Infinite loop on shutdown---help

Machine: PowerBook G4, 17", Panther OS

To start what I thought was a normal reboot I punched
the power and then selected the reboot option on the popup. The screen cleared and the rotating widget started spinning and has continued spinning for the past half-hour.

Closing the lid, punching the power button, etc. has had
no apparent effect.

Of course the manuals and Apple web site are useless on
this problem. The rotating icon just keeps spinning.

Any ideas on how to regain control would be greatly appreciated.

I'm posting this from a Dell desktop with Linux. :-)

Thanks again.

On Sat, 25 Jun 2005 21:50:54 -0500, Gerald I. Evenden wrote (in a previous article):

Machine: PowerBook G4, 17", Panther OS

To start what I thought was a normal reboot I punched
the power and then selected the reboot option on the popup. The screen cleared and the rotating widget started spinning and has continued spinning for the past half-hour.

Closing the lid, punching the power button, etc. has had
no apparent effect.

Of course the manuals and Apple web site are useless on
this problem. The rotating icon just keeps spinning.

Any ideas on how to regain control would be greatly appreciated.

I'm posting this from a Dell desktop with Linux. :-)

Thanks again.

My suggestion is to boot from the OS X install CD and then run Disk Utility's "Repair Disk" action on your internal drive and then try booting again.

On Sat, 25 Jun 2005 22:05:45 -0500, James L. Ryan wrote:

On Sat, 25 Jun 2005 21:50:54 -0500, Gerald I. Evenden wrote (in a previous article):

Machine: PowerBook G4, 17", Panther OS

To start what I thought was a normal reboot I punched
the power and then selected the reboot option on the popup. The screen cleared and the rotating widget started spinning and has continued spinning for the past half-hour.

Closing the lid, punching the power button, etc. has had
no apparent effect.

...

Thanks again.

My suggestion is to boot from the OS X install CD and then run Disk Utility's "Repair Disk" action on your internal drive and then try booting again.

Tried inserting Install CD but the system ignored it and the icon kept spinning. Now the CD was trapped in the machine.

So, the final solution was to pull the battery, hoping that that was the ultimate "reset."

It seems to be working now.

On Sat, 25 Jun 2005 22:31:16 -0500, Gerald I. Evenden wrote (in a previous article):

On Sat, 25 Jun 2005 22:05:45 -0500, James L. Ryan wrote:

On Sat, 25 Jun 2005 21:50:54 -0500, Gerald I. Evenden wrote (in a previous article):

Machine: PowerBook G4, 17", Panther OS

To start what I thought was a normal reboot I punched
the power and then selected the reboot option on the popup. The screen cleared and the rotating widget started spinning and has continued spinning for the past half-hour.

Closing the lid, punching the power button, etc. has had
no apparent effect.

...

Thanks again.

My suggestion is to boot from the OS X install CD and then run Disk Utility's "Repair Disk" action on your internal drive and then try booting again.

Tried inserting Install CD but the system ignored it and the icon kept spinning. Now the CD was trapped in the machine.

So, the final solution was to pull the battery, hoping that that was the ultimate "reset."

It seems to be working now.

Glad to know its now working -- that's the good news!

In my prior posting perhaps I should have been more explicit in that the computer should have been shut down prior to the insertion of the CD. That can be accomplished by holding down the power button for something like five seconds.

On 6/26/05 6:05 AM, in article 0001HW.BEE393B5003D3AABF0407550@news.supernews.com, James L. Ryan wrote:

On Sat, 25 Jun 2005 22:31:16 -0500, Gerald I. Evenden wrote (in a previous article):

On Sat, 25 Jun 2005 22:05:45 -0500, James L. Ryan wrote:

On Sat, 25 Jun 2005 21:50:54 -0500, Gerald I. Evenden wrote (in a previous article):

Machine: PowerBook G4, 17", Panther OS

To start what I thought was a normal reboot I punched
the power and then selected the reboot option on the popup. The screen cleared and the rotating widget started spinning and has continued spinning for the past half-hour.

Closing the lid, punching the power button, etc. has had
no apparent effect.

...

Thanks again.

My suggestion is to boot from the OS X install CD and then run Disk Utility's "Repair Disk" action on your internal drive and then try booting again.

Tried inserting Install CD but the system ignored it and the icon kept spinning. Now the CD was trapped in the machine.

So, the final solution was to pull the battery, hoping that that was the ultimate "reset."

It seems to be working now.

Glad to know its now working -- that's the good news!

In my prior posting perhaps I should have been more explicit in that the computer should have been shut down prior to the insertion of the CD. That can be accomplished by holding down the power button for something like five seconds.

I have this problem from time to time.

One has to push and hold the power button until the machine goes off.

ej

Gerald I. Evenden wrote:

Of course the manuals and Apple web site are useless on this problem.

Even the Troubleshooting chapter in Getting Started?

Gerald I. Evenden wrote:

Machine: PowerBook G4, 17", Panther OS

To start what I thought was a normal reboot I punched
the power and then selected the reboot option on the popup. The screen cleared and the rotating widget started spinning and has continued spinning for the past half-hour.

Closing the lid, punching the power button, etc. has had
no apparent effect.

Of course the manuals and Apple web site are useless on
this problem. The rotating icon just keeps spinning.

Any ideas on how to regain control would be greatly appreciated.

I'm posting this from a Dell desktop with Linux. :-)

Thanks again.

Just a warning: I wound up in a situation where this happened on *every* attempt to reboot/shutdown. Erasing the hard drive was the only successful solution (and believe me, I tried a lot of other things first). m.

Sun, 26 Jun 2005 (16:50 -0000 UTC) matt neuburg wrote:

Gerald I. Evenden wrote:

Machine: PowerBook G4, 17", Panther OS

To start what I thought was a normal reboot I punched
the power and then selected the reboot option on the popup. The screen cleared and the rotating widget started spinning and has continued spinning for the past half-hour.

Closing the lid, punching the power button, etc. has had
no apparent effect.

Of course the manuals and Apple web site are useless on
this problem. The rotating icon just keeps spinning.

Any ideas on how to regain control would be greatly appreciated.

I'm posting this from a Dell desktop with Linux. :-)

Thanks again.

Just a warning: I wound up in a situation where this happened on *every* attempt to reboot/shutdown. Erasing the hard drive was the only successful solution (and believe me, I tried a lot of other things first). m.

I've seen your posts enough to believe you likely tried Open Firmware
Command-Option-O-F (at boot up)
reset-nvram
set-defaults
reset-all

I had the same nagging problem, used the hardware test disk, did a CD-boot disk repair of the Boot volume. Only the OF procedure helped, and now it restarts (and shutsdown) fine. So just in case others are tempted to erase and re-install, take the ten minutes to try this first.

Obfus Kataa wrote:

Sun, 26 Jun 2005 (16:50 -0000 UTC) matt neuburg wrote:

Gerald I. Evenden wrote:

Machine: PowerBook G4, 17", Panther OS

To start what I thought was a normal reboot I punched
the power and then selected the reboot option on the popup. The screen cleared and the rotating widget started spinning and has continued spinning for the past half-hour.

Closing the lid, punching the power button, etc. has had
no apparent effect.

Of course the manuals and Apple web site are useless on
this problem. The rotating icon just keeps spinning.

Any ideas on how to regain control would be greatly appreciated.

I'm posting this from a Dell desktop with Linux. :-)

Thanks again.

Just a warning: I wound up in a situation where this happened on *every* attempt to reboot/shutdown. Erasing the hard drive was the only successful solution (and believe me, I tried a lot of other things first). m.

I've seen your posts enough to believe you likely tried Open Firmware
Command-Option-O-F (at boot up)
reset-nvram
set-defaults
reset-all

I had the same nagging problem, used the hardware test disk, did a CD-boot disk repair of the Boot volume. Only the OF procedure helped, and now it restarts (and shutsdown) fine. So just in case others are tempted to erase and re-install, take the ten minutes to try this first.

Actually I reset pram the other way, with Command-Option-P-R at startup (many times). I did *not* try the OF approach so maybe that would have solved it. m.

Previously, Neill Massello wrote:

Gerald I. Evenden wrote:

Of course the manuals and Apple web site are useless on this problem.

Even the Troubleshooting chapter in Getting Started?

One (and perhaps all) of the Powerbook G4 17" manuals at the Apple site notes that removing the battery and holding doen the Power button for several seconds may unfreeze a startup freeze.

And there are many articles on troubleshooting boot problems at Apple support.

Cathy

Previously, Eric Johnson wrote:

On 6/26/05 6:05 AM, in article 0001HW.BEE393B5003D3AABF0407550@news.supernews.com, James L. Ryan wrote:

On Sat, 25 Jun 2005 22:31:16 -0500, Gerald I. Evenden wrote (in a previous article):

On Sat, 25 Jun 2005 22:05:45 -0500, James L. Ryan wrote:

On Sat, 25 Jun 2005 21:50:54 -0500, Gerald I. Evenden wrote (in a previous article):

Machine: PowerBook G4, 17", Panther OS

To start what I thought was a normal reboot I punched
the power and then selected the reboot option on the popup. The screen cleared and the rotating widget started spinning and has continued spinning for the past half-hour.

Closing the lid, punching the power button, etc. has had
no apparent effect.

...

Thanks again.

My suggestion is to boot from the OS X install CD and then run Disk Utility's "Repair Disk" action on your internal drive and then try booting again.

Tried inserting Install CD but the system ignored it and the icon kept spinning. Now the CD was trapped in the machine.

So, the final solution was to pull the battery, hoping that that was the ultimate "reset."

It seems to be working now.

Glad to know its now working -- that's the good news!

In my prior posting perhaps I should have been more explicit in that the computer should have been shut down prior to the insertion of the CD. That can be accomplished by holding down the power button for something like five seconds.

I have this problem from time to time.

One has to push and hold the power button until the machine goes off.

ej

My 4 month old 15"PB (Panther 10.3.7) has hung on shutdown twice. Both times the screen went black, the keyboard including the power button did not accept input but the hard drive (I think) continued to spin. In each instance, the PB "fixed" itself in about 1 hour and booted normally. Next time it happens I will try the press and hold the power button action. Do I have to remove the battery for this to work ?

Being new to OS X, the various replies to this thread are a bit confusing. I recognize resetting PRAM from Mac OS days and I understand about fixing permissions on the boot disk from UNIX but what is fixing/resetting the Open Firmware or nvram ?

On 6/28/05 2:00 AM, in article cldmcnslim-E8E340.17041627062005@news1.west.earthlink.net, breyfogle wrote:

Previously, Eric Johnson wrote:

On 6/26/05 6:05 AM, in article 0001HW.BEE393B5003D3AABF0407550@news.supernews.com, James L. Ryan wrote:

On Sat, 25 Jun 2005 22:31:16 -0500, Gerald I. Evenden wrote (in a previous article):

On Sat, 25 Jun 2005 22:05:45 -0500, James L. Ryan wrote:

On Sat, 25 Jun 2005 21:50:54 -0500, Gerald I. Evenden wrote (in a previous article):

Machine: PowerBook G4, 17", Panther OS

To start what I thought was a normal reboot I punched
the power and then selected the reboot option on the popup. The screen cleared and the rotating widget started spinning and has continued spinning for the past half-hour.

Closing the lid, punching the power button, etc. has had
no apparent effect.

...

Thanks again.

My suggestion is to boot from the OS X install CD and then run Disk Utility's "Repair Disk" action on your internal drive and then try booting again.

Tried inserting Install CD but the system ignored it and the icon kept spinning. Now the CD was trapped in the machine.

So, the final solution was to pull the battery, hoping that that was the ultimate "reset."

It seems to be working now.

Glad to know its now working -- that's the good news!

In my prior posting perhaps I should have been more explicit in that the computer should have been shut down prior to the insertion of the CD. That can be accomplished by holding down the power button for something like five seconds.

I have this problem from time to time.

One has to push and hold the power button until the machine goes off.

ej

My 4 month old 15"PB (Panther 10.3.7) has hung on shutdown twice. Both times the screen went black, the keyboard including the power button did not accept input but the hard drive (I think) continued to spin. In each instance, the PB "fixed" itself in about 1 hour and booted normally. Next time it happens I will try the press and hold the power button action. Do I have to remove the battery for this to work ?

Being new to OS X, the various replies to this thread are a bit confusing. I recognize resetting PRAM from Mac OS days and I understand about fixing permissions on the boot disk from UNIX but what is fixing/resetting the Open Firmware or nvram ?

No, you don't have to remove the battery..

I am not sure what open firmware or nvram are.

e

Previously, Eric Johnson wrote:

On 6/28/05 2:00 AM, in article cldmcnslim-E8E340.17041627062005@news1.west.earthlink.net, breyfogle wrote:

[snip]

My 4 month old 15"PB (Panther 10.3.7) has hung on shutdown twice. Both times the screen went black, the keyboard including the power button did not accept input but the hard drive (I think) continued to spin. In each instance, the PB "fixed" itself in about 1 hour and booted normally. Next time it happens I will try the press and hold the power button action. Do I have to remove the battery for this to work ?

Being new to OS X, the various replies to this thread are a bit confusing. I recognize resetting PRAM from Mac OS days and I understand about fixing permissions on the boot disk from UNIX but what is fixing/resetting the Open Firmware or nvram ?

No, you don't have to remove the battery..

I am not sure what open firmware or nvram are.

Apple's "What is Firmware" article. There's a paragraph on open firmware at the bottom.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93772

Apple's article on how to reset nvram:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=2238

While Apple's support section isn't necessarily the best-organized place in the universe, it does have lots of information worth looking at (e.g. their article on portable computer battery technology and how to care for them).
HTH

On 01/07/05 19~31, in article null-D1AEFB.12312001072005@news.indiana.edu, John Johnson wrote:

Previously, Eric Johnson wrote:

On 6/28/05 2:00 AM, in article cldmcnslim-E8E340.17041627062005@news1.west.earthlink.net, breyfogle wrote:

[snip]

My 4 month old 15"PB (Panther 10.3.7) has hung on shutdown twice. Both times the screen went black, the keyboard including the power button did not accept input but the hard drive (I think) continued to spin. In each instance, the PB "fixed" itself in about 1 hour and booted normally. Next time it happens I will try the press and hold the power button action. Do I have to remove the battery for this to work ?

Being new to OS X, the various replies to this thread are a bit confusing. I recognize resetting PRAM from Mac OS days and I understand about fixing permissions on the boot disk from UNIX but what is fixing/resetting the Open Firmware or nvram ?

No, you don't have to remove the battery..

I am not sure what open firmware or nvram are.

Apple's "What is Firmware" article. There's a paragraph on open firmware at the bottom.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93772

Apple's article on how to reset nvram:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=2238

While Apple's support section isn't necessarily the best-organized place in the universe, it does have lots of information worth looking at (e.g. their article on portable computer battery technology and how to care for them).
HTH

Thanks for the pointers.

ej