iMac won't boot past apple screen

[crashxb]

I have one of the old blue PowerMac G3 computers, and I kept getting a kernel panic, so I reset the RAM and now when I start up the computer, it stops at the apple screen without even spinning. I've tried booting it in single user mode, and for some reason it doesn't make a difference what keys I hit while turning on the computer. It still boots to the apple screen. Help?!

 

[Hellhammer]

Sounds like a dead hard drive or failed logic board. Not worth fixing it

 

[DewGuy1999]

Make the sure the RAM is properly seated, sometimes if the RAM isn't properly seated it will act like that.

 

[crashxb]

I was able to get into disk utility, and it says, "The volume %@ needs to be repaired."
But I can't repair it. How do I repair it?

 

[DewGuy1999]

I was able to get into disk utility, and it says, "The volume %@ needs to be repaired."
But I can't repair it. How do I repair it?

Are you booting from the OS DVD? If so you should be able to access Disk Utility from the menu and Repair Disk.

 

[crashxb]

Are you booting from the OS DVD? If so you should be able to access Disk Utility from the menu and Repair Disk.

OS CD. The PowerMac doesn't have a DVD drive, and I don't have an external one right now. That's exactly what I'm trying to do. But it won't repair. I've hit the "repair disk" button, and then I hit the "verify disk" button, and it still says the same thing.

 

[DavidR91]

A garbled drive label (%@) is further indication of a dead disk

 

[DewGuy1999]

OS CD. The PowerMac doesn't have a DVD drive, and I don't have an external one right now. That's exactly what I'm trying to do. But it won't repair. I've hit the "repair disk" button, and then I hit the "verify disk" button, and it still says the same thing.

When you press the Repair Disk button what does it do?

 

[crashxb]

When you press the Repair Disk button what does it do?

Here's what it says:

Repairing disk "HD."
Checking HFS Plus volume.
Invalid B-tree node size
Invalid B-tree node size
Repair Completed.

 

[SaSaSushi]

Here's what it says:

Repairing disk "HD."
Checking HFS Plus volume.
Invalid B-tree node size
Invalid B-tree node size
Repair Completed.

You could try DiskWarrior although that seems impossible without a DVD drive. But when the HD in my 24" iMac died it displayed the same error until it stopped being accessible at all.

 

[DewGuy1999]

Here's what it says:

Repairing disk "HD."
Checking HFS Plus volume.
Invalid B-tree node size
Invalid B-tree node size
Repair Completed.

I believe you have a problem that Disk Utility can't repair. Do you have any other utility programs like Disk Warrior, etc.? If Disk Utility is your only utility you may have to reformat the hard drive and start from scratch. However if your Kernel Panics were caused by the hard drive going bad, they'll likely continue until the hard drive is replaced.

 

[crashxb]

I believe you have a problem that Disk Utility can't repair. Do you have any other utility programs like Disk Warrior, etc.? If Disk Utility is your only utility you may have to reformat the hard drive and start from scratch. However if your Kernel Panics were caused by the hard drive going bad, they'll likely continue until the hard drive is replaced.

I'm not sure how Disk Warrior would work, because it's a DVD, right? How exactly would I go about reformatting the hard drive? Sorry I'm a little clueless sometimes with these computers.

 

[DewGuy1999]

I'm not sure how Disk Warrior would work, because it's a DVD, right? How exactly would I go about reformatting the hard drive? Sorry I'm a little clueless sometimes with these computers.

Yeah, I believe that the current Disk Warrior is on a DVD, but I think older versions were on CD. To reformat the Hard Drive (which ERASES everything) you would boot from your OS X CD and then with Disk Utility use the options under the Erase tab. Once that's done then you could reinstall the OS from the CD. Also I believe that there is a choice in the OS X installer to do a Erase and Install directly.

 

[crashxb]

Yeah, I believe that the current Disk Warrior is on a DVD, but I think older versions were on CD. To reformat the Hard Drive (which ERASES everything) you would boot from your OS X CD and then with Disk Utility use the options under the Erase tab. Once that's done then you could reinstall the OS from the CD. Also I believe that there is a choice in the OS X installer to do a Erase and Install directly.

Alright, I've erased everything (seeing as I really had nothing to lose), and I'm installing now. I'm convinced it's fixed, but if not I'll post again. Thank you for your help.