i book broken...still

buff

My i book is still broken, but I did manage to recover all of my files, thanks to alcimedes' advice. I used Target disk mode, after I managed to find the right firewire cable, and I happily copied them over to my bro's G4.

I also wiped the hard drive and installed OS9.2 back again, which worked fine. However, when I start up the ibook, i get the same problem, even with extensions off. It comes to the part where the extensions load (this could be coincidence) and it crashes! '



"system error...bus error... to start up with extensions off, hold shift"



Does that mean it's a hardware problem? I've ruled out the hard drive itself, and I've checked the ram. The CD drive seems to work fine, what else could be wrong?

<img src="confused.gif" border="0">

thinkingdifferent

How did u check the ram? Did you actually replace the modules with different ones?

alcimedes

i would look at the ram as well. that sounds exactly like a ram problem to me, but who knows.



problem is there's no real way to check the internal RAM if it's bad, since it's on-board. sometime your RAM can be screwed up even if it tests out ok, which kind of sucks.



have you called up apple and explained what the problem is to Apple and see what they say? depending on what you've tested out you might be in line for them to fix it for you.



how old is it?



-alcimedes

buff

It's a year old.

I checked the ram by taking the added module out. The other piece is built in. Is there anyway of replacing the built in Ram?

I agree, my next step is to call upon apple, I don't think I can do much with it now.

alcimedes

one last idea, i'm surprised i didn't suggest this before.



have you thought about wiping the machine and just installing OSX?



if that also has problems you know it's hardware. if it runs fine, then perhaps it's the OS somehow, although that would be weird.



best part of this suggestion is that it's free and takes less than an hour to try.



-alcimedes

buff

I'll try it, however I did install OS9.2 onto the disk, is this not the same test? I will install OS X too, it's worth the try. It would be wierd if it worked!

craiger77

Working in OSX, but not OS9...wierd? Maybe. Possible? Absoulutely!



I have been living with just such a problem for the last 6 months. I have a Wallstreet Powerbook that is 4 years old. If I boot in OS9 it will usually start up, but after a few minutes it will freeze completely...not even the curser will move. Sometimes it will restart, but often I have to reset the power manager multiple times to even get it to make the startup sound.



But if I restart in OS10 it NEVER locks up and except for a couple of kernal panics it has never even crashed. Running classic seems to be fine too.



This is not a software problem. Way before this problem started I replaced the original hard drive with a 20GB Travelstar and putting back the old hard drive which just has system OS9 on it makes not difference...it still locks up.



These days it is a real pain to even start up. Reseting the power manager doesn't usually do it...I often have to take out the processor card and reseat it. Obviously I leave it on all the time. Since it usually doesn't wake up from sleep either I have that turned off and just turn the brightness down to black when I am not using the computer.



OS10 is pretty slow on this sucker, but still usable...I just have to compare it in my mind to my old 7100...not what it used to do on OS9.



So, the moral of the story is give OS10 a try and maybe it will get you back in the saddle.

buff

Thanks for the advice. Your story brought a tear to my eye. Good to know I'm not the only person with this computer problem!