iBook Crash

Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
Hi I have an iceBook 500 running OS X it crashed badly and won't even install OS X off the startup CD. I have OS 9 Japanese Version installed which I don't use. Do you have any ideas what I can do? Cheers.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 6
    jambojambo Posts: 3,036member
    Moving to Genius Bar...
  • Reply 2 of 6
    I get the impression you've already decided to do a clean re-install of X. If you can boot into OS9, do that and delete the OSX "System" folder, as well as a couple of other files at root level (mach.sym, mach_kernel, etc, mach, var ). This might allow you to do an X install from the CD.

    \t(you might be able to accomplish this by booting from the OSX cd, but unix might not give you privileges to delete files from the root level, so OS9 might be easiest)



    \tI would also recommend running disk first aid (or something similar) from OS9 BEFORE you reinstall OS X.



    \thope you get it figured out... let me know if you find a better/easier fix, or if you figure out the cause.
  • Reply 3 of 6
    buffbuff Posts: 55member
    I tried all that. I can't even start up off the Norton Diskdoctor CD because I get a crash and a BUS error. I'm prepared to do anything to get control of my iBook back. How can I wipe the hard drive (if i have to) without starting up?
  • Reply 4 of 6
    can you zap your PRAM, or use open firmware to zap your PRAM and NVRAM before attempting to start up from CD-ROM?



    See another thread here



    <a href="http://forums.appleinsider.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=7&t=001132"; target="_blank">http://forums.appleinsider.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=7&t=001132</a>;



    for instructions
  • Reply 5 of 6
    pastapasta Posts: 112member
    [quote]Originally posted by Buff:

    <strong>I tried all that. I can't even start up off the Norton Diskdoctor CD because I get a crash and a BUS error. I'm prepared to do anything to get control of my iBook back. How can I wipe the hard drive (if i have to) without starting up?</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Did you install extra memory recently? Bus errors tend to point towards hardware problems, although this isn't always the case.
  • Reply 6 of 6
    josephgjosephg Posts: 111member
    I agree, check your RAM. It's worth a shot.



    I was having the same problem with my iMac DV 400 <a href="http://forums.appleinsider.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=7&t=001066"; target="_blank">(see thread)</a>.



    I took out a RAM module and now I can boot up just fine. I didn't recently install that module, though, so I don't know how it went bad.
Sign In or Register to comment.