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Level 1

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"You Must Restart Your Computer" Prompt at Startup

yet another non-boot question for the board here. Last night I ran a repair permissions in Disk Utility because I like to do it every few months to keep everything running smooth. After it ran I reset and about 10 seconds into booting a screen pops up that says I need to restart the computer. After restart it pops back up. Its happened countless times now. I reset the PRAM and it still does it. I've tried starting in safe mode (by holding shift) but I'm not sure how long I have to hold shift for to get it to start in safe mode. I held it for a while on the gray apple screen, not sure how long its supposed to be held for though. I ran fsck since I bought this laptop off my old roommate and don't have the restore disks. Its ran its things, repaired a few things and said everything was successful. After a reboot, i still get the restart prompt. I have OS 9 installed on there as well. Can I boot up in 9 by using keys at start up to see if that will load successfully, and if so how do I do it. Everything was working good before this. I never should have repair the permissions I guess. Help me folks, because I can't afford a new computer and I use this thing for a lot of stuff and there is a lot of documents and such on there that I need to have handy.

iBook 500MHz PowerPC G3

Posted on May 2, 2008 7:47 AM

40 replies

andr nimm

Level 2

345 points

May 21, 2008 4:19 PM in response to Nightfighter

Nightfighter, frack! i feel the frustration.

Just spent two nights fixing roommate's PB 12" with similar kernel panic.did HW test, tested memory, reset PMU, reset PRAM, . . . even replaced the hard drive, backed up everything, reinstalled sys, you know the litany cause you did it.

In this case the ONLY thing wrong with that frackin computer was a loose airport express card. This was discovered by READING the kernel panic message while booting in verbose mode: it hung on testing airport services.

Unfortunately this is not likely your problem since you have TAKEN APART THE MOST COMPLICATED MAC OF ALL TIME TWICE ... replaced the logic board, and put it back together! geez. i don't know but read the kernel panic msg very carefully. what are the chances you have two busted processors? not likely.

can you boot it from a FW drive?

Nightfighter Author

Level 1

0 points

May 22, 2008 6:15 AM in response to andr nimm

I took it back up to the shop and the person there and I went through it. She ran it in firewire mode and connected it to another system and tried to repair it and there were some non fix able errors. It turns out something with the hard drive (the system files or something) is screwed up, probably due to the Logic board going or all the hard restarts. I need to reinstall the system software and everything should be cool, according to the lady at the shop. But, as I've said, I don't have any discs. My old roommate said he's looking for them, and I've been taking a look around for a good price on OS X 10.3 Panther.

If anyone knows a place to get a cheap but working version I'd love to hear about it, since I don't know if my old roommate is going to be able to find his.

That's where I am now.

Message was edited by: Nightfighter

May 22, 2008 7:57 AM in response to Nightfighter

I'm afraid that there are no cheap solutions out there (unless you want to try eBay; I didn't check there).

Any Panther CDs I've found cost more than they did when Apple was selling them.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B0000E6NK9/ref=dpolp3
http://hardcoremac.stores.yahoo.net/macosx10pa.html

Good luck.

Nightfighter Author

Level 1

0 points

May 22, 2008 8:28 AM in response to Ronda Wilson

I've found quite a few on eBay for around 50-75 bucks. If my buddy can't find his stuff I guess I'll go there. Also, there is a trade center place around here that has a computer show every month or so where there are a lot of dealers so perhaps there'll be a Mac dealer or 2 there with a copy for sale or who knows where I can get one. I just want to get this done because I'm lost without my laptop!

andr nimm

Level 2

345 points

May 23, 2008 4:28 AM in response to Nightfighter

what's your email? Or email me

<post edited by host>

May 23, 2008 1:11 AM in response to andr nimm

If Nightfighter wants to e-mail you, your e-mail address is in your profile.

(Someone's public profile may be accessed by clicking on his or her name.)

Note: I did not report your post, but if a Host notices an e-mail address on the forums, it is usually removed. Many users of Apple Discussions do report e-mail addresses on the boards. They are removed for your protection (to curtail spamming and those attempting to harvest e-mail addresses).

andr nimm

Level 2

345 points

Jun 6, 2008 3:23 PM in response to Ronda Wilson

Thanks Ronda- all cool.

Jun 6, 2008 5:36 PM in response to andr nimm

Jul 30, 2008 8:46 AM in response to Nightfighter

My MacBook pro is giving me the same screen every time I restart my machine. I am getting the screen with the contents:

You need to restart your computer. Hold down the power button for severals seconds...

I am not able to get any further in my Mac Os x. I have tried to zapping the prram and still no further.

Can anyone help me please..

Jul 30, 2008 9:07 AM in response to seanryano

Hi, and welcome to Apple Discussions.

You may want to try posting in the MacBook Pro Forum:

http://discussions.apple.com/forum.jspa?forumID=1149

What you are experiencing are kernel panics. An explanation of what kernel panics are can be found in this Apple Knowledge Base article:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1392?viewlocale=en_US

A good article on resolving kernel panics can be found here:
http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/kernelpanics.html

Good luck!

"You Must Restart Your Computer" Prompt at Startup