I have a mirrored door G4 Power Mac. It boots to the point where it says "starting mac OS"
There is an Apple on the screen and it says Mac OS X. It hangs there with a full blue bar.
Well... Disk Warrior will fix some things, but not all things.
Hopefully you have a system disc that will boot the computer (either the disk that came with it, or a retail install version of OSX that will work on a G4 system). Boot from that disc (hold "c" key after the "bong" startup sound). Once you get into the installer, you can choose to run Disk Utility to Repair the hard drive.
If the HD checks out, then it's a hosed system folder. Time for a reinstall of the operating system (use ARCHIVE & INSTALL, to preserve your existing files, folders, users, etc.).
I have started up from the OS disk. One of the partitions has only 20 MB of space available. This could be why it is not booting up. Is it possible to connect the computer to my imac as if it is an external hard drive and delete files from it? Then maybe it will reboot once there is more space. The other partition has about 4 GB of space. That is the one with the OS on it.
You can use Firewire Target Disk Mode. Connect the two Macs via a firewire cable. Likely the G4 have FW400. Not sure which iMac you have so you might need a 400 or 800 for it. Cords can be found with 400 or 800 on both ends or 800 on one and 400 on the other. Once connected have the known good computer on and running; then start up the G4 and hold the "T" button and then the screen should show a Firewire icon bouncing around the scree. The G4's HDD should show up on the iMac as external drives. (orange with a FW logo) Heres a link
- Booting using 'Safe Boot mode"? Shut down the MDD, start it and hold down the Shift key but only when your hear the boot chime until you get the spinning gear.
- Run Disk Utility when booted from the install disk and run the 'Repair' options??
If those don't fix anything, use the iMac and download the appropriate "Mac OS X COMBO Update", boot up the MDD G4 into 'Target Disk Mode" (hold down the "T" key), connect appropriately with FW cable etc. and run the 'combo' on the MDD.
Otherwise it sounds like a re-install might be needed.
The 20 MB available shouldn't prevent a boot but it's waaaaay to little space and should be trimmed drastically and get at least a GB or so available. Also possible to do when connected using 'Target Disk Mode' from the iMac.
Hmmm if it was a Mac other than an MDD I would have said it's something funky with your hard drive as well but because it's an MDD I would also consider other things.
For some reason the MDD and especially the 1.25G version seem to have issues with hardware.
We had a lot at work and several suffer from random freezeups and panics which I've tracked down to things such as bad motherboards, bad video cards, bad memory, and issues with aftermarket cards.
I think the simplest thing to test is your memory. Start by removing a couple of strips and see if that helps. If not swap them around and see if that changes anything.
The bad part is that I've 'solved' a freezeup issue on some of ours but they seem to be short term.
Oh and also check to see if your PRAM battery is still good.... granted we have some with brand new PRAM batteries that still freeze....
Good luck and hopefully it is just a hard drive issue....
- Booting using 'Safe Boot mode"? Shut down the MDD, start it and hold down the Shift key but only when your hear the boot chime until you get the spinning gear.
Did not try this yet.
- Run Disk Utility when booted from the install disk and run the 'Repair' options??
Did this - no repair was needed.
If those don't fix anything, use the iMac and download the appropriate "Mac OS X COMBO Update", boot up the MDD G4 into 'Target Disk Mode" (hold down the "T" key), connect appropriately with FW cable etc. and run the 'combo' on the MDD.
How do I run the 'combo' on the MDD?
Otherwise it sounds like a re-install might be needed.
The 20 MB available shouldn't prevent a boot but it's waaaaay to little space and should be trimmed drastically and get at least a GB or so available. Also possible to do when connected using 'Target Disk Mode' from the iMac.
Linear Mode
