Powerbook G4 help

November 28, 2007 12:54 PM

Help with OS X on Powerbook. Darwin / BSD what do I do now?

I tried to download the latest system updates this morning. Said it didn't work with all of them, asked to restart. I restarted, ended up at Darwin / BSD. Crap.

Powerbook G4 12" 1.5ghz. Ran fsck. All fine. Re-installed RAM. Still same. Currently after re-boot, goes thru standard Mac OS screen, flashes on login window (there are 3 users on this machine) currently on blue screen with spinner.

I bought this used about a yr ago, WITHOUT disks. There have never been any issues until now.

(Currently typing this on GF's MacBook.)

Any ideas?

posted by miles1972 to computers & internet (7 comments total)

My guess is that the OS on the computer now isn't the one that came with it and you didn't get the disks because the previous owner didn't have originals (having pirated it) or else kept them, as they had other machines they needed them for. It's a bad situation to be in and it is a bad idea to buy a machine that doesn't have install disks.

That said, here are some possible solutions:

1) Restore your /System, /Library, and /private folders from a recent backup, preferably last night's. This is the best solution if it is available.

2) Obtain an install disk for your machine and do an "Archive and Install." Apple may be willing to send replacement disks for a small fee, but it may not be the version that you have on it now (for example, if you have Tiger on there now, you might not get Tiger install disks if that machine never came with Tiger). It'd be worth a call, anyway. Failing that, with Leopard out, you ought to be able to get a Tiger retail package for a reasonable fee.

3) If you have an Apple Store in driveable distance, call and ask them for disks. Or better yet, take the Macbook there to have one of their Geniuses take a look at it; perhaps they will know how to solve the problem.
posted by kindall at 1:05 PM on November 28, 2007

The latest 10.4 release has been known to "brick" Intel Macs running Bootcamp. While you were on Darwin, maybe it has more issues than is widely known?
posted by yerfatma at 1:21 PM on November 28, 2007

I know I wondered about it not being the orginal OS when I bought it, but I talked to Apple and it all checked out - it's the right OS.

3) is what I'll do if no one else has any ideas...
posted by miles1972 at 1:24 PM on November 28, 2007

Yerfatma, that's what makes me wonder, this was right after an update that didn't work, all previous updates have worked fine...
posted by miles1972 at 1:25 PM on November 28, 2007

The OS is probably hosed.

Buy either Leopard or Tiger install discs and reinstall the operating system. You can do a "clean" install by selecting the "Archive and Install" option during the installer dialogs.

You'll likely need to repair disk errors first, using Disk Utility on the OS install disc.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 1:41 PM on November 28, 2007

yerfatma: Powerbooks do not run Intel processors.
posted by mphuie at 1:50 PM on November 28, 2007

Thus the "While you were on Darwin" caveat.
posted by yerfatma at 3:55 PM on November 28, 2007