G4 Start up problems

[fidgeysman]

Hi, I'm doing my friend a favor and looking at her G4 notebook. It kept crashing and now that I have it it won't start at all.
It just goes through the start up process with the apple screen and them a you must restart, hold the off button for 5 seconds or hit the restart button?
I 've tried to find the restart button but? so I tried the off button for 5 seconds. NADA!!!!!!
What can be done as my experience is only with windows on PC's.
I originally thought it might be the heat sink that everybody talks about.
No longer on warranty?

[Buzz]

Most laptops don't have a restart button. The power button should work though. Be certain to press it firmly until the Mac shuts down.

What you are describing is a Kernal Panic. You should probably boot from an OS CD and repair the disk using Disk Utility

[fidgeysman]

Thank you for your response, when in disk utility what should I do? I'm not all that familar with the OS?

[Buzz]

In Disk Utility, click the hard drive on the left, then click the Repair Disk button. let it finish.. note any issues and if it can repair them or not. if it can't repair them. You need to either a) reinstall the OS (after backing everything up) or b) get a new hard drive. If all the repairs can be made successfully, then click the Repair Permissions button. Let it finish. Then restart from the hard drive and see if that clears up the panic issues.