Kernal panics out of nowhere, at startup in a G4 Powerbook

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Level 2

191 points

Kernal panics out of nowhere, at startup in a G4 Powerbook

I may have trashed the System folder, but now I can't re-install anything. I can restart from CD using Techtool Pro or Diskwarrior, but not from any of my system install disks. I've tried all the startup key combinations I can find: Cmd-Opt-P-R; Cmd-Opt-O-F; Cmd-Opt-Shift-Delete; resetting the power manager, etc., and nothing has helped. I got somewhere with a couple of those, but I couldn't get beyond a flashing Mac OS9 icon/question mark. Then, finally, the apple logo appears followed, every time, by the Kernal panic, with the words at the top:
Unable to find driver for this platform: "Powerbook6,2"

And as far as I can tell, no power on earth can get me beyond that screen. When that started happening,I removed the add-on RAM and the Airport card, and there are no peripherals connected to the computer. It was bought used four years ago from a Mac specialty house, has worked fine ever since, and was working fine until we shifted its contents to a new Powerbook, using a Firewire cable, and possibly trashing the OS in the process. That may have done it, but why is it impossible to fix it? I'd like to provide more details, e.g., which version of the system was running and how much RAM, but I don't know, and the computer isn't about to tell me. Is there a fix for this?

G4, Mac OS X (10.4)

Posted on Mar 14, 2010 10:13 AM

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Answer 1

BGreg

Level 6

17,552 points

Mar 14, 2010 2:05 PM in response to Birck Cox

Have you tried a safe boot by holding down the shift key when rebooting?

When you say it won't boot off the system disk, you held the C key down when trying to boot?

When you say you can boot off of TechTool Pro and DIsk Warrior, did you run either one to see what it says about your disk?

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Answer 2

Birck Cox Author

Level 2

191 points

Mar 15, 2010 9:23 AM in response to BGreg

BGreg, thanks for the reply. I just tried booting with shift key down, and all I got was a black screen. Nothing after that. I did hold down the C key when trying to boot off the system disks, although I apparently don't have the original PBG4-specific disks for this computer. But my technique was OK, or I couldn't have got the two disk repair disks to boot. They both ran and declared the HD to be acceptable, but neither could establish a functional boot partition on the drive. I've run into the can't-boot-with-C-key issue before, on otherwise healthy computers. Now I'm trying to get a disk out of the slit drive-my wife(it's her computer) tried using the install disk for her new Powerbook, and now it won't come out. One other issue I've run into: I can't tell for sure which model of PB this is. It's 12-inch, G4 PB, Model A1010, with a gray matte metallic finish, and I can't tell which one it is, in order to poke the PMU. It doesn't have a reset button in any of the places specified in any guide to resetting PMUs, although it does have a mystery hole on the keyboard fascia, just north of the F1 key. And that doesn't eject the disc. Where can I get or make a usable install disc (OSX 10.4) to boot this PB from? I tried booting it from an outboard firewire drive, but I still didn't have the right disc.

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Answer 3

BGreg

Level 6

17,552 points

Mar 20, 2010 11:03 AM in response to Birck Cox

Do this to reset the PMU:

1. If the computer is on, turn it off.
2. Reset the power manager by simultaneously pressing and then releasing Shift-Control-Option-Power on the keyboard. Do not press the fn (Function) key while using this combination of keystrokes.
3. Wait 5 seconds.
4. Press the Power button to restart the computer.

On the disk, you can contact Apple at 1-800-MY-APPLE and see if they have any of the original OS X disk sets for your system, or you can find a retail version of Tiger 10.4.

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