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ONLY Booting to blue screen after OS X install

I recently got an iBook G4 to fix and have replaced many things on it. I finally have it to more of a working state than I ever have. Here is the background:

Initially, it would not boot to any CDs. So I replaced the CD drive.

Then it would boot, but freeze after a short while. So I replaced the logic board many times before finally getting a logic board that actually did something different (booting). In the process, believing that the hard drive controller might be a problem, I also replaced the hard drive ribbon connector.

Now I have an iBook with an upgraded logic board, HDD connector, and CD/DVD drive.

When I have a blank hard drive or a hard drive with an Apple Partition Map and a blank partition, I can boot to CDs or DVDs such as TechTool Pro, Mac OS X Install DVDs or CDs, and Apple Hardware Test. I have a set of iBook G4 CDs but they are apparently for a different model iBook, since the OS will not install from them. However, AHT from CD 1 works and tells me all the tests pass.

As a point of note, I had to go into the firmware (Option-Command-O-F) and reset the date to something more current in order to get any CDs to boot.

So, I go to install OS X Tiger OR OS X Leopard from a retail disc (Panther will not load, gives me an O with a line through it), and it seems to finish, as it reboots at the end. However it seems to freeze right at the end and THEN reboot. Afterwards, the system will not boot to any CDs, or to the hard drive. All options (except Apple Hardware Test on the iBook G4 CDs) boot to a blue screen and then the whole system stops. In verbose mode, this seems to happen right after the line

mDNSResponder: Adding browse domain local

appears. The iBook does have an Airport Express card that can be removed, and I have tried installing, and booting, with or without this card inserted. I also have tried with or without the RAM inserted (the system has 256 MB built in). As a result, I am SURE the problem is NOT an electro static discharge, nor do I need to replace the RAM. With both things in, the AHT passes, and when they are both out I get the same result. The only thing I can do is remove the hard drive, put it in an enclosure that my *Intel based Mac with NO FIREWIRE PORT* can read, and wipe the drive to start fresh again.

WHEN I WIPE THE DRIVE AND START FRESH AGAIN I use one of three options: 1) format the drive using Apple Partition Map option which is available in Snow Leopard's Disk Utility, 2) Erase the partition that has already been created, 3) Write zeroes to the entire drive using a different utility on a different computer so that it is completely blank. All 3 options produce the same result: a drive that WORKS and can be formatted AGAIN by Disk Utility on the Tiger or Leopard disc. To any thinking I am formatting the drive improperly or that it "just doesn't work" if I start with an Intel Mac, this is simply not the case. Remember that I also have used the blank out drive option, which makes the disc do all the work from scratch, and the result is the same.

The ONLY reason I mention my other Mac is an Intel based mac with no firewire port is to let you know that Target Mode is out of the question.

All this does is give me the option to install or run CDs again, but I still get the same results after about 10 separate tries. I'm getting pretty frustrated! Does anyone know what the problem is?

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Installing a hard that has had a system from an Intel machine installed on it will not work. The Intel will format the drive GUID which cannot be read by the G5.

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The hard drive has been formatted with Apple Partition Map under options with Disk Utility from the OS X Tiger disc, and any wipes done from the Intel were using the same option. The GUID partition option is available, but not selected each time I do this and it is fully readable by the iBook G4. This is not the problem.

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Also the system wasn't on the hard drive, it was only formatted or erased by Disk Utility, or zeroed out completely using another tool, all from an external enclosure. Any attempts to put a system onto the hard drive were done from the iBook G4 itself.

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i do not have an answer but i do have an ibook g4 and have a question...? in an attempt to add more ram, i unplugged the airport card. now it is all together again and will not go online. it asks for my password.

can anyone tell me what password this might be? i have tried my apple passwords, router pw. they don't work. i have had the airport card out before without any pw problems so i don't get it. any help appreciated. john

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