Powerbook G4 update failed

[jamesbird]

I've now got 2 G4 Powerbooks on the bench which have both failed following an update - one to 10.4.11 the other to 10.5.
Each now refuse to boot, and wont even boot from CD. They will still start up in target mode.
I've reset PRAM, NVRAM and the power settings but to no effect.
It's as though the firmware has got corrupted.
Is there anything else I can do to do a factory reset?
Any ideas?
All the best
James

 

[jmgalvin]

What are you trying to boot from - CD or DVD? Depending on age, a G4 powerbook might not boot, or mount DVD. You also usually need either the original disks that came with the machine or a retail (generic) copy of OSX. If you have the CD or DVD in the machine, try holding down Option and see if you get a window to choose the startup disk. This may or may not work depending on the machine.

If it boots in target disk, it seems basically ok. You can try booting into safe mode - hold down shift key right after start tone.

The most common problem on the 10.5 upgrade is if the user chose the Upgrade option on the install, rather the the Archive and Install option. There can be nasties in the old system that interfere with the with the updated system. The archive and install method gives a new system install while only preserving the various settings from the old system. The same can happen with 10.4, but I don't know if you meant the user had gone from 10.3 to 4 or if it had just been any update from 10.4 to 10.4.11.

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

 

[jamesbird]

Thanks JMGALVIN, that's what's strange. I've tried the orig CDs and they don't show up if I press Option, only the HD! Safe mode is no diffrent - I don't think its getting far into the boot sequence. I can boot single user and reset pram and nvram there but then back to spinning balls. Verbose mode I can get to but cant understand what its' telling me.
Ho hum

 

[jmgalvin]

You might try turning them on and let them spin for a long time - just go do something else. When I moved a few machines from 10.3 to 4 some took forever to reboot at first. After that first reboot they were fine.

I also had some extraordinarily long reboots after one update. It turned out that some apps set as startup apps, particularly Entourage, were the culprit - interfered with things. Before I figured that out I had to set the particular machines to boot at 8:30 AM so they'd be ready for users at 9AM.

When 10.5 came out, some people had to wait forever for the thing to reboot after the update.

How are you getting the CD into the machine if it won't boot? Is the cd stuck in the drive and has not been ejected? If yes, you might try ejecting it (mouse button of start).

Theoretically you might have to reset the PMU. You'll have to go to the Apple site - support to check for each of the machines since G4s can be quite old. while ther. look for firmware updates for each of the problem machines.

Another thing to try is to install the OS for a particular machine on a firewire outboard drive and then see if that will boot a machine. It's sort of dependent on a particular machine.



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