Hardware :: Unable To Find Internal HD At Startup - IBook G4
Nov 11, 2008
My iBook G4 (see sig below) has an intermittent problem. It usually sits on my desk, plugged into the power adaptor, always on. The only time I ever do a shutdown is when I'm taking it with me to the airport. Here's where the problem happens -- WHEN it happens. I start it up and one of two things happens:
1. I get the old question mark disk icon, or
2. I get a plain grey screen
Sometimes, if I do a manual force reboot (cmd-ctrl-power) several times in a row, it will finally boot correctly. The lovely grey Apple logo shows up, and all is well.Other times, when that fails, I boot from a DiskWarrior CD. Sometimes it can't see the internal HD. Other times it sees it, and when I run DW, it does find errors to fix. Yet other times, DW sees it, and finds NO errors.
When the iBook is working, the internal HD's SMART status shows as Good.So, whatup with this? Is the drive actually going bad (SMART status notwithstanding), or is it maybe the controller or some other logic board component? I could chuck the iBook and get a nice new MacBook, but this 2004 antique still suits my needs.
P.S. BTW, the internal HD backs up to an external FW drive daily, so there will be minimum heartache if/when the thing totally bites it.
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Jan 10, 2009
i bought a ibook G4 off of a friend and knowning it needed some repairs it needed a new Harddrive. He had a 100Gig Seagate replaced in it before me and I tried a new 60Gig when I got it.either one of us couldnt boot either HD, we can not find the new Internal HD with the Mac. I can boot off a External HD holding down ALT. And i already tried clearing the P-ram many times.
Also when i go to load a 10.3 OSX disk it loads and either gives me a red circle X or like sorta artfacts and shifts the apple screen to the side of the page. Ive spent hours trying to fix this and have no luck. do i need a 10.4 or 10.5 disk? i did add 256MB ram to it so heres the specs. I have no clue what to do. ALSO! when i boot the external under the specs it wont show the HD under disk utilty or the about my pc info...
Ibook G4 1.25Ghz
512MB Ram
12In Screen
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Mar 6, 2009
ibook OS 10.2.8 cannot find server no matter where I try not on AOL or MSN or Yahoo or Amazon or news, not anything.In the Network it says server 0 kilobytes. I have tried everything. I can get on an airport network and still no server. My Safari won't work, my explorer won't work, they all say "Cannot find server"
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May 23, 2009
well where do i begin ?? basicly i purchased a ibook g4 14" 1.33ghz that had its harddrive upgraded by a apple service provider. About two weeks after this upgrade took place the harddrive started playing up and the machine would not see the boot volume on the drive when restarted or every now and then the machine would freeze after some time of use, a few hours maybe. i ran apple hardware test and it came back clean after zapping the pram and disk warrioring the drive it fixed this for a day then it started again oh well.
so i sent it back to the service provider who said yep its the hadrdrive goody !!! oh NO he calls back the next day and says the new harddrive is not reconized and that they tried a new ribbon cable WTF when i sent it in the machine saw the harddrive via target disk mode all the time it just didnt see the boot volume.
NOW his saying its the logicboard **** sake !!! so my question could this machines logicboard be fried when it was fine before i sent it in , i mean the ide controller was fine i checked it and now im faced with a brick !!!what do i do ????
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Aug 13, 2010
I managed to nab an iBook G3 for �20 and am pretty much loving it.One problem is that for bluetooth I need to use a dongle, and even with modern super teeny-weeny ones, it's a bit of a pain.Now, I know it's possible to solder the connectors to a USB port and install the dongle internally, but this also has the disadvantage of disabling the use of your USB Port.
Therefore, does anyone know if the iBook G3 (A1005, 800Mhz) has any internal USB connectors that will allow me to do this without sacrificing a USB Port? When I had it open after I got it (Had to replace a broken display cable), I had a brief look, but it wasn't very thorough.Before I crack her open again, I'd just like to see if I can save myself a lot of time and effort for a possibly fruitless search.
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Feb 5, 2010
I have two internal HDs. The second is used as one of my cloned bootable backups. Since it is not needed to be mounted all the time, to save wear, I would like to instruct my Mac not to mount it on startup. (I could always mount it using Disc Utility.
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Feb 19, 2008
If I have my Mac Pro connected to external speakers, is the startup bong supposed to be played through the internal speakers? When I had my PowerBook connected to speakers, it played the startup noise through them, not the internal speaker.
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Mar 25, 2012
One morning my Mac Mini would not startup, it would try to start up but after about 2 minutes the Apple would turn to the circle with a diagonal line through it. Fortunately I had installed Snow Leopard on my external Firewire 800 drive so I could startup from that drive. My internal drive now will not mount when starting from my external drive until I rebuild the drive using Drive Genesis and then run Volume Structures with Tech Tool V5.0. No other combination of utilities seems to work to make it mount. Not sure if that would makes sense to anyone that might know what is wrong and how to fix it so I could startup from my internal drive.
I have also tried to reinstall Snow Leopard but when starting from the install DVD the internal drive does not show up as an option for installation. I am trying to startup at least one last time from my internal drive since I have a Filemaker Pro 7 database which I have forgotten the password for but when starting up from my internal drive it opens since the password is stored in Snow Leopard. I have found programs using Windows to change or extract the FM7 password but I am trying not to spend the $30 to $40 for a program I will only use once.
Info:
Mac mini, Mac OS X (10.6.8), 8 gb RAM
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Oct 19, 2006
I feel incredibly dumb but can you buy something to put inside an ibook (or any laptop for that matter) to give you more space to save things? or do you have to buy an external drive? I can see lots of info about memory upgrading (which makes your computer more efficient yeah?) but nothing about this, is this because it's so obvious that I should know?
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Aug 2, 2007
I have a dead/dying old G4 iBook (logic board failure) and was wondering whether I can remove the internal drive and mount it in an external case, and use it as an external USB or Firewire drive? The drive has some valuable data on it which I'd like to keep, and the iBook only boots for a few minutes each time (if I'm lucky).Is it just a matter of opening it up, taking the drive out, and taking it along to a computer shop who should be able to kit me out?
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Dec 7, 2007
Thinking of using 500GB and 750GB internal drives for a raid 0 startup disc (software raid obviously)?
Information:
Dual 2.5 G5
Mac OS X (10.4.11)
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Nov 15, 2006
Saw a problem a member (steelfist) had awhile back regarding loss of sound from internal speakers. I needed to know how that was resolved since I have the exact problem on wife's ibook. Apple iBook Notebook 12.1" M9846LL/A (1.33 GHz PowerPC G4, 512 MB DDR SDRAM, 40 GB Hard Drive, Combo Drive, Built-in AirPort Extreme
Problem: Internal speaker option in sound preferences GONE all of a sudden. Only headphone option exists. Headphones sound good and so does any external speaker plugged in to that jack. But internal speakers are gone.
Tried: everything except reinstalling OS X. I've messed with opening and closing Garage Band, checked Midi defaults, tried to trip jack into not thinking headphones was plugged in - did the PRAM, power reset - no mutes on or sound lever out of balance either. Want to avoid sending unit in for repair if I can do it myself.
Need to know: Would opening the unit and unplugging / plugging the sound jack or speakers (if possible) make the system "see" the internal speakers? Or should I reinstall operating system? Just afraid of losing files.
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Feb 22, 2008
I have a small issue on my iBook (G4) that's been driving me a bit crazy lately. I noticed a few months ago that when I selected a song/video on iTunes to play, I would get uneven volume output on my two internal speakers. I tried restarting iTunes, restarting the computer, etc. to no avail. In addition, sometimes this problem would not arise for a few days, and then suddenly start up again.
I then dug up the program Audio MIDI Setup and saw that the sliders were uneven . Once I slid them back together, I thought I had solved my problem. Nope! It came back, and I even saw that if I opened up Audio MIDI Setup right after the computer turned on, the sliders would be skewed even before opening iTunes or Safari or some other program that used audio.
I've come accustomed to manually balancing the volume output, but the irregularity of this problem occurring frustrates me. Attached is a screenshot of Audio MIDI Setup with the issue--note the Audio Output sliders.
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Feb 17, 2012
I have a Mac Pro 2x 2.66GHz Dual-Core (4 Cores) Xeon 5150 (Early 2006).The internal speaker chimes when I start up even though I have external speakers connected to the analog output on the back.
Info:Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.5.8)
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Nov 21, 2008
iBook (M6411) shows a folder with a question mark on start up.
Turning on the laptop with the option key held down (for start up manager) shows the osX HD but cannot start up from it. If I try start up from a CD it works fine but disk aid does not show the osX HD.
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May 27, 2012
i cant startup my apple ibook g4. I have a gray display. I have tried to restarting, but nothing happens. it does the same thing over and over.
Info:
iBook, Mac OS X (10.5)
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Sep 21, 2010
My Imac cannot find its hard drive. When I turn it on it shows a folder with a blinking question mark. And even when I go to reinstall the software it can't find a destination. What can I do?
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Oct 21, 2006
when I press the power-on button of my G3 iBook (600MHz, dual USB), its taken a few presses to get it going. Now I can't get the laptop going at all!
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Mar 8, 2008
I have an iBook g3 running Tiger that I bought second hand almost two years ago that has been working perfectly up until yesterday. I use it for uni during the day and usually turn the machine off overnight while it charges. The other night I left it 'asleep' while charging instead of off. When I came to use it in the morning it would not wake up and was totally silent although it's pulsing 'on' light in the front part of the casing was on. The charging cable was still connected and was green, indicating a full charge, but the battery-life light display, when pressed, showed only a single light, which flashds a few times, indicating the battery wasn't fully charged.
While trying to get the thing to do something I removed the battery. This caused the ibook to turn off the pulsating light - it was completely off and apparently not drawing power from it's adapter, which was still plugged in. I have been trying since then to get the computer to turn on. No matter how long it is left charging, the battery never indicates anything other than a single light with a few flashes, the computer will not turn on and the cable of the charger stays green when plugged in. I have tried inserting an older battery - which I know worked, it just only used to hold an hour's charge or so - and it will not charge at all. I have also tried resetting the PMU, which appears to have done nothing
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Jun 22, 2008
I have a white 12" iBook 700 MHZ running OS 10.3 that startups very erratically. Oftentimes for a week or so it will startup just fine. Then it will not boot up at all with just battery power, the adapter or both. This problem started a few months ago. I've tried using a different battery and power adapter, resetting the PMU and resetting the PRAM. A couple of hours or days later it will startup again after switching around the battery and power adapter. At times when it is running with the battery in and power adapter connected to an outlet, the battery will begin running down instead of recharging it. Does anyone have any ideas as to what is going on? Is it possible the power port is defective? Or a new logic board is needed? We love this computer and would like to salvage it if possible.
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Dec 3, 2014
When I trash items on my boot drive, they appear in the trash. But I can't find items trashed from my secondary internal drives.
Info:
Mac Pro (Mid 2010), OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.5)
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Nov 19, 2009
I do computer repair and have run into an issue that I cannot figure out. My customer has an iBook G4 and the screen will stay blank as if it's off even when the power button is pressed. I've tried turning it on only on AC power; I've tried Cmd-Option-P-R; I have tried applying pressure in various places. When I asked my customer about what was happening when the issue started, he said his kids were on it, the battery died and the next time he tried to boot it up, it wouldn't work. It gave him neither errors nor lines on the screen; it just wouldn't turn on. Now the strange thing is everything else works. The fans spin, the hard drive spins, and it gives the startup sound. I tried to see if maybe the brightness was to low but that didn't work either.
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Sep 11, 2007
I just change the name of my computer and now when I restart I don't have the login window. The computer just keep going in the Mac OS window with the blue line forever.
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Aug 30, 2008
I just downgraded my iBook G3 600 from Tiger to Panther to see if it would increase the machine's performance. I did a clean install of Panther, upgraded to 10.3.9, and now for some strange reason, when I boot the machine (even cold) the fan comes on and constantly runs, which it never did before. However If I wake the machine from sleep the fan doesn't come on -- it only happens from a full boot-up (every time).
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Jun 28, 2008
My g4 ibook gets stuck on the grey start-up screen, with the spinning wheel, and then goes to a blank blue screen.When I try to perform a disk repair in safety mode, it gives me the following feedback
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Jul 4, 2006
I have a 4 month old iBook 12" 1.33/512/40/combo with the following problem. It went into sleep mode and never woke up. after complete reboot 1 long beep and silence. after taking the battery out and disconnect for about 4 hours I get the beep, but inbetween absolute nothing. Anyone has tips or a solution. there is no additional memory installed.
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Sep 8, 2007
I'm relatively new to Macs and I wanted to try a clean install (or erase and install) on my ibook. I recently purchased a MBP and since Leopard is on the horizon, I wanted to do a "trial run" of installing an updated operating system. I know that you can just hit update instead of doing a clean install, but I've been reading that things run better when you do a fresh install. My old ibook still has Panther on it and I figured I could try to install Tiger on it from my MBP disks.
I know that this represents a violation of the license, but I thought it would be worth it to ensure that I don't make any major mistakes when I'm doing the same procedure with my brand new MBP when Leopard gets released. When I tried booting from the disk from my ibook I got a kernel panic which I interpreted as a sign that it was not a good idea so I abandoned the project. Now every time I try to start my ibook I get another kernel panic and I'm afraid I just broke my old computer.
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Jul 26, 2008
Purchased this notebook used, but very nicely cared for, excellent condition. I ran the Apple Hardware Test and everything passed including the logic board.
The battery has 500+cycles. The problem is laptop shuts down at 50% or less of battery. Clock is wrong at startup but is correct a few seconds later.
Runs forever and very nicely on ac power.
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Apr 17, 2012
I just received this message: to open outlook, first delete the daemon from the startup items. How do I find the startup items?
Info:
MacBook Pro (15-inch Late 2011), Mac OS X (10.7.3)
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Jan 1, 2009
I need your help please. It all started when I was trying to install Windows XP under Boot Camp on my Macbook Pro (Leopard). I followed the manual and made the partition for Windows (32GB), but when I inserted Windows XP Install CD and had to choose partition to install it on, there was just one that seemed to be my Leopard startup disc (it had some 120GB). I did not know what to do, so I just left the installation process and the notebook restarted. When it loaded, it was trying to boot from the Windows CD so I tried to install it, but same problem appeared -> restart. I tried to load Leopard by holding Option key while loading, but only options for windows and windows cd appeared, no Leopard -> Shut down. While booting, I force-ejected the CD by holding down trackpad button -> blinking underscore on black screen appeared. I shut the MBP down by holding power button and inserted Leopard Install CD. When it loaded, I booted from the CD by holding Option key. This time I was ready to even re-install Leopard just to make it work but when I had to chose the harddisk to install Leopard on, there was none. It seems to me that somehow nobody can see the harddisk and I have no idea what to do with it.
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