Mac Wont Start Up!

[kammron]

i have a imac g3 running os 9, and last night it froze so i did a manual restart with the button on the side, but when it booted up, it made its jingle, but when it shows the little mac symbol on startup....

it flashes then a question mark repeatedly.
whats the deal?

 

[EricNau]

I think that means it can't find a startup drive (or it isn't any good).

I'm not very good with OS 9, but do you still have the system disks? That's usually a good place to start.

 

[kammron]

i bought it used and i dont have any discs.
is there a way to get into a setup screen in start up?
like windows f11....

 

[EricNau]

i bought it used and i dont have any discs.
is there a way to get into a setup screen in start up?
like windows f11....

hmmmm, I'm not sure...

Do you have an Apple Store nearby? They will give you 30 minutes of free help no matter how old your Mac is. I'm guessing they would know exactly what was wrong with it in the first 2 minutes. If it's a software problem, they might be able to help.

 

[kammron]

thanks for the help.
theres one nearby that ill visit if i cant figure it out.
im guessing theres a guru on here wholl ead it and know whats wrong.
im goin to try booting while holding either c, shift or spacebar.

 

[TLRedhawke]

It sounds like the OS 9 installation was corrupted somehow. You'll need to either reinstall the OS, or repair the drive. Boot from the OS 9 CD, and run the Disk First Aid, to try and fix it. If that is insufficient, try Systemworks (if you have it). If these fail to fully repair the disk, reinstall the OS.

 

[EricNau]

thanks for the help.
theres one nearby that ill visit if i cant figure it out.
im guessing theres a guru on here wholl ead it and know whats wrong.
im goin to try booting while holding either c, shift or spacebar.

Holding c will try and boot from a CD (or now in some cases DVD). -at least on OS X

 

[kammron]

yah, its shift which ussually works but it didnt.
from what ive read i think im screwed.
without the boot discs i cant do much.
the system folders are corrupted due to freezing.
it sounds petty complicated.
makes me pretty mad because i threw 200$ down and im SOL