How do you know if the hard drive is bad?

I just got a dead Mac Mini G4 and I am attempting to troubleshoot it. How would I know if the hard drive is bad? When I plug it in nothing happens - no noise, no light, nothing. I have yet to swap the power supply to see if that is the culprit (hope it is). The guy I got it from said it stopped working one day, but who knows the truth.

Thanks fellow Mac folks.

farmdreads said:

I just got a dead Mac Mini G4 and I am attempting to troubleshoot it. How would I know if the hard drive is bad? When I plug it in nothing happens - no noise, no light, nothing. I have yet to swap the power supply to see if that is the culprit (hope it is). The guy I got it from said it stopped working one day, but who knows the truth.

Thanks fellow Mac folks.

Click to expand...

No sound coming from the computer (no hard drive spinning up) when you turn it on is a good sign that the hard drive is dead (assuming the electrical connections to it are connected properly).

You could try "booting" from an OS CD/DVD...if this works, then the power supply is probably ok.

Of course if you are getting no lights (meaning the computer is turned on "light")...then it could be the power supply. Just in case, make sure there are no problems with the electrical outlet or the power strip you are plugging into as well.

HTH,

- Nick

The Apple Hardware Test. You can also run the SMART Utility if you can boot the machine from an external.

Sounds like a dead power supply and/or logic board. If it was only the hard drive there should be an indication of that with kernel panic or unable to find OS folder on startup.

figured out that it was the power supply. Now i need a new one or try to fix this one. anybody know how to open one of those?

farmdreads said:

figured out that it was the power supply. Now i need a new one or try to fix this one. anybody know how to open one of those?

Click to expand...

You mean to open your Mac Mini? I won't recommend doing that, but if you insist, this website provides very detailed step-by-step instructions in opening and replacing just about anything on a Mac. They also sell different parts that you might need, so it can be very handy.

iFixit: Apple Mac, MacBook, iPod, and iPhone Repair Parts

Not open a mac? How can I not? It is so tempting to see what is inside. The inside of the Mini is quite packed full of stuff. Opening the power supply is another deal though. I'll need to break out the grinder for that and slice it open.

Well, I recommended not to open it because personally, I am afraid that in the act of doing so, I might break a bunch of other things in the process. Then again, if you are confident in doing so, by all means go ahead.