laptop won't boot up,won't accept Tiger disc

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Level 1

25 points

laptop won't boot up,won't accept Tiger disc

My powerbook G4 would not start up today after I had shut it down. The gray screen came up and the spinning wheel just kept on spinning and nothing else happened. I checked Discussions (using my iMac) and tried to follow the advice given to someone else to use the Mac OS X Tiger disk to restart the laptop so that I could then use Disk Utility to repair the HD. I could not get the powerbook to accept the disk. I pushed it in but it doesn't get taken in the rest of the way and pops back out. Any ideas for what I should do?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Janet

iMac Intel 2.8 GHz /Power Book G4 1 GHz

Posted on May 12, 2009 5:57 PM

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Answer 1

May 12, 2009 6:41 PM in response to JTerp

HI Janet,

Are you holding down the C key when you boot from your install disk?

Insert Installer disk and Restart, holding down the "C" key until grey Apple appears.
Go to Installer menu (Panther and earlier) or Utilities menu (Tiger and later) and launch Disk Utility.
Select your HDD (manufacturer ID) in the left panel.
Select First Aid in the Main panel.
(Check S.M.A.R.T Status of HDD at the bottom of right panel. It should say: Verified)
Click Repair Disk on the bottom right.
If DU reports disk does not need repairs quit DU and restart.
If DU reports errors Repair again and again until DU reports disk is repaired.

You are certain there isn't already another disk in the optical drive?

And make sure the disk is clean and free of fingerprints and smudges.

Carolyn 🙂

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Answer 2

JTerp Author

Level 1

25 points

May 12, 2009 8:23 PM in response to Carolyn Samit

Thanks, Carolyn, for your response. The problem is that I can't get the install disk to go into the optical drive. It goes in smoothly almost all the way and but is not caught and pulled in the last little bit as usually happens. It pops out a bit. Not knowing what else to do I tried to start the laptop by holding down the start button until it chimed. There was a loud clunk that seemed to come from the optical drive. Then the laptop proceeded to start as usual. I went into disk utility to verify the hard drive and to verify and repair permissions from there. I could see no indication that there was a disk in the optical drive. I hit the eject button several times. I then shut the laptop down again and tried to insert the install disk and got the same results. I started the laptop again and got the clunk sound and it continued the start up process without any problem.

Do you or anyone else have any thoughts or advice? At least the laptop is starting up again.

Janet

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Answer 3

May 12, 2009 8:29 PM in response to JTerp

Try booting in Safe Mode http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1455

*"There was a loud clunk that seemed to come from the optical drive."*

That doesn't sound good at all. If you can ever boot from the install disk not only to use Disk Utility but run the Apple Hardware Test as well.

http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/aht.html

Since you can boot to the Desktop, launch Disk Utility (Applications/Utilities) and verify the disk. You can't repair the disk this way, but you can at least check for errors.

Carolyn 🙂

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Answer 4

JTerp Author

Level 1

25 points

May 12, 2009 9:13 PM in response to Carolyn Samit

I booted up in Safe Mode and all went well. The clunk sound did not occur but perhaps that was because I didn't try to insert any disk.

I am going on a trip for about 3 weeks and will take the laptop and hope it starts ok at every stop. Since it did start ok normally and in Safe Mode without the clunk, I don't think it would be wise to run the Hardware Test, which involves the insertion of a disk. The laptop will probably not accept it and then when I start it, it will make that noise, which as you said doesn't sound good. I certainly don't want to cause any damage and that sound is ominous. When I get home I will take it in to the Genius Bar at my nearby Apple Store to see what they think. It has developed another problem with charging the battery that they think might be the logic board or the in/out board so I am sure I am going to be having to buy a new laptop. This one is 5 yrs old and has been trouble-free until recently. I just need it to survive the trip. The good thing is that I have backed it up recently but I still don't want the HD to die since I would want the contents (photos, documents) to be transferred to the new laptop.

Anyway, thanks for your advice to try booting in Smart Mode. Should I continue to start it that way? What does using that booting method do and what is the advantage of using it?

Janet

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Answer 5

May 12, 2009 9:21 PM in response to JTerp

*"Anyway, thanks for your advice to try booting in Smart Mode. Should I continue to start it that way? What does using that booting method do and what is the advantage of using it? "*

Primarily for diagnostics.

If you can boot normally without any glitches or odd sounds, then do so, but if not just boot in Safe Mode until you can get the PBook into the Apple store.

What is Safe Mode

Carolyn 🙂

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