Apple novice with a problem

[markwombat]

Hi everyone,

I've never touched a Mac in my life, but unfortunately having a Masters in Computer Networking has led to me finding one in my possession! Essentially my girlfriend has an old iBook that she had while at Uni. She wishes to sell it but said there's a problem with it, so I've got it to fix.

When I turn it on, after a few minutes of buzzing and whirring the screen displays a folder, which alternates between a question mark and a face...

Any ideas what I should/could do? I don't have any software either :s

Many thanks in advance

 

[LordSplodge]

Looks like the hard disk has died. Depending on how old an iBook it is the best course of action would be to bin it!

Or mod it to put an iPad inside it...

 

[Deleted member 651465]

The hard drive is either dead, or has become corrupted.

Try booting from the OS disc and checking the drive status in disc utility.

In Mac OS X, how can I boot from a CD or DVD and/or ignore my startup disk?

Normally, to set an alternate startup volume, such as a bootable CD or DVD, you should use the Startup Disk system preference. However, if your regular boot disk is damaged or if you can't set the CD or DVD as a startup device from the system preference, try one of the following options:

1. Restart your computer and immediately press the Option key. Icons for all available startup volumes will appear. Click the one you want to boot from, and then click the right arrow button to complete the startup process.
   
2. Restart your computer and immediately press Command-Option-Shift-Delete. You must press all the keys at once. The computer will start to boot from the CD or DVD drive. If there isn't a bootable disc inside the drive when you begin the reboot, the computer will attempt to boot from another partition or drive.
   
3. Restart your computer and immediately press the c key. The computer will look for a bootable CD or DVD and, if it finds one, will use it as its startup device.

 

[SeraphX]

hard drive maybe corrupted but the alternating face mostly means theres no OS on the hard drive,

do what EVH has suggested and you should get it sorted

for an iBook i'd suggest using osx 10.4 10.5 will only run on the very last iBooks

 

[nav...]

Bin it.

 

[Camoe]

Hdd failure. Find out if its IDE or Sata, Frsh Install you will be on your way in no time