Ata gone

[Halibabamindingu]

Hello there!
I bought an old iBook clamshell with the question mark folder, just need to reinstall the os or replace the hdd I tought. The old owner told me the cd drive was gone and send me a new one.
Then the journey begon, first reset pram, nothing, then I swapped the cd driver, won't start, then swapped for one I got in my storage, nothing, then I swapped the hdd, nothing.
So I tried to boot it with the option key, still won't recognize any of the CDs I swapped neither the hdd.
I tried usb method, won't recognize.
Then I went hardcore and tried open firmware, says can't open hdd, or the cd, and in the usb it just says ok and nothing happens.

I want you guys opinion, what can be done ? Can it be fixed?
Thx in advance!

 

[Intell]

Try it with a known good hard drive, remove the optical drive. Clamshell iBooks cannot boot from a USB drive.

 

[Hrududu]

FireWire model? Best bet to boot it sounds like a FW HDD or optical drive.

 

[Halibabamindingu]

FireWire model? Best bet to boot it sounds like a FW HDD or optical drive.

It's the first one. No firmware. It's said that you can still boot from usb on the non firmware models according to low end mac. Do you the hard drive could cause the cd boot failure?

 

[Intell]

The clamshell iBook has USB 1.0, not 1.1. Only USB 1.1 and USB 2.0 Macs can boot from a USB drive.

 

[Hrududu]

It's the first one. No firmware. It's said that you can still boot from usb on the non firmware models according to low end mac. Do you the hard drive could cause the cd boot failure?

No the drive itself wouldn't do that I don't think. It isn't entirely unlikely that the CD drive hasn't just failed. Also, some Macs don't like booting off burned discs, so if you're only going with burned CD's that might be part of the problem. Lastly it could be a failed ATA controller on the board, but I don't think that is terribly likely unless the thing got wet or something at some point.

 

[Halibabamindingu]

Oh sorry lol yes it's 1.0 so won't boot usb. Low end mac tutorial covered clamshell SE which did not have firmware but had 1.1 USB. Mine is the very first model, so no USB booting for me.

About the CDs, burning they will be more difficult to be recognized? I have an iMac original cd, but don't know if it will be recognized. In the weekend I'll try the cd and also try installing on another machine the Mac OS and transplanting hdd, maybe use my PowerBook 1400 for that since I have a spare hdd. Until here I just copied Mac OS files in my cf card and used an IDE adaptor. Maybe this iBook won't cope well with cf cards

 

[MacCubed]

Did you try a PRAM reset? That may fix it

 

[Halibabamindingu]

Did you try a PRAM reset? That may fix it

Wish was that simple, first thing I tried :/

 

[MacCubed]

Wish was that simple, first thing I tried :/

I just reread the original post and saw that you tried it... Sorry for not reading slow enough lol

 

[weckart]

Can you hear the hard drive spin up or the CD drive trying to read a disk? If not, it may be a DC in board issue not supplying sufficient juice for either to function properly.

 

[Halibabamindingu]

I just reread the original post and saw that you tried it... Sorry for not reading slow enough lol

No problem mate always good to receive help, wanna fix it

 

[MacCubed]

PMU reset??? If the computer is on, turn it off. Disconnect the AC power adapter. Remove the battery.
Press and release the reset button which is located above the Power button at the base of the display. Use a small, blunt instrument such as a paper clip to press the button. Wait 5 seconds. Reconnect the AC power adapter. Put the battery back in the computer. Press the Power button to restart the iBook computer.