# ibook - hangs blue screen at logon



## Tbone1982 (Dec 24, 2008)

i just aquired an old ibook on panther 

when i switch it on it sort of half boots up then hangs on an aqua blue screen totally blank with just the curser

i dont have any of the cd's but after i googled a little i came accross this single user mode, wondering if theres any way of finding out why its having this issue and possobly a fix? 

thing is though im totally new to apple computers ive always used windows so any advice u can give me would be great.. i cant use the computer as it hangs at startup but have pressed apple and s at startup and now have the single user mode loaded.. what do i do now?


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## Tbone1982 (Dec 24, 2008)

also im downloading tiger.. that should be done in about 3 hours 

will i be able to jus reinstall if i cant get it working any other way?


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## sinclair_tm (Mar 11, 2005)

Um, downloading an Apple OS is illegal! Unless it's from their support site, and the latest they had up was System 7.5.3, which an iBook will not run. You OS is hosed, and you need to buy a retail copy of OS X and install it on the iBook.


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## Tbone1982 (Dec 24, 2008)

i think it is a retail copy im downloading it from my cousin


will this tiger run on an ibook??


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## sinclair_tm (Mar 11, 2005)

Still, it doesn't matter where it comes from, unless you have the store bought copy of the disk in your hand, it's not a legal copy. As for Tiger, goto Apple's website and search the model number out in the support page to see which versions of the OS it supports.


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## bjobie (Apr 25, 2008)

There is a 90% chance that the hard drive in this machine is hosed. 
You can try reinstalling the OS, but it will probably start doing the same thing eventually.


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## sinclair_tm (Mar 11, 2005)

If it was the hard drive, there would be a blinking question mark, or a red no circle. The blue screen being seen is right before the login screen or desktop, which means the hard drive is fine and working, but there is something wrong with the OS.


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## bjobie (Apr 25, 2008)

Yes, that's true. But usually when the OS gets messed up at that point it is caused by a failing hard drive. Of course troubleshooting the OS is a good first step before condeming the drive, I'm just saying that a dead hard drive is probably going to be the end result.


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