Blinking Question Mark

[TarsierSpectral]

I get a blinking question mark when I try to startup PowerBook G4. The other problem is that this laptop has a broken DVD drive. What I was able to do was connect to my mac mini in a target mode. I was able to check the drive and no problems were found. I then reinstalled OSX on it. After that I was able to boot from that HD on my MAC mini. After I disconnected it from Mac mini I still get a blinking question mark on the Powerbook. Any ideas what else to try?

Thanks
Tarsier

 

[twiSSt]

Try some other basic steps, reseat the ram, replace after market ram for factory. Unplug any third party hardware. If you have Disk Warrior give that a try. I would guess that you have a hardware issue.

Can you start in Single user mode Command-S when you power on. I would suggest booting from the DVD, but that's not going to work in your case.

Twist

===========================================
Everything will be OK in the end.
If it's not OK, then it's not the end

 

[twiSSt]

Sorry not fully awake yet - hold the option key down when booting and you should be able to select the start up disk, if the drive/os isn't hosed.

You could also "zap" the PRAM - hold down command+alt+p+r and listen for the third chime then release.

Twist

===========================================
Everything will be OK in the end.
If it's not OK, then it's not the end

 

[TarsierSpectral]

I thought Disk Warrior was for HD problems. The HD does not seem to have problems. I am able to boot off of it using different machine. I zapped PRAM. Holding Option key does not show HD to boot from. I only get round arrow with circle and an arrow pointed to the right. When I click on the circle arrow, I get an hour glass and nothing happens, when I click on the other arrow nothing happens either. No third party hardware is plugged in.

 

[twiSSt]

the circle with the line indicates the os is broken, basically the laptop is telling you it can't find a stable os to boot from. My gut feeling says the drive is dodgy, but it could be motherboard or some other peice of hardware.

Do you have an external drive you can try and boot from?

As you can see from this link -

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1440

it would be really nice if you could boot from the install disk.



Twist

===========================================
Everything will be OK in the end.
If it's not OK, then it's not the end

 

[Foamcow]

Did you install the Operating System for the Powerbook or for the Mac Mini?

My guess is that the OS on the HDD is not the right one for the Powerbook or that the Powerbook is too low spec to run it, for instance Leopard requires a G4 running at 866Mhz if I remember rightly.

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[TarsierSpectral]

I guess it was for the Mac mini if I had the Powerbook in the target mode.
Before OS installation, it had the same blinking question mark. And supposedly there was OS on it before.

 

[jmgalvin]

First try repairing permissions on the powerbook. It probably won't help but you can try.

If you just copied the OS from the mini to the powerbook, it won't be the right one since notebooks have all sorts of stuff that desktops don't. It will also miss some things. There are hidden files as well as stuff in both the computer Library and the user Library. Also, if the os on the mini is updated and the powerbook is behind, you'll get conflicts. You need something like Carbon Copy Cloner, or another transfer app. I do not know if it's possible to install on one machine from another using target disk mode, but you can try.

Try inserting the dvd/cd for the powerbook in the mini. Then see if you can reach the powerbook hd when you get the "select disk to install on" window. If yes, If you can try running disk utility from the powerbook cd/dvd and see what it says. If the powerbook cd/dvd has it, you can also run Hardware Test and see what you get. For instance I recently had a RAM module crap out on an Imac G5. When I could not reinstall ISx on that machine, Hardware Test told me about the memory problem.

If everything says OK, you can try reinstalling the original OS. Click the Option button and pick either Archive and Install or Erase and install. The second would probably be best as it gives you a fresh everything - but you lose all your files. If you wipe, make sure you select Mac extended as the format for the drive.

Another thing you can try. I don't know how easy or hard it is for you to get to the ram on the Powerbook. If you can get to it and you have more than one module, try removing one and see if the powerbook boots. If no, remove the other module and reinsert the one you removed earlier and try again. Since it's a G4, I don't thing matched pairs matter. They don't on our Powermac g4s.

Using OSX 10.3.9 & 10.4.11 on a G4, G5 & Intel Macbook

 

[TarsierSpectral]

jmgalvin

thank for your suggestion, but can you read about my situation? I can't repair permissions due to NO CD/DVD, I didn't copy OS, I mentioned all of that

 

[jmgalvin]

Permissions are repaired from disk utility - same as you used to check the hard drive - no cd/dvd needed. It can be run right off the startup drive, it is not necessary to boot from another drive.

You said you had a broken dvd drive on the powerbook. You did not say you did not have the software install disk for the powerbook.

You said you installed the the os from the mini on the powerbook. The cd/dvd that comes with each mac is is designed for THAT mac. It is not generic. The only way to get the generic is to buy the boxed osx. If you install the os from the original software install disk of one model on a different model, you can have such problems as firmware conflicts, missing components (a mini does not have a trackpad, a screen, etc). When you install an OS upgrade from the boxed osx, the first thing it does is check if you need a firmware upgrade or change. The firmware on the mini is not that of a g4 powerbook.

The mini is intel based. Your powerbook is PPC. The software install disk for the mini is for intel as far as I know.

Using OSX 10.3.9 & 10.4.11 on a G4, G5 & Intel Macbook

 

[TarsierSpectral]

how do I get to disk utility from the the blinking question mark?

 

[jmgalvin]

The same way you got to it to check the hard drive for problems - via the mini.

Using OSX 10.3.9 & 10.4.11 on a G4, G5 & Intel Macbook

 

[TarsierSpectral]

would the permissions be messed up on the freshly installed OS?

 

[Foamcow]

Why not just try it?
It's really hard to help someone reluctant to try things out.

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Tyres: Mine's a pint of the black stuff.
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[Foamcow]

oops, hit submit too soon


I'm still fairly confident it's because the OS isn't right for the machine though.

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<honk>*:O)</honk>

Tyres: Mine's a pint of the black stuff.
Mike: You can't drink a pint of Bovril.

 

[TarsierSpectral]

I didn't use a DVD that came with Mac Mini. I used a generic Leopard disk. I know I said that I installed OS for mini but that's because I didn't think it had to do with the DVD being used. I thought that the fact that the PowerBook was connected in the target mode to the mini for whatever reason it installed things specific to the mini.
Also, before I installed OS on that disk (it had the OS on it before) I ran check disk and repair disk on the drive with no errors detected. I cold not do permission check/repair as that option was grayed out. I can try doing it again.

 

[Foamcow]

What spec is your Powerbook?

Leopard requires a G4 running at speeds over 867Mhz.

The G4 Powerbook was available at speeds both above and below this threshold. I think the 867Mhz model came in towards the end of 2006.

I have a feeling that Target Disk mode may bypass the hardware checks that would otherwise be performed by the OS installer. So although you can install the OS on a lower specced Powerbook the OS may not actually be able to run on the machine.

Whether this is the problem you're experiencing seems dubious but is, I suppose, possible.

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<honk>*:O)</honk>

Tyres: Mine's a pint of the black stuff.
Mike: You can't drink a pint of Bovril.