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Mac Forum / General / Hardware / October 2004no hdd?
hi. i dont know much about macs yet (im a pc guy) and im trying to fix my gfs imac. when you boot, or attempt to boot i should say, you get that question mark thing. i did the thing to see all the disk partitions, cds etc. and it shows me nothing (im assuming this is why it wont boot) so it would seem that either the hdd died or somehow the cables came loose. havent taken it apart yet. is this a correct assumption? or could some wiered setting possibly be preventing it from showing me the drives? it has(had?) os x on it. if it does need a new drive, what are the differences (if any) between ones for pc (ide not scsi) and mac? thanks * posted via http://mymac.ws > i dont know much about macs yet (im a pc guy) Hence the "macattack" as your real name? > and im trying to fix my gfs imac. Never heard about that model "gfs imac". Please explain, thanks. > when you boot, or attempt to boot i should say, you get that question > mark thing. i did the thing to see all the disk partitions, cds etc. > and it shows me nothing (im assuming this is why it wont boot) so it > would seem that either the hdd died or somehow the cables came loose. Not necessarily. It only means that there is no _bootable_ drive (= a drive with a valid system folder) attached. Get hold of the system CD which came with that Mac , put it into the CD drive and try to start it. Just after pressing the start button, press the "c" key on the keyboard and keep it down until the Mac starts from the CD. > havent taken it apart yet. is this a correct assumption? or could > some wiered setting possibly be preventing it from showing me the > drives? it has(had?) os x on it. How should it "show" you these drives? You should be able to see it/them when you start from the CD. If you can't see anything, open the application "Drive Setup" and see if it finds one or more volume. If it does, you have the option to re-initialize (and losing all information) or just to quit, get hold of "Disk Warrior" (a repair utility) and start the Mac using the Disk Warrior CD (procedure see above). You _may_ be able to rescue some (or even all) of the data if you are lucky. > if it does need a new drive, what are the differences (if any) > between ones for pc (ide not scsi) and mac? You can install virtually any IDE drive in an iMac. You need to re-initialize the drive either using the Finder's "Erase volume" option, or using Drive Setup. Be sure to use "HFS+" or "Macintosh Extended" as the format. Earlier versions of Drive Setup would not recognize drives without special "Apple" firmware, but this is no longer the case. Christian.  SignatureChristian F. Buser, Hohle Gasse 6, CH-5507 Mellingen (Switzerland) Hilfe für Strassenkinder in Ghana: <http://www.chance-for-children.org> Für die Werber: <mailto:trapla@rumantsch.ch>, <mailto:windows@mus.ch> lol when i said "gfs imac" i meant that it belongs to my gf (Girl Friend) lol thanks for the help. when you say to run these applications, how do i do that? how do i run stuff if the computer wont boot? i have the os x cd and i booted from it once however it doesnt seem to wanna do it now...maybe its just taking a while. anyways, i took it apart, everything looked fine inside. thanks * posted via http://mymac.ws hmmm now it wont boot from the cd anymore...it just sits at the anti screen seemingly indefinitly. i left it for like 30min. this is so annoying, i have no clue what to do...how are you supposed to fix an anti? or a question mark? that tells you absolutly nothing about whats actually wrong... * posted via http://mymac.ws > hmmm now it wont boot from the cd anymore...it just sits at the anti > screen seemingly indefinitly. i left it for like 30min. What's an "anti" screen? > this is so annoying, i have no clue what to do...how are you supposed > to fix an anti? or a question mark? that tells you absolutly nothing > about whats actually wrong... Actually, the flashing question mark tells you *EXACTLY* what's wrong: The system can't find a bootable OS. *WHY* it can't find one is a whole different question. Could be a dead disk, a wiped disk, kids (or clueless adults...) dinking around in the system folder and moving things to other-than-expected places, or any number of other things. But that doesn't really matter - The system is telling you "There is no OS to boot in any of the places I know how to look for one." It's effectively the same message as "non-system disk error" when you try to boot a PC from a floppy (or other media) that doesn't have the bootstrap sectors filled in properly, or has no OS aboard. I haven't got even the beginnings of a hint at the first clue what you're talking about (and I suspect you've got a whole lot of other mac-folk sitting here scratching their heads and saying basically the same thing) when you talk about an "anti screen", though. You're going to need to clarify that one. SignatureDon Bruder - dakidd@sonic.net - New Email policy in effect as of Feb. 21, 2004. Short form: I'm trashing EVERY E-mail that doesn't contain a password in the subject unless it comes from a "whitelisted" (pre-approved by me) address. See <http://www.sonic.net/~dakidd/main/contact.html> for full details. an "anti screen" is where the screen just has an anti in the middle, like a no smoking sign minus the cigarette. i get it when i try to boot from the cd, at first its an apple then turns to anti. * posted via http://mymac.ws > an "anti screen" is where the screen just has an anti in the middle, > like a no smoking sign minus the cigarette. i get it when i try to > boot from the cd, at first its an apple then turns to anti. Ahhh... OK. Must be a "New World" Mac thing. I've never encountered it on any of my "Old World" Macs. ("New World", where the "ROM" is actually loaded from disk, starts with either the original iMac or the B&W G3, if I recall rightly. My newest machine is an upgraded-to-G3 PowerMac 7600, closely followed by the upgraded-to-G4 PowerMac 7500 I'm typing this message on.) I'd *a.s*U*ME* that your "anti screen" is the equivalent of the older "flashing question mark in a floppy" - basically, "I can't find an OS to boot, boss! What do I do?!?" What you're describing (Apple, then anti) sounds like you don't have an OS on the HD. Try booting from CD by laying on the "C" key as soon as you hear the startup bong after punchign for power-on. Don't even bother trying with anything older than an 8.1 CD, since if I'm recalling correctly, earlier versions of the OS won't start "New World" Macs. Going back to your original message, it also strikes me that there is/was something about having X loaded that killed the ability to boot into "pre-X" versions of the system. But not being someone who actually needed/used that knowledge, I never learned the details. SignatureDon Bruder - dakidd@sonic.net - New Email policy in effect as of Feb. 21, 2004. Short form: I'm trashing EVERY E-mail that doesn't contain a password in the subject unless it comes from a "whitelisted" (pre-approved by me) address. See <http://www.sonic.net/~dakidd/main/contact.html> for full details. Don Bruder <dakidd@sonic.net> on Thu, 21 Oct 2004 06:44:28 +0000 in <01Idd.285$_3.5266@typhoon.sonic.net>: > I'd *a.s*U*ME* that your "anti screen" is the equivalent of the older > "flashing question mark in a floppy" - basically, "I can't find an OS to > boot, boss! What do I do?!?" Your assumption is right. This is the New World ROM's flashing question mark, and it does not apply to Old World Macs. From what I understand, I'd recommend an nvram zap. This action is NON-DESTRUCTIVE, so your girlfriend should be relaxed about it. Here's the procedure: 1) Hold down the power key for 5 sec. This will turn off the Mac. 2) Press the power key and release it in the normal manner. 3) Hold down Command-Option-P-R simultaneously. The Mac will chime and reboot. Hold these keys down for three chimes/restarts. 4) Insert the Mac's startup disc, and hold down the C key. The Mac will now be forced to load from the CD as expected. 5) When the Apple logo appears, release the C key. You are now booting off of the CD. I would not recommend that OSs prior to 9.1 be used as a startup disk - In fact, keep to OS X if possible. Some New World Macs are real pains in the NuBus when it comes to Classic... I hope this helps you. actually i already read about that and tried (a few times). i took the hdd out and put it in my other computer, figuring if it works in there than i can rule out the possibility that thats my problem. It totally killed my pc when it was plugged in, wouldnt even boot (yes i remembered to change the jumper to slave 8) ) so im hoping thats it (because i went on ebay and bought another drive, 40gb @ 50 bucks shipped). if its not, i didnt waste that much money (im a good bf and paid for it 8) ), and thats one more thing i can rule out. ill post and tell you guys how dumb/smart i am after i replace it. * posted via http://mymac.ws yeah that fixed it. im posting this from the mac. :) * posted via http://mymac.ws |
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