iBook doesn't start up - almost everything tried and AirPort-Card

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GuyWithApple Author

Level 1

0 points

iBook doesn't start up - almost everything tried and AirPort-Card

Hello,

I got some problems with my iBook G4 and hope, anyone can help me.

Under the Keyboard it says:

IBOOK 12.1/ 1.33 / 512 / 40 / COMBO/ APX/ BT-DEU

The Model Number is A113.

I bought this iBook used from eBay and wanted to use it as a separate Computer. Because WIFI somehow didn't work and the iBook always just said "No AirPort-Card installed" I thought, I open it up and look, if there is one. Bluetooth somehow worked before.

After some time, I finally reached the space she was there and nothing looked too bad. All the antenna cables were plugged and it looked like everything should work.

After I screwed it together, I wanted to turn it on and a problem that was sometimes there, happened again:

I press the power button and the startup "chime" sounds. The DVD, which is still inside, rotates, but it happens nothing else. The screen remains black, the fan can not be heard, and the hard drive does nothing. When I turned it off and on again, it often worked again.

Now it's doing nothing, no matter what I do.

What has happened only twice in four days, is that I have turned on the iBook and then a white screen that says something and you can only enter:

"shut-down" or "boot-up". If you want to boot the computer, is just a folder with a question mark.

I don't know what to do and ask for urgent help.

iBook, Mac OS X (10.5.8)

Posted on Oct 21, 2014 2:36 AM

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Answer 1

spudnuty

Level 5

7,116 points

Oct 29, 2014 9:04 AM in response to GuyWithApple

>folder with a question mark<

That's the classic symptom meaning the computer can't find an OS to boot from. Usually means the HD is bad.

>"No AirPort-Card installed"<

Just the Wi-Fi section of the card can fail.

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Answer 2

K Shaffer

Level 7

34,978 points

Oct 30, 2014 11:32 AM in response to GuyWithApple

Is the DVD, still within the optical drive, a System install disc #1?

If so, try a restart or startup with the C key held down to see if

the DVD will be seen by the computer as a startup volume.

You may be able to use the booted installer to select a startup

volume, or use its Disk Utility to repair or verify the hard drive.

The HDD may be bad, or sectors of drive data somehow damaged.

You may have to find a USB mouse and attach it, then press & hold

the mouse button down while the computer attempts to start, in order

to remove a non-system CD or DVD from the optical drive.

Hopefully you have a system DVD, perhaps a retail copy of OS X 10.5.

There may be other things needing attention in that iBook. A bad

cable to the hard drive &/or the optical drive could effect startup.

You may be able to get a working wi-fi + bluetooth card from one of

the online resellers of these kinds of parts. The Mid 2005 iBook G4

uses that one card to do both, and it's on the logic board. In some

cases, a noted 'kernel panic' could happen with bad wireless cards.

So that would be another matter a late model iBookG4 may see.

Good luck & happy computing! 🙂

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