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HELP!!! I just had a major crash...

T

trh74

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 1, 2003
20
0
Charlotte NC
I have a PowerMac G4 733 with a 60GB internal HD ,a Lacie 250GB external FW drive(for video editing), over 700MB of RAM, and I'm running the latest version of Panther.

I've recently been having problems with FCP HD freezing up on me and not being able to Force Quit it. The only thing that would work would be restarting. After a while all I would get when I restarted would be a grey screen. Sometimes it would have a flashing question mark, sometimes not.

I replaced the battery and reset the PMU and it ran fine. After about 30 min. It froze up again. I then hit restart and I got the grey screen.

I eventually had to restart from the install disk. When I opened disk utility my hard drive did not show up. All my other drives did.

I've checked everything I know how to check. I know a little about Mac's, but I'm certainly no Whiz. If anyone could help, I would greatly appreciate it.
 
There is 2 things you could do

1- Call apple care, and wait for a day till more experianced fourmers post.
2- Back up your work, like someone said "there are two kinds of computer users, the ones that have lost there information and those who will".
 
Oh ****, sounds exactly like what happened to me 2-3 weeks ago. Ever since the 10.3.5 update, my iMac would totally freeze up when I would launch any kind of memory intensive tasks. The only way to fix it would be to hold down the power button for 5 seconds.

I did that too much, and I eventually got a corrupt file system. :eek: :mad: :mad:

Had to totally reinstall Panther.

I tried TechTool, and DiskWarrior, but to no avail. :(
 
I just got DiskWarrior today and booted the machine from that disk and it doesn't recognize the HD. I don't know if it's totally fried or what.
 
It sounds very much like your internal HD may have died... but on the other hand it could just be a corrupt file system (but would have expected disk warrior to show the volume all the same...). I did have a similar problem a while back with my iMac - but that just turned out to be file system corruption (and I was still able to get into single user mode to fix it). If you've still got AppleCare for it then I'd suggest giving them a call - otherwise if comfortable I'd open the case and check to see if the drive is spinning up when the system powers on - you should be able to hear it easily enough with the case off. If it is then it might be worth checking that the IDE cables are seated correctly - if the machine has been moved recently that could be the problem. (but whatever you do don't tamper with the cables when the power is on! Also take the appropriate ESD protections when doing stuff - either wrist strap or touch the power supply casing when the cord is in and power is off).

However, it does sound a bit terminal to me if DiskWarrior can't see the disk. On the plus side assuming that you've got all the data on the external drive you could always re-install Mac OS X onto the external drive to get you going (can't remember though if 10.3 allow that... - think it does)

Hopefully you'll manage to get the system working again without such drastic action though - someone else may have a better idea...
 
The HD does make some noise at start-up, it's kind of one big click then that's it, and I don't really hear anything after that.

I just opened it up and re-seated all the cables and still nothing. I also ran the hardware test disc and of course it said everything checked out okay (which it isn't). I guess I will just try to install the OS on the external HD and go from there.
 
From the symptoms you describe, your internal hard drive is very likely mechanically toast--it should be making noise once the computer is powered on whether it's visible in software or not, and if it's working at all most disk utilities should at least be able to see it.

Try firing up the System Profiler with it connected, if you can--that'll tell you exactly what the computer thinks is connected to the various busses, and if it doesn't show the drive that means the drive's electronics aren't responding at all--bad sign. Tiny chance it's your power supply or IDE controller (you could test by putting the drive in an external case), but that's highly unlikely in my experience.

One last-ditch thing to try: stick the drive in your refregerator for a while, then try it. Ocasionally, a malfunctioning drive will work if it's very cold, but usually those will start up and then fail after some use, rather than refuse to start at all.

[Edit: I just remembered that, during that period, I believe Apple used a lot of IBM drives, which happened to be the GXP60/75 "Deathstar" series that later became notorious for abrupt and complete failure--had one go myself. Check the brand on the drive, and if it's IBM it's almost guaranteed unrecoverably toast.]
 
Please NOTE:

I had the same exact thing happen to me about 4 months ago.

I sent it to Apple (still under warranty) -- they replaced the hard drive. Got it back and within 3 hours same symptoms.

Sent it back -- they held it for several days and then replaced the logic board and all is fine.

Do not just jump on the hard drive bandwagon....it very could be the logic board.
 
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