Start up failure

I have an older mac laptop. It's OS X is the one prior to snow leopard, I believe it's 10.5 something. When I turn it on I get grey screen with turning dial. I put in the original OS X disk and tried to repair through disk utility and tried to back up through disk utility all with errors. I also started it in safe mode and ran fcsk, after running fack a few time and errors each time it stopped responding to command. Any suggestions? In fcsk it said something like disk02 something error

When you booted the computer with the OS install disk…did the computer startup ok with the install disk?

And when I say "ok"…I mean ok considering that an OS install disk is being used to boot from. Not "ok/normal"…as if you were normally booting from the hard drive.

If so…it sounds to me that maybe your hard drive is failing or has failed.

- Nick

It does "start up" with the disk in and holding c. Then I can access disk utility, but that's it no repairing can be done all errors. If it is my hard drive is there any way to back up other than disk utility. I have an external hard drive. Thanks for replying

As I'm sure you can guess…the time do do backups is before a problem surfaces. If your hard drive has failed…a backup may not or probably not possible.

You did the right thing by booting from the OS disk…launching Disk Utility…and trying to repair the hard drive. But if the hard drive has failed…then Disk Utility cannot access it.

You can try a couple data recovery apps like DiskWarrior or Data Rescue 3. Usually these apps allow you to download them for free…and they scan the HD to see if the data is accessible for recovery. If the data is recoverable (which is great)…then you have to purchase the app to actually do the data recovery. Each of these apps costs about $100.

- Nick

I don't think my computer is even able to access an app, I believe it's beyond that point. Ugh. Thank you!

Kimberlypaige said:

I don't think my computer is even able to access an app, I believe it's beyond that point. Ugh. Thank you!

Click to expand...

At this point you're not going to be able to access an app. You got to get yourself:

- another hard drive (one that works) into your computer
- install an OS on it (with your OS install disk)
- install the "bad" HD into an external HD case
- connect this to your computer
- then download one of the free data recovery apps I mentioned
- then launch the app to see if the data on the external "bad" HD is recoverable

* Nick

Guy's please listen she said she has a older pre snow leopard machine which means usually its a powerpc macintosh not a intel which means replacing the drive is more hastle then what its worth you would have to find a pata hard drive because the machine most likely doesn't have sata bad news most companies now only produce Sata hard drives.

Okay, correct me if I am wrong, but if she has a mac running 10.5 (Leopard) that means either powerpc or intel machine. Either way it might be possible to change the laptop over to accept a sata drive using adapters. Not enough information to definitely determine if it is possible.

I realize changing the hard drive would be a huge hassle especially if adapters are involved. Next option is replacing the whole computer and that might not be financially possible.

If the OP does get the hard drive changed, following the procedure pigoo3 suggests is going to give the best chance of data recovery.

Lisa

Hey thanks for all your responses, I purchased the computer in 09 and I do believe it is running leopard. How can I tell if it is intel or power PC. I have read that the hardrive is easy to replace, and was going to attempt, but now it seems that it would be more or too difficult. What are your thoughts, and what harddrive should I get? I found a site, newegg.com with a lot of different hard drives.

Ok it says intel core 2 duo, I just ran a hardrive test and it says no trouble found?.? I am going to do the advanced one that takes longer and get back to you

Or rather hardware.. Ha I'm really navigating areas I know little about.

So after the long test I got this error code

4hdd/11/40000004:SATA(0,0)

Well Kimberly, it looks like your hard drive is toast. Your machine uses a SATA hard drive which can easily be replaced. Hopefully, you have a backup of all your data, music, photos, and so on. If you need help replacing the hard drive, post back.

WD Blue WD5000LPVX 500GB 5400 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 2.5" Internal Notebook Hard Drive Bare Drive

Will this one be compatible?? Plus do I need to do anything besides.. Remove old hd, then replace with new hd, and then load OS X and applications.?.

Thanks!

Go to OWC, find your machine and watch the video on how to do it. OWC is also a great source of drives and they really know Macs well.

Kimberlypaige said:

WD Blue WD5000LPVX 500GB 5400 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 2.5" Internal Notebook Hard Drive Bare Drive

Will this one be compatible?? Plus do I need to do anything besides.. Remove old hd, then replace with new hd, and then load OS X and applications.?.

Thanks!

Click to expand...

Yes, that drive will work. It might also be a good idea to replace the SATA cable at the same time which connects the hard drive to the logic board. That particular cable has a high failure rate especially in older machines. And please watch the videos that Jake recommended.

Good luck and let us know how it went.

Ordering now. Thanks everyone. Keep you posted!

Ok wait... Which cable should I get.???? 10'???.....18'.....ugh haha

OKGEAR 18" SATA 6 Gbps Cable, Straight to Right Angle W/Metal Latch, UV Blue, Backward Compatible with 3 Gbps and 1.5 Gbps

Ooh man there is sooooo many options....

OKGEAR 10" SATA 6Gbps Cable, Straight to Right Angle W/Metal Latch, UV Blue, Backward Compatible 3 Gbps and 1.5Gbps