iMac 2.1ghz G5 problem

[harveypooka]

Hello,
I bought a LaCie 250GB drive a few months ago and it worked fine on my iMac 800. It works fine on my iBook too. It will not work on my new iMac 2.1ghz machine. I've tried two different cables and all ports but the drive simply will NOT show up. Sometimes if I just switch off the drive MacOSX comes up with the "Device removal" error but even that's stopped now. Switching the cable over to the iBook and the drive appears immediatley...weird? What gives?
Cheers!

 

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

Have you tried some of the usual mumbo jumbo™:
- Restarting?
- Repairing permissions?
- Logging into another (admin) account on your iMac (make one if you have to), and then connecting the HD?

If none of this helps at least we know where not to look...

 

[harveypooka]

Restarting yes, permissions and disk verified yes and I even created a test account...still no joy. It did work when I first got the iMac but has never since. I was some problems with my machine crashing on shutdown but that's been resolved, the only glitch is that the trash dialog sometimes doesn't disappear which usually requires a hard reset as the Finder crashes when I try and relaunch. I'd just reinstall the OS, but I have to back everything up on the LaCie first! Haha, the irony...arg.

 

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

Does the Firewire/USB ports on the iMac work (flawlessly) with any other devices...?

 

[harveypooka]

I have no other FireWire devices...my iPod has just died recently!

 

[mad jew]

Have you tried resetting your PRAM? This could help if it's an issue with your Mac's Firewire port.

 

[harveypooka]

Yup, PRAM, VRAM and something else was reset when I called Apple support for the shutdown crashing problems...

 

[mad jew]

And it didn't work? What else have you done? It might help us diagnose your problem.

 

[harveypooka]

That's it. I have used two cables, three computers and all the variety of port options - two on the lacie, two on the new iMac, two on the old iMac and one on the iBook. I've tried a test account, zapped everything Apple told me to (holding a key combo and typing something-reset at a command line) which included PRAM. I've deleted the prefs file too and still no joy. Are you thinking this could be hardware related? I did reinstall the computer a few months ago (format and reinstall) and the drive didnt work before or after...it's not like after this reinstall things went wrong...

 

[mad jew]

In your bevy of resets, did you come across this? I'm grasping at straws here but it may help. The SMU isn't affected by format and installs which is what makes me think it's worth a try. Failing that, I think you should probably take it in to Apple.

 

[harveypooka]

Right, reset the SMU...what a weird way to reset something! No joy. I'll call Apple tomorrow. My last two purchases from Apple have been a bit shaky: iBook logic failure and now this! Hopefully it's something obscure that can be fixed over the phone...however, I may be able to wangle a replacement machine....an Intel one! I very much doubt it! Thanks for all your help guys!