[ouronin]

I am using a power mac G4 733Mhz w/ superdrive and 1G memory. I was prompted to restart my computer, I did, and now it will not fully reboot! All I get is a folder in the middle of a grey screen blinking the Finder symbol and a Question mark! Is there any one out there who can help? I am in drastic need to get my computer back up and running?
Thanks in advance!! /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif

[Ti_Guy]

First of all, I'm assuming you didn't go through the necessary steps for such a problem. This is why I'm going slow and low. Sorry for any unintended presumptions.
Try this:
Restart while holding the Apple key+the letter S until you get a geeky-like black screen with LOTS of white text that doesn't seem to make sense... /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif
When the screen settles with a prompt and a cursor, type the following (with the space after the "k") and press "return":
fsck -y
It should tell you something like "system was modified". Retype the same text and "return" until it tells you "volume appears OK"
Type "reboot" and hopefully it should startup fine. Hope it helps.

[Grant_G]

Good answer ... if he's using OS X. If he's in OS 9 though, that won't work. In that case, boot with your system CD inserted, and hold down the letter 'c' key until you see the Happy Mac. When it boots up, double click the CD icon (it will be the top one), then open the Utilities folder and find Disk First Aid. Run that, selecting your hard drive.
If I'm wrong and it IS OS X, the above approach could also help (in addition to fsck -y). Boot using the OS X CD, then run the Installer as if you're installing X again. When you get past the Read Me stuff and the security agreement stuff and into the Installer window, a the top of the page there will be your normal menu items. I think it's the one called "OS X INSTALLER" (but it might be under "File"), but look for First Aid. Run that, including "repair permissions" if it's a Jaguar disk. Then just quit the installer.
G

[ouronin]

Good catch. I probably should have told you I was using OS 9.2.2. Nonetheless, I first tried the software install disk and it would not read the main drive except for the disk that was in it. Then I tried the software restore disk 1 just so I could get to my Disk repair, I ran it and everything tested just fine but and it did the same and would not acknowledge the drive except for the disk that was in it. /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif

[Chris Breen]

Disconnect any peripherals save the monitor, keyboard, and mouse. Try to start up. If it still won't start up, it's time to turn to Disk Warrior (www.alsoft.com). Boot from the Disk Warrrior CD and try to recover the drive.
Chris

[Ti_Guy]

Well, Grant, I guess that I've done enough troubleshooting in Systems 6, 7, 8, and 9 that's it's time for some change.
I assumed a 733 SuperDrive PM would certainly have OS X. After all, if I'm happy with 10.2 on a 400Mhz Powerbook, what on earth would anyone be still doing with OS 9? I know, I know, lots of peripherals and scanners and Quark!
As for your problems, ouronin, have you done anything lately that might have messed up your system folder in any way? Have you installed any new software or drivers?

[WebFusion]

We're trying to get a clue as to where things went wrong:
"I was prompted to restart my computer" -- what prompted this? What was going on at the time? Was it a bomb?
Not to even see the internal Hard Drive icon while booting from the CD is really unusual.

[Grant_G]

Yeah, I hear you on that -- love 10.2. And I messed up on my directions too. I had occasion to use the OS X CD yesterday, so thought, "Here's a chance to check out my answer to that guy on the forum." Lo and behold, First Aid is a tab inside something called Disk Utility inside the Installer menu. Buried a little deep for an emergency item IMHO. Also, you can only verify or repair the drive using this method, you can't repair permissions here. Conversely, if you open Disk Utility from the hard drive's Applications > Utilities folder, you can only verify/repair permissions; you can't repair the drive. So to do a complete job, you have to run it twice from different locations. Huh? I guess that's why Cocktail was invented.
G

[macintoshappy]

Please use emergency start up CD. Then run Start up disk from the control panels.See if the drive shows up. If it does select it and restart if not continue reading.
Run Drive setup and see if it shows up in the list of drives. If it does go to function and highlight Mount volume. That is if it need to me mounted. Then rerun startup disk described above.
Hope this was of any help.
Also,
For some wacky reason this has hapened to me before. All I did was shut off all power for a couple of hours(unplug all power cables from wall) and restart. That is a true story.
Also you might want to check that the cables (ATA bridge and power to ther internal drive) are properly connected, Make sure system is off and the machine is properly grounded. Then open computer and touch metalic power suply first. This should seriously lessen the chance of you shocking any part of the system. Then push in both cables attached to the drive.
JB /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif