iBook, PowerBook (FireWire): When to Use the Escape Key During Startup

If you select the "Preserve memory contents on sleep" option in the Energy Saver control panel, the computer protects your RAM contents during sleep by saving all of your open work to a hidden file on the hard disk. See technical document 60429, "iBook: Description of Preserve Memory Contents on Sleep" for more information.

Note: For compatibility reasons, the Preserve Memory Contents on Sleep feature has been removed in Mac OS 9 versions 9.0.4 and later. You may still see the option in the Energy Saver control panel but it will be dimmed.

In some rare circumstances, the computer may have trouble reading this file, and will not start up properly. If this happens, restart the computer and immediately press the Escape key. Hold down the key until you see the Happy Mac icon, then release the key.

Important: All RAM contents are lost when doing this. Pressing the Escape key at startup tells the iBook or PowerBook (FireWire) computer to bypass reloading the RAM file, and to start up normally.