my computer refuses to boot up

Hi everyone,

I have an iBook G4, which is on the fritz. This morning, I ran Software Update. It had nearly finished installing my OS X update, when my computer froze. I was forced to turn it off. I waited about 10 minutes before turning it back on. It opened the login menu, accepted my password, and pulled up my wallpaper, but then promptly froze. I turned off the machine and waited an hour before turning it back on. Same thing happened. I did this several times throughout the day. Same thing. I tried logging on with my Guest account. Same thing.

As a student, I use my computer a lot, and I'm hoping that I can get it to behave itself on my own instead of going to Apple. But if I'm going to have it repaired, I have to do it before April 15, when my AppleCare expires. So a nice prompt answer would be really nice.


Thanks,

unhinged40

Very simply put, if you have AppleCare, then take advantage of it. Don't waste anymore time. Go take it to Apple to have them give a go at fixing it.

Hey unhinged40, based on other threads in these forums, it is likely that your computer didn't freeze, it just took a VERY long time to install the latest OS X update. Were you running the 10.4.9 update perchance? Apparently it takes a long, long, long (did I mention it takes a L-O-N-G :dive time to install. If you turn it off in the middle, you run into all sorts of pain. I suspect that this is what is happening to you.

You have two choices as I see it: (1) Do a clean install of Mac OS X, and then apply all the updates again, this time waiting for a very long time for the last one to complete or (2) take it to Apple and let them have a run at fixing it.

I am not sure which one is better. Path (1) will get your machine back on its feet faster, but it is more work for you. Path (2) will take longer, but pretty much ensures success in the long run.

Good luck!