How do I resurrect this iBook?

October 9, 2008 1:40 PM

I've inherited an old clamshell iBook that freezes every time I try to boot from the install disc. How do I fix this?

The iBook came with 0S9 installed and seemed to be working OK. I then tried to upgrade it using a retail Jaguar disc and it froze on booting up. Now it won't even load OS9 but instead gives me a blinking folder with a question mark.

When I try to install from the Jaguar boot disc, I get the Apple logo and then it freezes right there. I tried zapping the P-Ram a few times and that didn't fix it. I tried holding Option key when loading to and got to the screen where it lists boot options. Chose OS X and it freezes.

I followed a few other similar threads and also tried re-seating and completely removing the RAM. No difference.

When I go into Verbose mode I get some kind of kernel panic error freeze and the keyboard won't let me input anything.

Does this sound like a bad hard drive? Or is there some other button combination I can push to further troubleshoot the problem?

posted by gfrobe to computers & internet (8 comments total)

You can try resetting the PMU. See if that works.
posted by boomcha76 at 2:27 PM on October 9, 2008

Perhaps you could boot in Firewire Disk Mode and install OS X using another Mac.
posted by bcwinters at 4:19 PM on October 9, 2008

I don't think it'd have a firewire port (though that's what I did with a white G4 which had similar problems). If I'm wrong, yeah, try target disk mode.

It might just be voodoo, but could you use a linux boot disk to repartition the drive, so you're starting from a blank slate? (I have used xubuntu for ppc for this). This, of course, depends on being able to boot it from CD.
posted by pompomtom at 4:34 PM on October 9, 2008

Are you sure your retail Jaguar disc is known-good? I've seen this kind of problem when trying to boot from a scratched disc, even when the scratches aren't noticeable.

Also, you might be able to get Panther on this. It's a much better OS than Jaguar--in fact 10.3 was really the first solid version of OS X, in my opinion. Any chance you have a copy of a retail Panther disc lying around you could boot from?
posted by mrbarrett.com at 7:12 PM on October 9, 2008

i don't think these came with a DVD drive. you don't specify that Leopard is on CDs, so I assume it's on a DVD.

the early ones came without Firewire, indeed without USB 2.0. Maybe the easiest thing would be to try linux (yellow dog is one viable option, there may be others) or pull the drive out and format it on a later machine.

see if you can install Jaguar (10.2). it is a better match for that machine.

IIRC, Leopard won't even run on a G3.
posted by KenManiac at 7:13 PM on October 9, 2008

duh, sorry, Jaguar, not Leopard.

Tiger should work if you can find it CDs
posted by KenManiac at 7:16 PM on October 9, 2008

Thanks for replies. I know disc is good as I've tried a second set and am having same problem. And I don't have a firewire port. Have also tried the PMU thing with no luck.

The OS I'm trying to install is Jaguar and it is on CD, not DVD so that's not problem. I don't have a Panther CD.

I'll give linux a shot. I didn't know you could install linux on a mac though.

Just trying to avoid unnecessarily trying a new hard drive because I hear pulling one out of the clamshell is a nightmare. Plus this thing is so old I'm not sure the effort is even worth it.

Thanks.
posted by gfrobe at 11:55 PM on October 9, 2008

In the end, I was able to reinstall OS 9.2 with a proper disc but was never able to update to OSX. Go figure. Ended up passing the laptop on to someone who wanted to use OS 9.
posted by gfrobe at 1:57 AM on November 9, 2008