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#1 2007-12-31 2:23 am
- tjlean
- Member
- Registered: 2001-02-14
- Posts: 224
Ibook problem. Need help
My wife has a ibook G4 with 512 Memory running tiger. Tonight while browsing google she encountered the dreaded beach ball. When cancelling the program failed I forced it to shut down by pressing the power button. Now when powered up it will only go as far as the apple logo. When booting from the CD I tried to run Disk utility and it indicated that the volume is damaged and cannot be fixed. Is there a way to fix it by buying programs like disk warrior or is the hard drive toast? Please help.
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#2 2007-12-31 4:57 am
- D'Eyncourt
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- Registered: 2001-12-27
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Re: Ibook problem. Need help
Disk Warrior can fix problems that Disk Utility cannot, but there is no guaranty that DW will fix your particular hard drive problem.
BOYCOTT SONY
"I think the question now is not whether you went to Vietnam or whether you didn't, whether you fought in the war or fought against the war. I think the only question is whether we can find a president smart enough never to make a mistake like that again"--Molly Ivins, way back in 1992
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#3 2007-12-31 9:24 am
- dv
- Negusa Negest
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- From: Minneapolis, MN
- Registered: 1999-08-30
- Posts: 18103
Re: Ibook problem. Need help
Do you have a hardware test CD?
Also, I have the same laptop and love it, but you should be nice and get her more RAM.
"Now commences the process of cutting off the head, which generally takes from an hour to an hour and a half by an expert workman with a sharp blade." -Reuben Delano, Wanderings and Adventures
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#4 2007-12-31 9:41 am
- tjlean
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- Registered: 2001-02-14
- Posts: 224
Re: Ibook problem. Need help
I do have a hardware test CD and I was able to do the quick test using its DVD drive and everything passed so far but when you want to boot it from the HD it stays on the apple logo. Also my wife only uses it mainly for internet access that's why I didn't upgrade the memory.
Last edited by tjlean (2007-12-31 9:43 am)
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#5 2008-01-02 11:51 am
- tjlean
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- Registered: 2001-02-14
- Posts: 224
Re: Ibook problem. Need help
Ok it has finally come to the point where I have to erase the hard disk and install 10.4. My observation is that after I erased the HD and started installing the 1st OS DVD it indicated that it will take 4.5 hours and I've noticed that it takes a long time to install certain files and when the computer rebooted itself it indicated that not all volume was installed so I can't install the 2nd DVD. I erased and reinstall again, opened the install log and it indicated errors on some files. I stopped and decided to install it on an external drive. It took less than 2 hours. So my question is, is the hard drive shot (even thou I ran Disk Utility again and it indicated no repair necessary)? I thought that erasing it would prevent files from being written on bad sector. Is it easy to replaced HD on an ibook and what's the maximum size I could use? Thanks.
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#6 2008-01-02 12:22 pm
- dv
- Negusa Negest
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- From: Minneapolis, MN
- Registered: 1999-08-30
- Posts: 18103
Re: Ibook problem. Need help
if you do a LOW LEVEL reformat (which will take several hours) then yes, it will section off bad sectors. Once you start having problems like that, the HDs days are numbered anyway.
Anything up to 120 GB is safe. The HD is a pain to install, but not all that difficult if you move slowly, don't lose any screws, and follow directions.
"Now commences the process of cutting off the head, which generally takes from an hour to an hour and a half by an expert workman with a sharp blade." -Reuben Delano, Wanderings and Adventures
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#7 2008-01-02 4:54 pm
- iMan
- New from Apple, the iMan!
- From: Maine, USA
- Registered: 2007-07-22
- Posts: 582
Re: Ibook problem. Need help
dvpierce wrote:
The HD is a pain to install, but not all that difficult if you move slowly, don't lose any screws, and follow directions.
It goes pretty fast if your not careful 
iMac G5 iSight 1.9GHz 17" main widescreen + 17" regular 2.5 GB of RAM
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#8 2008-01-02 7:14 pm
- dv
- Negusa Negest
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- From: Minneapolis, MN
- Registered: 1999-08-30
- Posts: 18103
Re: Ibook problem. Need help
iMan wrote:
dvpierce wrote:
The HD is a pain to install, but not all that difficult if you move slowly, don't lose any screws, and follow directions.
It goes pretty fast if your not careful
It's his first time - the only way he'll please his wife is if he takes the slow and steady approach. He can get creative later.
"Now commences the process of cutting off the head, which generally takes from an hour to an hour and a half by an expert workman with a sharp blade." -Reuben Delano, Wanderings and Adventures
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#9 2008-01-02 7:56 pm
- tjlean
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- Registered: 2001-02-14
- Posts: 224
Re: Ibook problem. Need help
Thanks guys. One quick question is how do you do LOW LEVEL reformat?
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#10 2008-01-02 8:16 pm
- dv
- Negusa Negest
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- From: Minneapolis, MN
- Registered: 1999-08-30
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Re: Ibook problem. Need help
Bad terminology. Like telling you to clean your carburetor. Which you also probably don't have. Just do a zero all data; if it doesn't fail, get a new drive anyway.
"Now commences the process of cutting off the head, which generally takes from an hour to an hour and a half by an expert workman with a sharp blade." -Reuben Delano, Wanderings and Adventures
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#11 2008-01-03 2:19 pm
- D'Eyncourt
- OMGDICTATOR
- Registered: 2001-12-27
- Posts: 8808
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Re: Ibook problem. Need help
Agreed. The problem is that the ATA interface prevents you from directly accessing the hard drive to do a low-level format. This is not necessarily a bad thing: doing this enables the hard drive manufacturers to change the hard drive's hardware without forcing everyone to adopt a new hard drive controller with each change.
Since hard drives have reached commodity pricing, if you have any significant problems with a hard drive it may be not much more expensive to replace a hard drive with problems (especially when you add in the price of your time trying to diagnose the problem).
BOYCOTT SONY
"I think the question now is not whether you went to Vietnam or whether you didn't, whether you fought in the war or fought against the war. I think the only question is whether we can find a president smart enough never to make a mistake like that again"--Molly Ivins, way back in 1992
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#12 2008-01-03 2:54 pm
- dv
- Negusa Negest
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- From: Minneapolis, MN
- Registered: 1999-08-30
- Posts: 18103
Re: Ibook problem. Need help
D'Eyncourt wrote:
Agreed. The problem is that the ATA interface prevents you from directly accessing the hard drive to do a low-level format. This is not necessarily a bad thing: doing this enables the hard drive manufacturers to change the hard drive's hardware without forcing everyone to adopt a new hard drive controller with each change.
Since hard drives have reached commodity pricing, if you have any significant problems with a hard drive it may be not much more expensive to replace a hard drive with problems (especially when you add in the price of your time trying to diagnose the problem).
That and, well, who fixes the damn things?
It's cheaper to buy a new HD than the software the you can use to rebuild your directory and keep the old HD limping along. And you'll need to replace it with a new one sooner or later anyway. Moving parts, you know?
"Now commences the process of cutting off the head, which generally takes from an hour to an hour and a half by an expert workman with a sharp blade." -Reuben Delano, Wanderings and Adventures
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