07-29-2009, 04:28 AM

Ok so i did a crazy thing i tried replacing a hard drive on an ibook g4.

Well i took it apart and put the new 320 edie hard drive in fits and everything i close up the mac and try to turn it on. When it turns on it has a flashing "?" folder. I put the new leopard cd in and it runs but i cant find the hard drive. I have no idea whats wrong. Everything seems to be connected there isn't a flux cable to connect it to its a newer model.

I just dont understand whats wrong. Any help would be much appreciated.

07-29-2009, 09:14 AM

Sounds like you did everything ok...are you sure the 320 gig HDD is compatible with the iBook G4?

- Nick

07-29-2009, 01:28 PM

From what ive read online there isnt a limit

07-29-2009, 01:40 PM

Make sure you have set the jumpers (if any) on the new drive correctly. According to MacTracker, your machine uses a standard ATA type drive which is what I assume you purchased. If there is a jumper setting on the drive, it should be set to "Master". Many drives are shipped from the factory with jumpers set as "cable select".

I'm also not sure how you're going about preparing the new drive. You should be booting the machine with your original installation DVD and then opening Disk Utility to properly format the drive. Disk Utility should be able to "see" the drive even it has not been formatted.

Regards.

07-29-2009, 07:20 PM

it uses pins no ribbon i put in a 320 gb eide hard drive 5400 rpm. seems like everything is connected but when i boot it up it goes to that weird screen and when i put in osx 10.5 in it cannot find the hard drive.

07-29-2009, 10:19 PM

Originally Posted by jahaz118

it uses pins no ribbon i put in a 320 gb eide hard drive 5400 rpm. seems like everything is connected but when i boot it up it goes to that weird screen and when i put in osx 10.5 in it cannot find the hard drive.

You're referring to the connector type. I was suggesting to you to check the drive to see if it had jumpers. If it has jumpers, they must be set correctly in order for the drive to be "seen" by Disk Utility. If there are no jumpers at all on the drive or the drive instructions do not indicate any, then please ignore my post.

Regards.

07-30-2009, 02:59 PM

Diffrent type of hard drive there is no jumpers

07-30-2009, 03:03 PM

First thing, are you from the 10.5 DVD going to the tools drop down and selecting Disk Utility? If so, does the drive show up there? If so, you have to partition the drive.

What are the specs on your iBook G4?

All ATA hard drives (even 2.5" laptop drives) that I have seen have jumpers, but most are just pairs of pins with no jumpers installed. Did the old drive have a ribbon cable or plug in the same way as the new drive?

I just checked to refresh my memory, the 800-1.2Ghz G4 iBooks use a Ribbon Cable. The 1.33Ghz did not.

Depending on how the drive is formatted, it will not show up to the OSX installer. Open Disk Utility like I said above. Does the drive show there?

07-30-2009, 03:16 PM

I tried that it does not show the hard drive it just shows the dvd.

Its a 2006 ibook g4 14in 1.5gb 60gb 1.4ghz i think.

It just has pins from what i understand jumpers look like this

07-30-2009, 03:23 PM

It sounds like you have the last generation iBook G4. Is yours the 14" model or 12"?

Are you sure the drive connector is seated on the right pins on the drive? Did it plug back into the board correctly? I installed a 120GB in my last gen iBook G4 and did not need to put a jumper on. It just came up in Disk Utility and I partitioned it from there.

Installing iBook G4 12" 1.33 GHz Hard Drive Replacement

07-30-2009, 03:31 PM

the weird thing is it seems like hard drive is connected because its hot after leaving the computer plug in all night but when i look for it in disk utility it does not show up.

I put everything together like i saw it. Do i need to format it or something?

07-30-2009, 03:49 PM

Since it's not showing up in Disk Utility, I know of no way to erase of partition it. Something is wrong somewhere as the G4 iBooks have no size limitations like the G3 iBooks did. Have you tried unplugging it from the board and plugging it back in? When I have been in a hurry I have gotten that plug one row of pins off before!

Other than that I am not sure what is wrong. If it's plugged in correctly it should show in Disk Utility.

Click on the pic below. Be sure that connector is on just like in the pic. You can see 2 more rows of pins. Be sure it's not on those and both rows of pins are all in the holes in the connector. Those are the jumper pins btw on the bottom of the pic.