Hi am relatively new to Mac and our family's much loved Powerbook 15 G4 1.67 with OS X 10.4.8. Having recently set up a NDAS device and backed the HD with SuperDuper I have had what I think is a HD failure. This is where I am stumped.

1) When I power up I get the folder with the ? (The HD does click (quietly) but not spin.)
2) I start up with the start up disk. I attempt to run disk utility and the HD does not show.
3) Found out that a PRAM, NVRAM & PMU reset may help. Did that with no change.
4) Tried Apple Hardware test application and everything checked out OK after the extended test. OK is questionable as I am assuming the mass storage check is a check on the HD.

I would appreciate any appropriate next steps advice.

I was thinking.....

1) Buy a new HD, but would rather avoid that if this a software problem as the Apple hardware test suggests.
2) Buy a Firewire capable external HD case and restore to a new HD. The current is USB 2.0 and I cannot get it to start from the external drive. I am not that code or commend savvy so I have not tried some approaches I have seen when googling.

As I said I am not 100% sure it is a HD failure, so am hesitant to outlay for a new drive yet. Is there a way to check the HD in this situation without removal and without the conflicting opinions of Apple software ie disk utility and apple hardware test?

Also does anyone a good Apple tech in the Blue Mountains, NSW or outer west of Sydney. I cant seem to find one.

cheers

Start it up in Firewire Target Disk Mode and see if it mounts to another Mac.

If it doesn't you can be fairly sure its the drive.

Yeah same thing happened to me with my iMac G4 800mhz this morning. Tried to target disk mode, and no go. It's crap, means I probably lost 60GB of my music and some other odds and ends - the annoying bit is, my back up hard drive is just back from being replaced due to dying - I didn't get a chance to back up yet! So probably lost the lot.

Thanks Thorevenge. Appreciate the advice. So just to confirm I think you are saying:
1) There is no way to check the drive in situ apart from what I have done already.
2) Take out the drive place it in a Firewire external drive case and try to do a target disk startup on another mac.

If this is what you are saying then I have some complications.
1) I do not have a 2.5" drive enclosure as I have 3.5" units at home
2) I do not have any friends with Macs only PC's

If there is another way am open to it.

thanks.

Okay, you needed friends with Mac's.

That blows that one out the water then .

you can go into a local repair center and ask them for assistance, some are good and will help you out. If out of warranty, a fee may apply, but this is normally no more than about $100, and most won't charge you if they can't resolve your problems!

Thanks Hawker. I believe this is what I will end up doing. This raises again a question I raised at the end of my first post. I am way west of Sydney metro and am having trouble finding a mac repairer. Plenty of folk sell (Dept stores etc) but none I would go to to get an out of warranty repair or some quick help. I see you are from NT but if anyone else out there knows of someone in western Sydney I would really appreciate the info.

thanks

Based on this it'd be unlikely anything on the hard disk will be recoverable; if the drive platters aren't spinning you're (unfortunately) out of luck.

If the data on the drive is/was important, I'd make the investment of a 2.5" external FW case, or one of those 2.5"-->3.5" adapters.

If you've nothing to lose, I'd also consider the "freezer method" to "unstick" the drive platters/heads, which I will detail if interested

JB

Thanks Byrd. Am backed up to a 3.5" external drive that is USB 2.0 which will not act as a startup disk. The utility to change the startup disk sees it but when I choose it it does not startup with the USB drive. I checked the log and it says something about open firmware and then it looks to the Apple CD startup disc. If there is no way around that easily then I am very interested in the freezer method.

Short of that working I think I will buy a new 2.5 drive and install and move the contents of the 3.5" drive back to the new 2.5" drive. Does that seem like the strategy to take if the the freezer method fails.

many thanks

Unfortunately no recent Powerbook or G5 is USB-bootable; did find a Open Firmware tweak that you could try though:

http://www.macosxhints.com/article.p...6384&lsrc=osxh

Since you've nothing to lose (and perhaps not needed as you've already a recent backup), the "freezer method" basically involves putting the hard disk in the freezer for ~ 6 hours to make the drive platters contract slightly, allowing the head to become "unstuck"

1. Wrap up the bare drive in an antistatic bag or two, sealed with tape to not allow air in.
2. Wrap this package up in two more plastic bag
3. Put in freezer for 5 - 6 hours
4. Remove and test - make sure there is no moisture on the drive itself.

If no joy, while the drive is still "chilled", slap the drive onto a table with moderate force.

None of the above is a good idea - but it's worked for me to unstick the drive heads, and allow me to access the drive for a short moment before chucking it.

JB