Powerbook G4 help please

[Baileybum1234]

Hi I picked up an old power book G4 from fleebay very cheap in the hope to learn some thing about apples.

Basically it will not boot up.

I have had the hard drive out and used it on my PC so I know that ok.

I contacted apple and go hold of a Mac OS X Leopard Install disk. (So im all legal)

I put in the disk and it pop's out again. Doesnt read it.

I though what the hell threw in a copy of windows XP and it tried to read it obviously doesnt load but it stays in?? Maybe drive is ok?

I boot holding down options and cant see the hard drive.

Any help out there?

[shovenose]

Re: Powerbook G4 help please

So to confirm you get a gray screen with a b.linking question mark and folder icon if you do not hold any keys or put any disc in?
What type of hard drive?
Also you may need to replace the disc drive the slot loading ones can be finicky.
What exact model of PowerBook G4 is it? there are many different ones

[Baileybum1234]

Re: Powerbook G4 help please

Hi Shovenose,

The hard drive is a IDE 3.5 100G Seagate. (I have brought a USB adaptor to test with).

Is there ant other way that you can test the disk drive?

Its the 13 inch powerbook G4 2005 model.

Yeah when I first got it it booted to the white apple symbol then shut down. Since then I have been trying to use my PC based laptop to test the hard drive. I wiped it then formatted it with an apple format using MacDrive on the laptop.

Is there a way you can load the operating system onto the hard drive using a PC based laptop that you have found?

It does just sit there with the blue screen and questionmark/smiley face symbol at the moment.

Thanks for you help.

[degutji]

Re: Powerbook G4 help please

I contacted apple and go hold of a Mac OS X Leopard Install disk. (So im all legal)

I put in the disk and it pop's out again. Doesnt read it.

Have you try it with Tiger ?

[opamp]

Re: Powerbook G4 help please

Make an iso of the OS and burn it on a usb stick.

[Baileybum1234]

Re: Powerbook G4 help please

Have you try it with Tiger ?

I havent tried tiger. I asked Apple to get me the right disk they said I needed Panther but send me Leopard??

[Baileybum1234]

Re: Powerbook G4 help please

Make an iso of the OS and burn it on a usb stick.

OK can I copy it to the hard drive and open it from there? I can remove the hard drive and connect it to my laptop??

[Baileybum1234]

Re: Powerbook G4 help please

I have got into the open firmware interface.

Done a cd dir on another disk and can see whats in the CD drive until I use my new leopard os disk.

If I put my Leopard OS disk into my laptop I can see the files?? Using a mac drive program.

[shovenose]

Re: Powerbook G4 help please

I would agree, do try Tiger and see if it works

[Baileybum1234]

Re: Powerbook G4 help please

I cant seam to prepare th hard drive for the install?

Im using a PC and plugging the Apple hard drive into the USB with an adaptor.

Anyone??

Jarrett

[Baileybum1234]

Re: Powerbook G4 help please

I just cant seam to get the Ibook to boot from USB or the OC DVD. So looking at other ways.

[thesloc]

Re: Powerbook G4 help please

Maybe the keyboard doesn't help. You are pressing C at start-up, right? Also, maybe try loading CD-R variant instead of a DVD, or vice-versa to whatever you're doing.

If that doesn't work, then it sounds like a faulty drive -- which is actually likely on PBs.

There's a lot of funkiness going on here tho to what you're describing.

[Baileybum1234]

Re: Powerbook G4 help please

I have tried holding down C on boot up and nothing.

I can access the drive using linux commands (DIR ect) in open firmware mode.

I find the bootx command and run it on the DVD drive it starts to load but then I get the apple sign with the line through and stops there.

I can also access the hard drive using linux commands in the open firmware mode. I formatted it using a trial of macdrive on the PC.

CDR/DVD variant?

[seanc]

Re: Powerbook G4 help please

This PowerBook is PPC, so it won't work with Windows.
Using Mac Drive, make an 8GB partition at the beginning of the PowerBook hard drive and copy the entire Leopard DVD to it using Mac Drive.
Put the HDD back into the PowerBook and hold C or alt (option) to try and boot from that partition with the Leopard DVD. Now install OS X to the remaining space on the HDD.

[Baileybum1234]

Re: Powerbook G4 help please

Hi sean,

I did try to copy the Leopard DVD onto the hard drive but some parts failed?? I thought maybe they were copy protected or something. Is it just a case of select all then copy and paste? I also wasnt 100% sure of the formating file system I had to use for the 2 partitions.

[thesloc]

Re: Powerbook G4 help please

Are you using the PPC or the Intel Distribution?

If you're using the Intel Distribution then NO DOUBT it will eject it because the drive can't read it or load it.

[Baileybum1234]

Re: Powerbook G4 help please

Do you mean the version of operating system?

Well I phoned Apple and they said I needed Panther after checking my serial number but still sent me Leopard. How can I check this please?

[thesloc]

Re: Powerbook G4 help please

Do you mean the version of operating system?

Well I phoned Apple and they said I needed Panther after checking my serial number but still sent me Leopard. How can I check this please?

No.

OS X Leopard comes in two distributions: One for Intel-based MacBooks and one for PPC PowerBooks (the laptop you have).

You need to download the correct version of it -- OS X Leopard for PPC.

If you have Panther, it most likely comes in PPC distribution. As it is older.

An Intel Distribution of OS X Leopard will most likely eject because the PowerBoook won't know what to do with it.

Apple probably sent you an Intel-based distribution, because I doubt they still stock PPC Distros.

[seanc]

Re: Powerbook G4 help please

Do you want Panther? It's kind of useless now but it's something. I have it somewhere unless I threw it away. I'll send it to you.

[Baileybum1234]

Re: Powerbook G4 help please

Do you want Panther? It's kind of useless now but it's something. I have it somewhere unless I threw it away. I'll send it to you.

That could be really helpful bud.

I can cover p&p

Jarrett