ibook g3 - grey/loading screen stuck on start up

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ibook g3 - grey/loading screen stuck on start up

As a teacher, every so often the school my mother works for gives her a new laptop; she gave me her old one after it was replaced years ago (with the school's permission). Unfortunately since it was a gift, I don't have any manuals or disks that come with purchase. The computer techs where she works say with such an old computer, it's a waste of time for them to look at it. But up until recently it worked like a charm! I have a new desktop for most of my work, but I would still like to use this one for simple tasks. When I try to start the laptop, I get stuck on the grey screen with the spinning pinwheel. It will stay on this screen for days (literally).

Nothing I have tried will get past this screen! I've tried starting it up while plugged in and charging. I've tried starting it up completely free of any charger. I've started in "open firmware" and reset everything, but that hasn't helped. I've tried holding "command + r" but that leaves me with the never-ending loading screen as well. I've tried starting it up with disk 1 of 3 inserted and holding down "c," but that hasn't worked either. I don't know where the problem is exactly, and I'm not computer savvy enough to understand what the error messages mean. When run in "safe mode" (first 3 pictures) or holding down "command + v" (last 4 pictures) here are some screen shots:

I've tried starting up while holding the alt/option button, but I get this screen (even when the restore disk is in, and I've hit the reload button):

I'm afraid since it was set up as a school computer for her, there are some locks or safeguards that are preventing me from making any changes to fix the machine. I'm hours away from any Apple stores and Apple Support has nothing for this old of a model. Please help! Thank you.

computer info:

iBook G3 (this model or this, not sure!)

500MHZ, 128MB, 15GB, 2001

Amazon restore CD info:

iBook G3/G4 9.2.2 (3 disks)

iBook

Posted on Apr 7, 2014 6:44 PM

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Answer 1

K Shaffer

Level 7

34,972 points

Apr 8, 2014 11:42 AM in response to didlypie

This looks like the computer somehow started up in Single-User

or verbose mode, but I'm not certain (esp. about terms used.)

The computer appears to already be starting into a Command line

so someone may have entered into Single User mode and did not

exit the process... Or, there is an error in the system which could

be best addressed if you could get OS X system install discs and

start over with an erased hard disk drive.

There are instructions on how to start in single user mode and also

in them, there are restart to get out of that mode instructions.

•Mac OS X: How to start up in single-user or verbose mode

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1492

Mac OS X: Gray screen appears during startup

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2570

•Resolve startup issues and perform disk maintenance with Disk Utility & fsck

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1417?viewlocale=en_US

•The Unix Command Line: Single-User Mode

http://www.westwind.com/reference/os-x/commandline/single-user.html

{The computer in your images is one of the first white Dual USB iBook G3

500MHz models; hard to say which exactly without detailed build info.

Either one would have shipped with an early Mac OS 9.1 on grey discs

for the computer model; and perhaps also included or could run OS X of

no later than Panther 10.3.9 or Tiger 10.4.11. Perhaps from CD media.}

Anyway, I saw your post the other day and it reminded me of my first iBook

white G3 12" (first model Dual USB) with 10GB HDD, 64MB RAM, CD drive,

56k modem, 802.11b wireless card, & the like. Used, mine even had the box.

The site http://everymac.com has a complete list of all iBook specs and of

them, some details of the first models may be helpful. http://mactracker.ca

is also a good resource for most specifications across a wide range.

Hopefully you can get the iBook white G3 to boot into a Mac OS if there is one.

Good luck & happy computing! 🙂

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