OMG! powerbook start up...

I'm stuck on the blue screen and it looks like it's tryin to load up but still not able to...I did a restart prior because my system pref wouldn't open up?? help? anyone? neye:

MAC1av3lli said:

I'm stuck on the blue screen and it looks like it's tryin to load up but still not able to...I did a restart prior because my system pref wouldn't open up?? help? anyone? neye:

Click to expand...

Turn off (hold down power)

Then turn on again and hold down command (apple) + s

You will eventually get a scary black and white screen with text.

When it has loaded (or stopped spewing text\), type:

fsck -fy

(PRESS ENTER)

This will check and repair the hard disk - make a note of any messages it pops up. If there are still errors, try running it a few more times as sometimes more than one pass in needed.

When all is OK, type

reboot

(PRESS ENTER)

That may work.

Vicky

thanks. I'll give that a try if it is still being weird on me. I turned it off and turned it back on so I'm just waiting for it to come up....crossing my fingers!

...

ok, it seems fine right now. thanks again. hopefully I don't come across any more problems.

MAC1av3lli said:

thanks. I'll give that a try if it is still being weird on me. I turned it off and turned it back on so I'm just waiting for it to come up....crossing my fingers!

...

ok, it seems fine right now. thanks again. hopefully I don't come across any more problems.

Click to expand...

Hope not too :flower:

Probably crashed at a particularly key moment! If it doesn't happen again or for some time, you can be sure to run this again to fix it.

fsck stands for FileSystem ChecK, it just fixes any issues - no black magic involved :flower:

Glad it worked,

Vicky.

not really...it was fine and then I tried to install my printer driver and then it went back on crack...so I'm out of a laptop for now. My HD seems louder than usual...I think I need to upgrade or get a new HD which sucks since that's gonna have to wait (no dinero right now). oh well...I could just say "don't sweat the small stuff" but sh*t! that sucks...m

OK what would really help here is what PowerBook it is you have, what version of OS X, and what printer you are trying to install.

Vicky

I have the powerbook G4 1GHz titanium series I guess...it's about 3 yrs old. The one that came with OSX v10.2. I reinstalled everything and it worked fine. and then I did the updates and it was fine and then it required a restart so I did that and got the blue screen (mouse/cursor moveable) so I forced off and restarted and it was back to normal. And now I downloaded the driver for an hp deskj 5550 on their site and it looked fine. did another update check had to restart and then it was acting weird on me. Now I'm getting the folder/? icon. So I tried some stuff but still not workin. I don't even want to reinstall everything over but...I have no choice. now I try again and there was an error (which I've never gotten before) so I try again and it's acting like it's tryin to find my HD but can't. so I'm going to let it rest for now but I feel like it's just going to rundown again so I'm thinking I need a new HD. I wish I could just pick up the new ones but I don't have it like that so...that's my story. =( marie

Sorry to hear it hon, difficult to say, but the question mark and folder could mean hard disk not spun up, hard disk dead or startup drive not selected.

When you turn on the PBook, hold down Option + S to select the Macintosh HD and click the arrow. Maybe this will work?

Also, if you can actually get into OS X, have you tried running Disk Utility? You can also access this from the OS X Install CDs, from the Utilities menu.

If none of this succeeds, sounds like the poor thing needs a new hard disk. In my experience 3-5 yrs is average for a laptop hard disk.

Vicky.

yeah tried it out but no luck. I guess I should look into getting a new HD and selling it to my sister so I can buy myself a new one (!)...but that probably won't work. ok...as I cry inside...now, the question is what kind of HD can I get? the specs/compatibility? if you or anyone has the info or a preference? I figure I should just stick with a 4200rpm, ultra ata/66 like the one that's on there right now, I believe?

Thanks a lot for your help, vicky...

I would recommend a 5400rpm drive, a lot faster, no noisier and not much more power consumption. You can get good drives at this speed in 60gb capacity for a reasonable cost. Check out http://www.pbfixit.com for guide prices and install guides.

You will need a 2.5" ATA drive, not SATA. IDE type. 9mm high (not 12 1/2mm).

Vicky

thank you so much! hopefully I'll be able to get on my laptop soon...thanks again take care, marie

oh btw, do you have a brand preference?