"You Must Restart Your Computer" Prompt at Startup

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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

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Answer 1

cornelius

Level 6

17,826 points

May 2, 2008 9:58 AM in response to Nightfighter

Nightfighter:

Your computer is likely having a kernel panic. These can be either software or hardware based. Since you have successfully repaired disk permissions and run fsck, you issue is most likely hardware based. Follow the advice in Dr. Smoke's FAQ Resolving Kernel Panics and post back with your findings.

Starting up in Safe Mode requires holding down the Shift key until the gray apple appears.

I suggest that you get install disks for your computer. You may need to have the Apple Hardware Test disk to check the hardware. Contact your friend and ask for the disks as they are specific to your computer and should have come with the computer.

Good luck.

cornelius

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Answer 2

Nightfighter Author

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May 2, 2008 10:34 AM in response to cornelius

Thanks for the links. I have no idea why anything would go wrong. There were no problems with anything before this started happening. I just wanted to repair the permissions because the system was running a little slow. I cleaned out some documents and old music that I didn't need anymore and stuff like that.

I did turn airport off before I did anything because I reset my cable modem and wireless router because the internet connection was poor, but it was poor on both the laptop and my PC desktop that runs off an etehrnet cable. The airport is still off as I didn't turn it back on before restarting.

Would the Apple store Genius bar have some install/restore disks there (and would it cost me to go up there?) because I don't know if my friend even has the disks anymore and if he does he lives in Washington (i'm in Michigan) so it would have to be sent to me.

And can I load OS 9 from start up or do you have to go to start up disks in the preferences menu in 10 only?

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Answer 3

cornelius

Level 6

17,826 points

May 2, 2008 12:12 PM in response to Nightfighter

Nightfighter:

Since your iBook is an older version, it shipped either with OS 9 or with OS 9 and the earlier version of OS X. Normally you can call Apple Customer Relations and they will send you the disks for a fee. However, I don't think they supply OS disks for older hardware. The Apple Store may be able to help. Give them a call.

I suggest that you contact your roommate and get, at least, the Apple Hardware Test disk. Your profile does not tell what version of OS X you are running. Whatever it is, you can likely purchase the disks in the after market. If you need suggestions as to where to get them, please post back.

Good luck.

cornelius

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Answer 4

Nightfighter Author

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May 2, 2008 12:43 PM in response to cornelius

I'm pretty sure I have OS 10.3. I e-mailed my old roommate so I'll have to wait to hear back from him.

Here's something else I thought about, maybe its not related but who knows. When I would put a certain pair of headphones in the computer I would get a hum. When I'd touch the metal hinge of the screen the hum would go away. I figured there must be a loose audio wire and touching the metal helped ground it. Could this lead to the kernal panic? I'd hate to take the whole thing apart again (I had to take it apart to replace the backlight wire a year or so ago, and i took it apart to check my CD/DVD drive when it was acting up) to find out that there is nothing wrong.

I just found out the they opened a new apple store fairly close to me recently. I'm going to call them tomorrow morning and see if its worth going up there.
Again, thanks for the help

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Answer 5

cornelius

Level 6

17,826 points

May 2, 2008 3:25 PM in response to Nightfighter

Nightfighter:

If your room-mate can come up with the disks that will be great.

If there is a short in the wires, that may or may not be the issue. Post back after you talk with the Apple Store.

Good luck.

cornelius

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Answer 6

Nightfighter Author

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May 3, 2008 10:12 AM in response to cornelius

So, I went up to the Apple store and talked to the genius lady. She made sure the harddrive was ok and seems to think that its the logic board more than likely. Sitting here now I realize that I forgot to mention the headphones and the hum.

So, should I try the shim trick I read about in a few other threads? Or could the logic board just be toast, or could it be another culprit? As I said, there were no problems with the computer at all until I restarted it after repairing permissions. I still haven't found out if my buddy has the disks still (I hope he does, but he's moved a bunch in the last couple years and he's really flaky anyway so he might have just dumped them). How much would it cost to have the logic board fixed, if that indeed is the problem? I definitely can't afford a brand new laptop right now.

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Answer 7

May 3, 2008 7:39 PM in response to Nightfighter

Does squeezing the case to the left of the trackpad allow you to start up and work as long as you keep the pressure on it there? If so, the shim fix should work for you.

What price did the Apple Store quote you on fixing it? DT & T Computer Services in Fremont, California offers the cheapest repair I've found. They have a six-month warranty on the repair.

Good luck.

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Answer 8

Nightfighter Author

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May 4, 2008 6:42 AM in response to Ronda Wilson

Squeezing the case has no effect. I put a shim in there, no effect. The "You Must Restart Your Computer" screen comes on everytime I turn it on. Perhaps its no the logic board? Before this all started happening there were no problems with the computer, especially not any that are associated with the logic board problem (the original logic board was replaced under the recall a few years ago). It doesn't matter anyway, because the Mac Genius lady said that there's nothing they can do because the computer isn't supported by them anymore.

Like I said, I put the shim in the bottom last night. Today I'm going to get into the top portion and look for any loose connections or frayed wires or anything odd. I was going to do it yesterday, but i didn't have access to a working computer at the time and forgot ho iFixit.com showed how to get it off.

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Answer 9

May 4, 2008 7:49 AM in response to Nightfighter

If squeezing the case has no effect, then one should not expect a shim to work, either.

How much RAM is installed? One of the most frequent cause of kernel panics is RAM that has gone bad. Assuming it has an extra RAM module installed, you may want to try _removing the extra RAM_ to see if that is the problem.

How big is the hard drive, and do you know how much space remains available on it? A too-full hard drive can cause kernel panics.

In your hard-drive clean up effort, is it possible that you may have accidentally removed an essential file or files?

Note: If Mac OS X 10.4 is installed, the iBook will not run with just the logic board RAM.

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Answer 10

Nightfighter Author

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May 4, 2008 10:33 AM in response to Ronda Wilson

I believe there is either 256mb or 512mb of RAM installed (Like I said, I bought it off my old roommate so I'm not sure what he installed). Is the amount of RAM printed on the chip because I know you can get to it by removing the Airport card and going under that panel. The harddrive is 10 gigs and there was around 3 gigs of empty space. My clean up was more just old word documents, power points, songs in itunes that I didn't need anymore, and stuff like that. Unless when I repaired permissions and Disk Utility did something bad, I didn't mess with any of the system files.

Is there a way to test the RAM in single user mode or do i need the test disk, or is there no way to test the RAM at all? And do you think the thing will even load off the CD if I do get it (I heard back from my old roommate this morning and he said he was going to look for the disks. Of course the time difference from here to washington doesn't help).

I'm willing to try anything now that is cheap or free, because I really can't afford costly replacements right now. Again, thanks to all for the tips and help.

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Answer 11

cornelius

Level 6

17,826 points

May 4, 2008 11:09 AM in response to Nightfighter

Nightfighter:

is there no way to test the RAM at all?

Rember-Memory Test

😉 cornelius

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Answer 12

May 4, 2008 2:00 PM in response to cornelius

Or, as I indicated, remove the extra RAM and see if it will start up without the extra RAM installed.

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Answer 13

Nightfighter Author

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May 4, 2008 4:19 PM in response to cornelius

cornelius wrote:
Nightfighter:

is there no way to test the RAM at all?

Rember-Memory Test

😉 cornelius

Can I run this program in single user mode? How the heck would I do that (I don't know UNIX or any programing type stuff)

Ronda Wilson wrote:

Or, as I indicated, remove the extra RAM and see if it will start up without the extra RAM installed.

If I pull the RAM under the key board, is there some built into the system itself, because I don't have any to replace that which is in the slot under the airport card. I'd hate to go out and spend money to fin out that is not the problem.

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Answer 14

May 4, 2008 11:27 PM in response to Nightfighter

Yes. There is logic board RAM. A few 500 MHz iBooks (those with a CD-ROM optical drive) have only 64 MB of RAM on the logic board. This is not enough to run Mac OS X 10.3.

If the iBook has an optical drive other than the CD-ROM drive, it should have 128 MB of RAM soldered to the logic board. In that case, you should be able to run Mac OS X 10.3 without the extra RAM module.

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Answer 15

Nightfighter Author

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May 5, 2008 6:06 AM in response to Ronda Wilson

I have a DVD-rom/CD-RW drive so I'm assuming there is the 128MB installed. I removed the extra RAM module last night and it didn't make a difference, it just froze up 10 seconds in.

so, here are some of my thoughts, taking stock before I go any further-

1- Could "Repair Permissions" have deleted or modified something in the OS that would cause this? (There were no problems with anything before I repaired permissions and then restarted)

2- Could something be wrong due to airport (it was running slow before I repaired permissions and I turned it off before repairing permissions and hadn't turned it on before restarting, so I could reset my router while it was repairing permissions)?

3- Could the on-board RAM be toast (there is the 256 chip installed up top)?

4- About a year a go I posted here- http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1040027&tstart=30 , about my optical drive not working. I looked around for a few months for a cheap replacement and one day on a whim I put a cd in and it starting working again. It was working recently, before the new problem started. Could the kernel panic be related to this?

5- Again, could it be a loose connection inside?

Finally, 6- could it just be fried? (It does turn on and starts to load, but then panics, and I am able to run in single user mode, which repaired in fsck and said the hard drive was ok)

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