PowerBook G4 stalls while loading OS X

[kendice]

My PowerBook G4 stalls or "hangs" while it's loading up OS X. Here's what I think happened, what I've learned so far, and what I've already tried. BTW, I'm much better with PCs, but I am trying to learn more about MACs, and this is the first time I've ever had to get behind the scenes of the OS.

We had a lot of severe weather (Ernesto) over the past two days, and yesterday I woke up to find my Mac with a blank blue screem (It's normally always on, and always wither on the desktop or on a screen saver).

I tried to reboot, and would get the startup chimes and the loading OS X screen, (with the progress bar moving all the way from left to right), but it would hang out there, never going any further.

I rebooted in verbose mode and found the following command line to be the problem (and this line would simply repeat itself over and over):


Sep 2 13:21:03 Powerbok launchd: can't exec getty '/System/Library/CoreServices/loginwindow.app/Contents/MacOS/loginwindow' for port /dev/console: Exec format error

I then rebooted with my Tiger install DVD. I went into Disk Utilities and successfully reoaired the Disk Permissions. But then I tried to Rpeair Disk as well, and here's the error statement I got:

Invalid volume free block count (it should be 12359735 instead of 12359703)

Preparing volume

The volume Macintosh HD could not be repairedError: the underlying task reported failure on exit

1 HFS volume checked
1 Volume couldn't be repaired because of an error

Repair attempted on 1 volume
1 volume could not be repaired


My next step was to reinstall Tiger from the Installer DVD, being carefule to Archive and Install (preserving users and network settings). This seemed to be going well, but eventually I got an error indicating that the installer had run into an error.

This is where I am now. I assume I had some sort of storm-related surge. Are there any MAC programs that I can get to help repair the disk, partition of the bad part, or save as much of the drive contents as possible?

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks.

Ken

 

[Kyomii]

Hi Ken,

What you need to do next is run the hardware diagnostic tests from your DVD/CD. Boot it up with the hardware test CD/DVD and do a thorough test. If this doesn't show anything, then I would suggest doing a complete CLEAN reinstall.

Wipe the drive clean and do a complete fresh install NOT an archive and install. I know you want to preserve network settings/users, but these are easily set up again.

It this works then it could be that your previous OS was corrupt. If not, then it does sound as though there is hardware damage, which could be in the form of bad blocks on your hard drive.

During bad weather, it is wise to turn off all computers and similar items - especially during any thunderstorms. If you don't want to turn them off, then at least disconnect completely from the internet.

Let us know how you get along

 

[kendice]

Thanks. Where do I find the hardware diagnostic tests? Are they somewhere within Disk Utility? I am currently booting up using the Installer DVD that came with my Tiger upgrade...does that DVD also contain what I need?

 

[Kyomii]

Hi Kendice,

You should have got a CD/DVD with your Mac with the hardware test on. It is possible that it is now on the Tiger DVD that came with it rather than a seperate CD. have a check on the disc (it should say) and your documentation.

 

[Ric]

Hi there kendice and welcome,

to add to all of kyomii's excellent suggestions, unfortunatley Disk Utility that comes with the Macs isn't great at fixing these sorts of problems, DiskWarrior can repair things that Disk Utility can't.

And DataRescue is great at recovering data from damaged drives.

Before doing a new 'clean install' you could try one of the above to either fix the drive or recover the data, depending on what you need.

However, if you have backups already then just do the clean install.

regards

Ric

 

[karazelle]

Thanks. Where do I find the hardware diagnostic tests? Are they somewhere within Disk Utility? I am currently booting up using the Installer DVD that came with my Tiger upgrade...does that DVD also contain what I need?

If you hold down Option when the Mac boots, it will give you a menu to let you choose what volume to boot. Your Tiger DVD should show up as both the Tiger install AND hardware check, in addition you should get entries for Network (= PXE) and your harddrive.

Another thing you might consider, if you have access to another Mac, is to hook your mac to another mac using firewire cable between them directly. Then when you boot your Mac, hold down T, this will make your mac enter "Firewire target" mode and a huge flashing firewire symbol will blink around on your monitor. Now, your Mac works as a regular external firewire disk and should appear as a normal disk on the other Mac. Try to salvage as many files as possible from it before you do all the other stuff. Just don't write files to/on it, just copy off it (not move!).