook plugged in to the mains and came back to find that the iBook was alternating between the grey Apple screen and a light blue desktop screen where she could see the cursor. Sometimes it would also switch to a blue screen without a cursor.
I've tried holding shift during startup - no effect.
I've tried rebooting NVRAM - no effect.
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Apr 30, 2007
My iBook will not display anything on its screen. Rather, it just remains black. One time, the screen did come on, but then shortly after booting, it flickered a lot and then went black again. A year ago, something similiar happened and when I took it to be serviced (when I had AppleCare), they had to send it away and have a new logic board installed. Now this machine is out of warrenty and and I am not sure what to do, or even if it is the same problem. Any suggestions?? Thanks!
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Sep 23, 2006
Ever since I sold it here on MR and got it back, there has been a problem with my 12" Dual USB iBook G3 500MHz's screen (lord, that's a long name). Whenever the screen is tilted back farther than 45 degrees or so, the backlight shuts off. I can open the casing and fix it if it's possible. Does anyone know what the problem with it is? I'm trying to get it fixed up and ready to sell back to my friend as his first Mac, and I'm trying to get every problem resolved
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Nov 1, 2006
So I've got a powerbook G4, thats 8 days past its warranty. Conveniently, it now won't turn on. It won't wont boot from CD. If I turn it on, I get a gray screen that usually just turns my computer back off, if thats not the case I get a screen that shows the finder icon and a question mark and then turns off.
All it will do is boot into open firmware mode. Currently the install disc is inside of it and I've tried booting the cd using "cd:, bxi" and "dir hd", and it can't open both. Does anyone know how to wipe the HD, and start the installer using firmware? Otherwise, I think I'll have to take out the harddrive and plug it into an external case and then wipe it.
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Dec 16, 2006
So, recently (as of thursday or so) my PBG4 has been making weird buzzing noises, usually only when it was working hard (or watching things online). Eventually, as it got closer to the weekend, the noise started to get louder whenever it would come on, so I'd just turn off my computer for an hour or so and let it cool. Finally, today, I turn it off again and now whenever I turn it back on, all I get is the gray start up screen, sans spinner. Sometimes I even get a little folder with the mac face on it. What's wrong?
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Jul 12, 2006
I have a Rev A 12 inch Powerbook - 867 mHz, 640 RAM, 40 GB hard drive. The machine's always been reliable and has performed great over the years. I bought it the last week of July, 2003.
Yesterday, the Pbook was shut down, and I press the on button so it would boot up. Almost immediately, the hard drive makes a loud, whirring noise. The computer advances to the gray screen with the Apple logo, but it doesn't get past that point and the noise continues, as if it's a car engine that just won't start...
I'm going to take it to my local Apple Store in the morning, and hopefully the data, including my nearly 22 GB of music, can be saved. Any thoughts on how to get my computer working again? By the way, it's the original hard drive installed. Hopefully this is enough info to generate some ideas, I'm stumped.
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