Dead Mac

[Anna]

OS X 10.1.5 - OS 9.2.2
20 GB HD - 512MB SD RAM


UGH.

Here's the story...
I went in OS 9 this morning, and had IE and MSN open. I went to the shockwave site to try and install the plugin, and my Mac just FROZE so I restarted at the button and went to bed.
Woke up and it had the flashing question mark so I put in my OS 9 disk and started up from that.
Did disk repair and it said I needed it, so I started then it said that it couldn't mount the disk -_-
Tried zapping P Ram.
Put in OS X disk, started from that. It says that the HD is okay, but I need to install OS X. The HD is grey when I try to install it and it says something about it can't install it on there because of languages or SOMETHING.
*breathes*

It has all my coursework on, my first priority is getting that off.

Dad's gonna have a bash when he gets in. Anyone got any ideas as to where he should start?


Thanks, Anna

P.S sorry if this is in the wrong section...

 

[rman]

Is your system the Fruity iMac or is it a Powermac?
Also does it have a firewire port?
Do you have another system with a firewire port?

You maybe be able to get your data off the dead system using firewire target mode.

 

[Anna]

Fruity iMac
I'm pretty certain it doesn't have firewire, and I don't have another system with a firewire port.

The only ways that i could transfer my data was with a USB stick or via email / ftp. It doesn't even have a CD-RW.

 

[rman]

Okay, how about an external usb disk drive. Which I hope has an OS on it, to boot from.

 

[Anna]

How would I go about installing an OS onto it?....
Would I just do it from another Mac?

We tested the P RAM battery, and it's not that. Ugh.

 

[jerodhusvar]

Okay, how about an external usb disk drive. Which I hope has an OS on it, to boot from.

Can you boot from an external USB device? I thought you could only boot from Firewire?

jjh

 

[Anna]

Hm, I think that you can. I've read about booting up Linux etc from a USB, and my school computers look to get booted from USB on startup because that's how the technicians installed Windows to save time or something.

 

[rman]

I am running out of ideas. The problem is that you want to avoid lossing your valuable data. The only other thing that comes to mind, is get a new internal disk drive. Load the new internal drive with a OS. Get an external disk drive case for the bad drive. Installed the bad drive in the external case. Make sure the case has a usb port. Connect the external drive to your iMac. Upon boot of the new OS on the new drive, hopefully you will see the external drive mounted on the desktop.

 

[witeshark]

It's possible to boot from an external drive on a UBS2, AFAIK

 

[jerodhusvar]

It's possible to boot from an external drive on a UBS2, AFAIK

Right, but this is a slot-loading iMac, it only has USB 1.1.

The idea of getting an external USB case and a new hard drive is probably the soundest idea. Load the new OS onto the fresh hard drive, mount the old drive in a USB case and back the data up onto the new drive.

jjh

 

[immdb]

You may be able to repair the disk with a utility like DiskWarrior. Maybe get it to a point where you can get your data. I've seen DiskWarrior work wonders many times.

Another thought…you indicate that the HD is grey for an OS X install, have you tried installing OS 9? Maybe it will see the HD.

 

[Anna]

I am running out of ideas. The problem is that you want to avoid lossing your valuable data. The only other thing that comes to mind, is get a new internal disk drive. Load the new internal drive with a OS. Get an external disk drive case for the bad drive. Installed the bad drive in the external case. Make sure the case has a usb port. Connect the external drive to your iMac. Upon boot of the new OS on the new drive, hopefully you will see the external drive mounted on the desktop.

You may be able to repair the disk with a utility like DiskWarrior. Maybe get it to a point where you can get your data. I've seen DiskWarrior work wonders many times.

Thanks. I'll be going to my local PC World shop tomorrow, to get the bits that I need (if I haven't got 'em lying around somewhere).
Only thing is - would any of this void my warranty? It runs out on 12th June so I've still got hope for it, and I wouldn't want to voidddd it.

Another thought…you indicate that the HD is grey for an OS X install, have you tried installing OS 9? Maybe it will see the HD.

Yeah, that kinda worked. The stuff I had on my OS 9 desktop's showing up, but Dad says he thinks the HD is dead. I'm going to go take a look myself now

Thanks for all the help so far, Anna.

 

[jerodhusvar]

Yeah, that kinda worked. The stuff I had on my OS 9 desktop's showing up, but Dad says he thinks the HD is dead. I'm going to go take a look myself now

Thanks for all the help so far, Anna.

Which soloution did you end up using? As to your warranty... Yes, if you tear into it, it will void the warranty. But if you need your data, you may have no choice. Apple is known for sending machines with new hard drives back with the drive blank.

jjh

 

[immdb]

If you are thinking of changing the drive, go here to see how to do it. I'm not sure, but I believe these instructions are for your iMac. As you will see, it is not an easy task since you have to take it down to bare bones.

http://www.theimac.com/drive_steps.shtml

Hope you don't have any parts left over.

If you have data showing up (desktop) then the HD isn't dead. It may have some bad sectors and would need to be reformatted. Reformatting a 20gb drive takes a while but is a lot better than changing the drive. (if the above instructions are for your iMac.)

It sounds to me like the sector(s) holding directory information has been clobbered. If this is the problem then Diskwarrior should be able to recover your data.

Most users have to be bitten like this in order for them to get into a routine of backing up important data. I say this from experience, it got me! Nowadays, I usually backup weekly. (more often if the data is crucial)

 

[Anna]

Yeah I'm definitely going to start backing up my work now.

The problem eventually effectively sorted itself out. We managed to get back to the view where the desktop showed up, and from there we managed to find a zip drive thing and attach it to an external hard drive (it didn't show up right on its own). All my stuff's currently being transferred back on and it's working fine!
Thanks for all the help!

I'm actually rather glad this happened as it might shock me into backing up, and it gave me the chance to partition my hard drive (SuSE Linux, here I come!).

Anna