Powerbook Not Turning On

[farsidecow]

I have a similar problem to a post about a week ago, but it's just different enough to warrant a new posting.

I have a powerbook G4 I've had for about a year and a half. Until last night, it worked just splendidly. I did leave it on last night (which I frequently do with no problem) and until lunch today (again, which I frequently do with no problem). When I got back for lunch, it was making a rattling sound--sounded like a fan--and wasn't responding (well, I could move the cursor). So I did a force shut down (which I've had to do in the past with no problems) and tried to reboot.

Now when I hit the power button, it starts booting up, but hangs up on the gray screen. I get the Apple icon, and the little circular thing right below it indicating that it is trying to boot up, but doesn't actually go over into OS X. I walked out to my mailbox and came back and it was still hung on that screen. My question is first, could have it finally overheated and I just need to let it rest for a few hours or is there something more serious?

If it's something more serious how do I get back into OS X and try and access my data to make a backup. I have a lot of music on it, so if I lose that, it's no big deal, BUT I also have a lot of graduate school stuff on it which IS a big deal if I lose it.

Please Help! Thanks!

 

[Ric]

Hi there and welcome,

what have you tried so far ?

Have you tried booting into Single User Mode and running FSC as suggested in the other thread...

If you're not sure how to do it let us know and well show you how.

regards

Ric

 

[farsidecow]

I've tried basically everything I've been able to find on the internet with no luck thus far.

I don't know how to do what you just suggested (I'm not "new" to Macs, but I don't "know" Macs...if you follow). Please show me! Thanks!

 

[Ric]

Okay, it would help though if you 'told' us what you had already tried...

Then we aren't suggesting things that you have done already...

First thing to try then...

Stick your Install Disk in and restart hold down the c key so that it will boot from the disk...

The Mac will boot into the OS Installer...don't reinstall...just go to the Menu bar and select Disk Utility and the Run Repair Disk and Repair Permissions on your Hard Drive then quit Disk Utilities, quit the Installer and reboot...eject the disk...and see if the Mac boots...

Let us know how you get on.

regards

Ric

 

[farsidecow]

The mesage I get is (in red): Invalid key length, then "Volume check failed.", then in bold "Repair completed".

Rebooting then doesn't help.

 

[farsidecow]

Going to eat dinner. I'll be back on later tonight or tomorrow morning. Thanks for your help thus far.

 

[Ric]

Hi there,

I'm afraid that's not good "Invalid key length, then "Volume check failed."

Normally means that drive is on it's way out...

Do you happen to have any other Mac's ? If so attach a Firewire cable between them an restart the PowerBook holding down the t key...then that disk will/may show up on the other computer and you can copy the data off.

If not you have a few choices, take it into an AppleStore for them to try and recover the Data...may be expensive !

Get yourself a copy of Data Rescue ll and an external hard drive and try and recover the data yourself.

Then get a copy of Disk Warrior and allow it to do a 'Rebuild' this may fix the drive...

I'm afraid non of these options are cheap...it depends on how much you need the data.

regards

Ric

 

[farsidecow]

Thanks. It didn't look good. I'll try those options you suggested and see what I can do. I really need a few things off it, most of the BIG stuff is, fortunately, on another computer (I didn't have a printer for a while and had to transfer to school to print). The only thing I REALLY need is a paper due this semester I was about halfway through (won't be terrible to re-do, I just don't want to...I was going good on it), and a fairly extensive music library (which isn't terrible I suppose...but if I can salvage that I should be fine).

I'll keep you posted on what happens.

 

[farsidecow]

Eureka! My Powerbook isn't working still, but I managed to hook it up to my sister's iBookG4 through firewire and am able to view the files on my harddrive (my paper for this semester now sits on her desktop and opens properly). Now I just have to get my music transferred over, then probably invest in a new hard disk or something. THANKS so much for the help!

 

[Ric]

Hi there,

if you copy all your data across, then you can boot your Mac from the OS Install CD/DVD and use disk Utility's to reformat your drive, then do a clean install.

This can sometimes work...but if it does, keep regular backups just in case the Hard drive is on its way out.

regards

Ric

 

[farsidecow]

Alright, thanks. I'll play around with that this weekend.

 

[Ric]

No problem,

regards

Ric

 

[farsidecow]

Well, everything seems to be up and running again with one minor problem. My startup disk was apparently an earlier version 10.2.x and I was running 10.3.9 (I think) previously. I had bought the computer a year and a half ago from eBay and the guy had apparently updated to the later version. Now a lot of my old stuff won't run (and the earlier version looks funny to me :wink: ). Is there any way I can recover the newer version now, or will I be relegated to coughing up some money for an updated copy at this point? No biggie since the computer is up and running again, just a bit annoying to be further back in time than I was a few days ago. Thanks!