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Hard drive crashed, whats next?

B

brale76578

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 14, 2010
5
0
I would really appreciate any help that you could give me. Let me first off say that I am total new to using a iMac, I own 4 pc's and I have been using them since the early 90's. So I am very familiar with a PC and its OS. My girlfriend was giving a iMac to take home from her job because it no longer function. When I boot the computer up all I get is a flashing folder with a question mark and I can hear the Hard Drive making a ticking sound, which leads me to believe it has crashed. I have opened it up and and I am able to gain access to the Hard Drive.
Do you think, if I replace the hard drive (I cant afford 640gb but I was looking at mac sales.com they have a 80gb for 30.00 bucks) will this solve my problem and next question is I was not giving the restore cd if I purchase a iMac OS X cd from ebay (Im a student on a tight budget) will that work? Since it is a G5 computer, do I have to get a G5 restore CD?



The spec's of the iMac
24 inch widescreen
2.66 Intel core 2 Duo
4 GB of 1066mhz ddr3 Sdram
640gb Serial ATA drive
8x superdrive
Nvidia deforce 9400M
Built in ethernet, firewire and airport extreme
 
brale76578 said:
Do you think, if I replace the hard drive (I cant afford 640gb but I was looking at mac sales.com they have a 80gb for 30.00 bucks) will this solve my problem
Click to expand...

It's worth a shot.

brale76578 said:
and next question is I was not giving the restore cd if I purchase a iMac OS X cd from ebay (Im a student on a tight budget) will that work?
Click to expand...

Yes. Mac OS X Leopard and Mac OS X Snow Leopard will work fine.

brale76578 said:
Since it is a G5 computer, do I have to get a G5 restore CD?
Click to expand...

As flopticalcube said, it's not a G5 computer. PowerPC G5 is a processor architecture that Apple used before going Intel. It's an Intel Core 2 Duo computer.

Any retail copy of Mac OS X will work fine. The only difference between the retail OS and the restore disks that come with the computer is that the restore disks include iLife.
 
Who the hell told you it's a G5? This thing is 5x better than a G5! It's an Intel Core 2 Duo!!

If it were a G5 the CPU would say "PowerPC G5" not Intel Core 2 Duo.

Anyway, it sounds like all you have to do is change the hard drive and put the OS on!

Congrats, you've got a new mac!! And a damn nice one!

Install the new hard drive and put in the OS install disk. Boot from the CD and go to the Disk Utility. Format the drive to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and be sure it's a GUID partition table. Install the OS, reboot and enjoy!

Don't bother with a Restore disk, you get no more than what you get with a Retail disk.

Buy either Leopard or Snow Leopard. Snow Leopard is only $29 new because your computer came with Leopard.

snowlonew.jpg


Leopard is version 10.5 and Snow Leopard is version 10.6
 
Thank you for the quick replies, The only reason I said G5 was because when I opened the iMac it said G5 on the inside. So I figured it may mean something else. So as far as the harddrive goes, I guess the $30 one will work fine, thats good. Another question is since I am doing a Complete install I can just get snow leopard like you said and I dont have to worry about if I had a previous version it will just do a full install. I was thinking because of snow leopard cheap price that it was only a upgrade and that I would need to have software on the computer otherwise it wouldnt install. In the PC world a full version of windows run's close to $200.00. A full version of a OS for iMac only runs $29.00 bucks, wow... You may have a new fan of iMac...
 
Woah woah woah! A G5 says G5 on the inside...

Dude...we need pictures...you may have been jipped 0.o
 
I'm thinking he's going off the specs someone fed him and the only way G5 entered the picture is when he actually opened it.
 
Ok break a person's heart, why dont you. Yes you are all correct, I guess they gave me the box of the new computer they bought....

Real spec's from what I see....

G5 processor
2 gigs of RAM
Western Digital 160 gig HD
On the Diagonal the screen measures 20"

Now is it still worth buying the Hard Drive and OS or should I just scrap it. the only thing is my girlfriend really wanted it for the bedroom...
 
I blame flopticalcube for having an innocent-looking avatar.

At any rate, who said it's worthless? Dude it's a Mac, it's going to last. Find the serial or model number on it. Even the lowest one, the 1.8ghz, is still MOAR than enough to watch all of your videos and browse the web as well as store music and pictures and make videos!

Besides, it's better that you know what it is to avoid confusion in the future :p

The ONLY thing that changes is this machine can NOT run Snow Leopard. Install Leopard and enjoy the heck out of that thing, I personally like the Plastic look better than the Aluminum!

flopticalcube: "Its still not a bad machine and worth maybe $250 or so when its working"

I see G4's go for $250 still! But if you handed me this machine and gave me the option, I'd keep the sucker and tweak the hell out of the OS. 2D dock anchored to the bottom left with a Rainbow Apple and black windows constantly looping Michael Jackson Concerts I tellz ya!
 
Since I cant use snow leopard and I can only use leopard it seems to be alot more expensive to buy the OS. So my only choice is I should call apple for the disk and pay the 30 bucks and buy a Harddrive for 30 bucks and then I have a iMac, that will function...
 
If they still have the disks, it's worth a shot. They will come with Tiger, FYI. And for what it's worth I should warn that I would have NEVER switched to mac if not for Leopard. In the days of Tiger, Apple sold less macs...and for a reason.

I'd rather find a retail copy of Leopard, they can't be much since Snow Leopard was released.
 
Sounds like you have this model.

MrCheeto said:
If they still have the disks, it's worth a shot. They will come with Tiger, FYI. And for what it's worth I should warn that I would have NEVER switched to mac if not for Leopard. In the days of Tiger, Apple sold less macs...and for a reason.

I'd rather find a retail copy of Leopard, they can't be much since Snow Leopard was released.
Click to expand...

There really isn't that much difference between the two operating systems. The only significant upgrade in Leopard is Time Machine, the backup system, and it can be replaced with third-party software if need be. Programs are just starting to drop Tiger support, so you may be stuck using some older versions, but there is absolutely nothing wrong with Tiger. Apple sold more Macs post-Leopard because Macs have been gaining popularity for years, not because Leopard is so revolutionary.
 
MrCheeto said:
Dude it's a Mac, it's going to last. Find the serial or model number on it. Even the lowest one, the 1.8ghz, is still MOAR than enough to watch all of your videos and browse the web as well as store music and pictures and make videos!!
Click to expand...
BlueRevolution said:
Sounds like you have this model.
Click to expand...

I concur about that being the model... I don't want to scare the OP, but those are known for having defective capacitors. My parents had the 17" one and it recently died. Buying a reburf early 2009 model was cheaper than replacing the logicboard. So just keep that in mind (it's possible it's been serviced at some point too).

Leopard is a bit nicer but Tiger will be just fine too! Either way.
 
Probably not. The logic board contains most of the components, including graphics chip and processor. It's not like the entire thing is likely to fail, but one part may do so and render the computer extremely unstable – or, yes, unable to boot up. However, if you do indeed have defective capacitors, it may well prevent the computer from booting at all.
 
brale76578 said:
I would really appreciate any help that you could give me. Let me first off say that I am total new to using a iMac, I own 4 pc's and I have been using them since the early 90's. So I am very familiar with a PC and its OS. My girlfriend was giving a iMac to take home from her job because it no longer function. When I boot the computer up all I get is a flashing folder with a question mark and I can hear the Hard Drive making a ticking sound, which leads me to believe it has crashed. I have opened it up and and I am able to gain access to the Hard Drive.
Do you think, if I replace the hard drive (I cant afford 640gb but I was looking at mac sales.com they have a 80gb for 30.00 bucks) will this solve my problem and next question is I was not giving the restore cd if I purchase a iMac OS X cd from ebay (Im a student on a tight budget) will that work? Since it is a G5 computer, do I have to get a G5 restore CD?



The spec's of the iMac
24 inch widescreen
2.66 Intel core 2 Duo
4 GB of 1066mhz ddr3 Sdram
640gb Serial ATA drive
8x superdrive
Nvidia deforce 9400M
Built in ethernet, firewire and airport extreme
Click to expand...


This happens to me 3 times. What I did was toke out my battery, blew into it like a gameboy card, and put it back in. It sounds funny, but it worked. My computer was back to normal and all of my files were there. It wasnt your hardrive that failed, it was your battery. (sorry for late reply ,:/ )
 
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