iBook issues. doesn't boot up

[Acternaweb]

My ibook will turn on, but hangs on the apple page that has a dial that spins. It will stay there until I shut the machine off. It never proceeds to the boot up stage. Any ideas how to fix this?

[timster]

Have you tried starting it in safe mode [docs.info.apple.com]?

[Acternaweb]

I tried the safe boot, but I never hear a tone. I have played with holding down the shift key at different times to it still hangs with the spinning gear moving. It never advances, I have waited 5 minutes or longer

Any ideas?

[ytswy]

A few ideas:

Try booting from your operating system CD - insert CD and boot the machine while holding down the 'C' key.

Try and bring up the boot menu - boot the machine with the Alt (Option) key held down.

Try and zap the pram - hold down Apple + Alt (Command + Option) + 'P' + 'R'.

Try and put the machine into FireWire target disk mode - hold down the 'T' key on boot.

Try and boot into open firmware - Apple + Alt (Command + Option) + 'O' + 'F'

To be honest it could be a serious fault - nearly all the hardware in an ibook is on the logic board, and if anything on that's gone it may well not be possible to repair it for a sensible amount of money.