Flashing ? - can't figure what's wrong

[johnwd5]

ibook 500 repair project saga continues:

I can firewire boot thus do updates, disk utility etc. But when I try to boot direct all I get is a flashing ? - if I boot in option and click right -> I get no response.

Anyone know what I am doing wrong here ?

 

[macfan]

It sounds like your hard drive is failing. Boot off your firewire drive and backup any documents/pictures, etc., that you want to keep.

 

[johnwd5]

It's a new drive, 80gb Samsung.

 

[harryb2448]

Did you change the HDD cable when you replaced the drive? Sometimes they do fail with movement.

 

[johnwd5]

Hi Harry, yeah I'll have to check that cable and see if it's the culprit. By clipping that last column have I rendered it useless ? I just can't figure how it can be seen firewired with another Mac yet do nothing when using the ibook itself. All this could have been avoided if I had 2 buses on the mobo ! Darn you Apple !!!

 

[johnwd5]

Harry/all,

Clipping that cable column and pinning the last column of pins on the HD didn't seem to make a difference. I left it alone for a while, parts lying all over the dining table while I went off to mess something else up.

Then I started again today, using a fresh connector cable and I thought I know I'll take one of my Pismo dvd drives, remove the adapters and plug that in as slave. Cue flashing "?/folder"

So I put (back) in the original 10gb drive while I put the new 80gb drive I want in the ibook in the Pismo. 80gb drive boots up right away, I do my software updates on it, and go back to the 10gb ibook setup. Very bizarre, 10gb in ibook has booted ok but from option key. I remove 10gb, put 80gb drive back in. Cue flashing ?/folder.

I know. I'll firewire from Pismo to ibook, see what happens.

With the 80gb drive in the ibook, running firewire from Pismo the drive and ibook work fine. But when I try to boot up on its own I get the ? and folder.

So what am I doing wrong ?!

 

[johnwd5]

I'm working on a g4 ibook, and it's doing the same thing. Installs OS via firewire but when I boot from G4 I get a flashing ? and in "option" mode no image of laptop, but if I 'option' mode through my laptop the G4 is seen.

HELP !!!!

 

[johnwd5]

iBook - Flashing ? - can't figure what's wrong

I think I posted this in the wrong section (if it was moved I apologize for creating extra work for admin)

ibook repair project saga continues:

I can firewire boot thus do updates, disk utility etc. But when I try to boot direct all I get is a flashing ? - if I boot in option and click right -> I get no response.

Anyone know what I am doing wrong here ?


I'm also working on a g4 ibook, and it's doing the same thing. Installs OS via firewire but when I boot from G4 I get a flashing ? and in "option" mode no image of laptop, but if I 'option' mode through my laptop the G4 is seen.

HELP

 

[dtravis7]

Normally the Flashing ? is an indicator that the Hard Drive has failed yet you say you can get to it via Firewire and install the OS. Still sounds like some issue with the Hard Drive.

Another thing to try is Reset the PRAM. Power on and hold down Command+Option+P+R all at the same time right after the Startup Chime and keep them down till you hear 2 more Startup Chimes. Then let go and see if it still gets the question mark.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379


Let us know what happens. I have some other ideas.

 

[johnwd5]

I'm running updates at the moment (via firewire) and I thought I did try that earlier. I'll try again asap. This g4 has the keyboard where you have to unlock from the base, right ? there are no latches on it anyway. The reason I ask is I wonder if I could reset the PMU ?

 

[dtravis7]

I take it you are doing this from a working Mac Via Firewire to the iBook? Try also running the Disk Utility on the iBooks drive from the other machine.

Here is something on the PMU.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1431#faq6

 

[johnwd5]

Should I just select "repair permissions" or something else too ?
Repaired permissions earlier and it didn't seem to need to do much before concluding it was ok.

 

[dtravis7]

On the other side should be Verify Disk and Repair Disk. Can you click either of them?

Is the hard drive in the iBook new or a drive that has worked in the machine before?

 

[johnwd5]

Neither verify disk/repair disk are highlighted in order to click on them (when in firewire via working mac) - new drive(s)

OK after the latest reboot/updates I went to option mode direct to the G4 and got it to boot. Not sure what the issue was but it's running very hot and the click pad next to trackpad is sticking so maybe it was/is a combo of these issues ?

 

[johnwd5]

...I still can't fathom what the G3's problem is though ! Read all the above because it's a near carbon copy of the G4 problem.

 

[dtravis7]

Neither verify disk/repair disk are highlighted in order to click on them (when in firewire via working mac) - new drive(s)

That could be because it's Via Firewire.

I have to take off but will be back later.

One quick question, are the drives correctly jumpered? I know some older Macs were picky on Jumpering of the hard drives. Will check into this more when I get back.

Maybe someone else here has some ideas also.

 

[johnwd5]

To update you, the situation is one of any of these:

Flashing ? at boot
Continuous spinning watch in option mode
Grey screen

If the optical is set to slave I get one of the above. If I take out the optical I get one of the above OR I see the HD, click on i and nothing proceeds.

Could this be down to a defective connector cable ? I mean, if it's defective would I even get to this stage ?

I am stumped. Firewire mode isn't an option as the procedure isn't moving or seeing the HD.