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!!HELP!! URGENT!! Hard Disk failure on PB 12"

M

mherz

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 11, 2004
55
0
HEEEEEELLLPP
My hard disk just failed on my fairly new PB 12" Rev C.!!!
I had some problems yesterday already, did a disk check with no problems showing up and a repair permissions with also no problems. But today, with several programs running, downloading, Safari etc. the whole system was endlessly accessing the hard disk, hardly doing anything at all anymore and I did a restart.
It did not start up anymore but after the gray screen with the gray apple, the screen goes black and it gives me a (sort of flashing) error message:

-sh can't open library: /usr/lib/libncurses.5.daylib (No such file or directory, errno = 2) april 1 09:35:25 init: single user shell terminated, restarting

It seems to be caught in a loop doing this endlessly. When I restart with the Software Restore DVD, it starts up correctly and I can open Disk Utility. My hard disk is listed with the correct partition and when I try "repair disk" it gives me the following error:

invalid node structure
rebuilding catalog B-tree.
the volume "G4 PB" could not be repaired.
Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit (-9972)

and aborts.

(I freak out at this point, my last backup is two weeks ago, lots of work in between)

When I (just for testing) start the install system procedure, my hard disk is not listed, i.e. it does not find any hard disk. When I connect my PB to my G4 via Firewire and start the PB with T pressed, no hard disk appears on my G4 screen. (Arrggghh)

WHAT CAN I DO????????????

Is there any point of disassembling the PB, taking out the hard disk and putting it into an external 2,5" drive case? Considering that this is a tedious task and the firewire setup did not work previously, I dont really like the idea of trying just for "fun". On the other hand, I dont want to miss ANY!!!! possibility of rescuing something from my hard drive.

PLEEEAAASEEE HELP ANYBODY??!!!??

thankx alot
Manuel
 
AppleCare will help fix you up. But try sticking the entire PowerBook into the freezer first (you can't open the PowerBook w/o voiding the warranty) and after a few hours in the freezer, try getting it to work via firewire target disk mode.
 
no

i would not put any pb in the freezer cause apple might notice and you would be screwed !!!

but if you are desperate i know it works through a friend who did it !

cools harddrive head !!!
 
Freezer?? Applecare??

What good will the freezer do? If I just keep it turned off for a few hours, that won't do the same job?

Applecare, in the sense of sending it in? That means it is gone for one or two weeks and I cannot do work on the data that is on my PB.

Is there no utilities that can try still accessing a corrupted drive?

Manuel
 
I had the hard disk fail on my Rev. C PB 12" and eventually the HDD was replaced via AppleCare. I had a week old complete backup on my external FW drive and used Setup Assistant to restore my PB. It worked great, but I'm not sure if this satisfies your needs as you'd lose your work.
 
mherz said:
What good will the freezer do? If I just keep it turned off for a few hours, that won't do the same job?

Applecare, in the sense of sending it in? That means it is gone for one or two weeks and I cannot do work on the data that is on my PB.

Is there no utilities that can try still accessing a corrupted drive?

Manuel
Click to expand...

well from my experience apple is pretty fast with their repairs under apple care, but its understandable that you need it to do your work, you could always buy a external to boot off of until you can send it in to get fixed

if you put a hard drive in a freezer it will cool and help the mechanical parts that are deteriorating to work again, long enough that you can probably get your stuff saved off of the computer
 
Thanks for the advice so far. And I will try freezing it. (For how long and how cold?)

But,

I dont know if the problem is mechanical, i.e. head crash or something, or if for some reason some program or utility completely screwed up the bits and bytes and messed up the b-tree or catalogue or whatever.

Can the firewire setup function when the catalogue is messed up, or can I "find" the drive with some utility, when it doesnt show up immediately when connected via firewire?
 
I would not recommend putting your Powerbook in a freezer...

The Firewire target disk mode probably won't work if your Catalog-B Tree is fried.

I know you have important data, but given that your Powerbook is only six days old, you must have copies/originals you could get?

The last thing you want to do is void the warranty on your new computer, when there is clearly warranty service that needs to be done! Your best bet is to call AppleCare and let one of them diagnose the issue. From there, you can decide what the best course of action is.
 
if you have another mac handy, try using it in firewire disk mode so that you can see the drive on the other mac, its probably the fastest way to get your stuff off of there, if it doesnt show, i would let it cool down for awhile, or put it someplace cool, and it shouldnt take long for the powerbook to cool off because the AL will help cool it down, but i would give it a break if it wont show up, and then once it the drive has been cooled i would try again, or try booting it up, if it doesnt show up on the desktop i would try diskutility, you could also try first aid and check the smart status through disk utility if you get it booted up in firewire disk mode
 
When you tryed to access the powerbook as a firewire drive on your G4 did you try using disk utility to mount it? Disk utility has a feature to mount unmounted drives. This works sometimes I have had more luck mounting drives with disk utility in Mac OS 9 than in Mac OS X though.
 
It shows up in Disk utilities, but mounting it doesnt do the job. nothing happens. will try disk warrior or the other utils.
any other ideas?
thanks alot for the input!!!!
 
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