iMac G5 iSight - boot problems - disk utility does not see HD

[swimbikerun]

Hi,

I am new to the forums, and I tried to search for a thread that addressed this exact issue, but I was unable to find quite what I was looking for. I apologize if I am posting a question that has already been answered.

I have an iMac G5 iSight, and when I power up, the tone comes on, and the screen lights up. An Apple logo does show, and the gear starts spinning. After about a minute, the fans kick on.

I managed to boot from the repair disk that was shipped with the computer. I am able to (i) enter the disk utility and/or (ii) install OS X. However, upon launching disk utility, disk utility is unable to find any disks whatsoever, even after scanning for about 15 minutes. Similarly, I can choose to install OS X, but it only gives me the option of installing to a network drive. [I have a ReadyNAS that I would be happy to use as the boot disk for the iMac, but from what I have read on this forum, it seems that this is not possible and/or feasible.]

Obviously, this computer is out of warranty. I would be happy to follow the instructions about replacing a hard drive if that may be the problem, but I'd like to have some encouragement that the hard drive is indeed the problem.

If it is the hard drive, is there a list of compatible replacement hard drives?

Happy Holidays, and thank you for taking the time to read and reply to my post.

 

[Hrududu]

Hard drive is toast. This is something I saw a lot when servicing G5 and early Intel iMacs. Replacing the drive in there is quite doable, but does take much more effort than the earlier models. All you need is a standard 3.5 SATA HDD which is cheap. First you have to trip to small levers inside the air vents along the top of the machine. Bend an old credit card at about a 30* angle half way up as the tool to do this. Once those are released, then you need to remove the screws along the bottom of the computer to take off the white bezel. Once that is removed, you'll have to peel back the metallic EFI shielding to disconnect the VGA connector and to get to the screws holding in the LCD panel. Take out the LCD panel and you'll be able to get the HDD out.

 

[swimbikerun]

Hrududu,
Thanks so much for your reply. I've been inside the iMac once before, and I was astonished at what a pain it was to get inside. I saw some other posts reference useful tips at ifixit, so I will head over there before delving into the HD replacement process.
Thanks again!

 

[swimbikerun]

Hard drive is toast. This is something I saw a lot when servicing G5 and early Intel iMacs. Replacing the drive in there is quite doable, but does take much more effort than the earlier models. All you need is a standard 3.5 SATA HDD which is cheap.

What about replacing it with a 3.5 SATA SSD instead of a HDD? Sure, it would be much smaller than a similarly priced HD, but HD prices have increased a bit recently. I don't plan to keep much on this iMac and mainly want to use it do access the internet and a network-attached storage device. How much longer do you think I can get out of this computer before something else fails? I know that's a very very broad and general question, but some sense of if it's even worth it to put in a new HD/SSD would be helpful. The screen is still great, and I'd like to be able to use it for light lifting when I'm running data codes on my other computers.

Thanks!

 

[Hrududu]

What about replacing it with a 3.5 SATA SSD instead of a HDD? Sure, it would be much smaller than a similarly priced HD, but HD prices have increased a bit recently. I don't plan to keep much on this iMac and mainly want to use it do access the internet and a network-attached storage device. How much longer do you think I can get out of this computer before something else fails? I know that's a very very broad and general question, but some sense of if it's even worth it to put in a new HD/SSD would be helpful. The screen is still great, and I'd like to be able to use it for light lifting when I'm running data codes on my other computers.

Thanks!

Its really up to you. I haven't really gotten into SSD's yet just because of price and my lack of Macs that I feel would really benefit. Personally, I would just get a Western Digital black drive and go with that.