reinstall or boot OS from the CD?

[horizonraver]

Hey.. Forgive me for my lack of knowledge on the subject but could someone please offer advice for my broken G4 ibook?

It freezes about 2 minutes after the start up screen and has become non-functional for every day use. I have tried to delete files, and even some of the biggest programs i have but it still keeps freezing. I have tried to "zap the PRAM" as iv heard it being called by using the command,option, p+r keys but still no luck.

Someone from another forum has suggested i re-install OS (version 10.3.7) onto my computer. What do you guys think? If i do this, will i lose everything on my computer?

mac-forums seem to have the smartest mac users in the universe so i thought id ask you guys first!

 

[harryb2448]

If you have the install disks that came with it, run Apple Hardware Test and see what that reports. If you do not have that, download from here, which will be a .dmg file. Drag that to the left hand column of Disk Utility and burbn to a CD and this should then be bootable.

http://search.info.apple.com/?as_epq=apple+hardware+test&btnG=Search

If all is well boot from theinstall disc, and go to Utilities and run Repair Disk from there as you cannot repair a disk the machine is booted from.

If you do a clean install yes you will lose everything so if the worst comes to the worst, be prepared.