G5 Hard drive clicks on start up and system freezes

[sizzlax]

Hi there,

Firstly, I'm new here - so hello all!

This post is regarding a G5 quad with 4Gb RAM.

I am having a small issue with my G5 regarding booting up. When I turn the computer on it does all the normal things, including the chime, the hard drive starts to initialize but then clicks three or four times and stops. The computer then freezes on a grey screen and the hard drive starts to try and initialize again, it clicks three or for more times and then stops. This process repeats itelf over and over.

Please put me out of my misery. Is my hard drive dead? Is this a job for data recovery? Or is this a video card problem?


Thanks for listening and any advice is more than appreciated

Sizzlax

 

[MacHeadCase]

Welcome to Mac-Forums, sizzlax.

I hate to have to tell you this but yes indeed it does sound like your hard drive is dead or is dying. I highly doubt it could be software that makes your Mac behave like that.

As for data recovery I really don't know if it can be done or not. Maybe another member with experience on this can shed some light on the matter for you.

 

[harryb2448]

Hard drive and not video card indeed. Have you tried DiskWarrior or anything similar, or even Disk Utility's 'Repair Disk'?

 

[sizzlax]

I have indeed tried to repair the disk in disk utility but it doesn't even show up. Which I take as a pretty bad sign. I think it really is a job for the data recovery people as I have a project on there that is due for delivery next week.

However, does anyone know, before I go down this expensive route, whether I would have any luck with disk warrior even though the disk, I assume, is pretty much unreadable?

Regardless, thanks guys for you help on this on-going saga!

Regards

Sizzlax

 

[harryb2448]

Sorry there are no guarantees with any disk saving program if the HDD is finished. Take it to a salvage recovery firm.