Please help my laptop!!

I just got a free laptop...because it appears to be broken. This is the screen when I try to turn on my computer...I got a quote from a computer repair shop and they said it would be 700 to fix it...anybody know how to fix it???

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Looks like Linux, is that what you want to run on it? I have only played around with Linux once or twice, so I wont be of much help.

If not, reload it with some flavor of Windows. Purchase a Windows 98/2000 or XP license (depending on the hardware specifications) and see what you've got.

Unless there is an underlaying hardware problem I'd say the high price means the repair shop really doesn't want to mess with it. It could be a no-name laptop and drivers are going to be near impossible to find. Or if there is a hardware problem, rarely can regular repair shops take these fixes on themselves and must send it out.

well reading the top line you've got a powerbook so windows cant be any help!

dont know how to fix it... sorry!

This may explain what's on it:

http://developer.apple​.com/opensource/index.​html

Just typed 'darwin kernel' into Google

So it looks like a Mac OS based on Linux/Unix/whatever?

it appears that your OS is not configures properly or missing some key components. If you just picked it up, I would advise reloading the OS minimally, or to be safer, start from scratch and format the drive.

I second the formatting of the drive and then installing your preferred OS. it's odd that someone would give away a lappy running Linux just because it needs a reformat. Typically if you're running Linux you know how to do simple computer repair.

That looks like a OS X crash, so I'm assuming it's a mac. Go purchase OS X (PPC) and re-install it.

Ok...how do I format, haha, sorry...complete newbie to this sort of thing..

Ty

BrandonSi wrote in post #2416964
That looks like a OS X crash, so I'm assuming it's a mac. Go purchase OS X (PPC) and re-install it.

Hey wait, I thought OS X never crashed.

gjl711 wrote in post #2417232
Hey wait, I thought OS X never crashed.

Someone has been telling 'porkies' - I also thought OS X and Mac's in general NEVER had problems - I've never had this happen to a Windows box

I use apples and had the same problems, it turned out to be a network problem - an app was making a call to some resorce that crashed the system. In those days I used airports to do my network. I reinstalled the OS and it went away for a while then came back so I did it agian but switched to using cables while at home and the error has not come back in nearly 2 years. I find the laptop stable when on the road but using it for hours at home wirelessly causes it to crash.

It always did it with Limewire and Bittorrent !

Missed the powerbook line, yep - MAC. Thats a bigger problem! :P *ducks*

Still probably a reload of the system, and since others have identified it as OSX I figure its a fairly recent machine - don't work on Apples but I'd bet there are minimum system requirements of the system and you should have a nice machine there.