D&C GLug - Home Page

[ Date Index ] [ Thread Index ] [ <= Previous by date / thread ] [ Next by date / thread => ]

Re: [LUG] Non-functioning G4 iBook now boots thanks to Linux

 

Grant Sewell wrote:
This is very odd.  I'm still at a loss as to what might have done this.

I was given an old 13" Apple G4 iBook. It wouldn't boot properly... or rather it would start OSX, get to the login screen and then pretty much instantly go into what I presume is "standby" mode (or hibernate... not sure which... it started to blink the white LED on the front of the machine).

Now, I didn't know what version of OSX it had and I don't happen to have any OSX disks handy... so off to download a PPC Linux distro to see if it'll boot, and if it does how long does it last before it goes poof. Plumped for Ubuntu 9.10 PPC. Downloaded, burned, booted... slowly... and then got to an Ubuntu desktop.

So, I had a look around, see what hardware it had found, etc. Didn't really want to install Linux on it just yet - I already have a Linux laptop as my main workhorse. Reboot and... OSX boots up quicker, log-in fine and doesn't go poof at all! All I did was lsusb, lspci and fdisk -l... and somehow OSX has been cured by it.

Very strange.

Grant.
Hmm interesting, I wonder if maybe something was corrupted in the nvram. It's been a while since I used a PPC Mac (I have one in the loft) and I've seen some odd problems related to nvram which needed zapping, or due to flat battery problems.

Anyway, sounds like you did well there. A G4 iBook while not the fastest most recent bit of kit out there would probably make a nice little machine for, I dunno, possibly testing PPC applications for inclusion on the OpenDisc? :-)

(I would test them on my iMac but it's not got any memory, a knackered hard disk and it's so slow, I think it has a hardware fault).

Rob





--
The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG
http://mailman.dclug.org.uk/listinfo/list
FAQ: http://www.dcglug.org.uk/linux_adm/list-faq.html