PBG4 17" Not detecting target disk mode PBG4

[rfomlover]

Hello everyone. I got a new to me MINT PBG4 17" 1.67GHz in the mail today. It was an "untested" one and I am delighted that it works! It boots to the apple logo and spins forever. I think the hard drive is bad on it as it clicks as its loading. I tried to load up another PBG4 in target disk mode but the little watch in the options screen never goes away. Is it possible that it is stuck looking for the internal hard drive? Thanks!

 

[pigoo3]

Aren't we already discussing this issue & this computer in this thread?:

17" Powerbook G4 Not detecting any internal HDDs/Some keyboard keys not working

- Nick

 

[rfomlover]

Believe it or not, I actually got another one! This one is having a different issue. It must detect the hard drive since it boots to the Apple logo but the little circle spins perpetually. When booting to option I cannot even see the target computer or the internal hard drive. I hear the hard drive clicking, but the little “watch” mouse icon never goes away.

 

[ferrarr]

How about if you hold option down at startup?

 

[rfomlover]

How about if you hold option down at startup?

Holding down option brings me to the blue selection screen but nothing ever shows up at all even with TD mode on the computer (that works fine in TD as tested with a few other PowerBooks/powermacs I have). The little watch mouse icon never goes away and I can audibly hear the internal hard drive spinning up clicking and stopping. I am positive that hard drive is dead, but it seems that it is not dead enough for the computer to not detect it. It is almost as if the computer is trying to see the internal hard drive for so long that it never times out and looks for other bootable devices. I guess my question is, would that be normal? Does it never time out if the drive has a sign of life?

 

[pigoo3]

Believe it or not, I actually got another one!

Ahh ok...good deal (sounded like this same computer).

Hard drive "clicking" was mentioned in post #1. That's almost definitely a sign of a failed hard drive.

With all these OLD Mac's you're purchasing...could be a good idea to purchase an external HD...partition it...and install a bunch of different OS's on it for troubleshooting purposes.

I think I got a 240gig SSD for about $25 + a less than $10 external case for it from my local Micro Center.

Good luck,

- Nick

 

[rfomlover]

Ahh ok...good deal (sounded like this same computer).

Hard drive "clicking" was mentioned in post #1. That's almost definitely a sign of a failed hard drive.

With all these OLD Mac's you're purchasing...could be a good idea to purchase an external HD...partition it...and install a bunch of different OS's on it for troubleshooting purposes.

I think I got a 240gig SSD for about $25 + a less than $10 external case for it from my local Micro Center.

Good luck,

- Nick

Good point! I should do that. I even have another one coming in the mail soon, but not quite as old, (Late 2009 Mac Pro 4,1). I miss the old Apple hardware most, and I am enjoying finding ones for next to nothing that can use a little bit of love to nurture them back to health . The one this particular post is about literally looks brand new. I don't think I have seen a PowerBook G4 that looks like this since the mid 2000s. I almost don't want to take it apart to fix it :S. Trying to get a well working Powerbook G4 collection. Have an excellent shape 12" PBG4, a decent 15" and now 2 17" ones but with their own issues, but this one that this post is about seems the most promising. It is just weird that I seemingly have to take the internal hard drive out for it to even want to find the TD computer.

 

[rfomlover]

I figured I would report back to let everyone know how this closed out. I put a new HDD in the newest to me 17" PBG4 and it works perfectly. Web browsing is still terribly slow even with TenFourFox as expected, but I now have what was once the most powerful notebook Apple offered at the time, and I think the most powerful PBG4 ever made! This is the 1.67GHz with 2GB of RAM. So with that I am happy.