Killed the Hard Disk?

[mikora7]

In another thread, there was a person having a similar kind of problem and they told him/her to put his macbook into something called target mode, link it to another mac and load the operating system in that way. Would that work with my computer?

 

[gr8tfly]

Bit more info pls: Is the Leopard disk you are using the retail, or the iMac's (gray disks)? Thanks.

To answer the other question, it's possible to install the retail version that way (target disk mode).

 

[mikora7]

Bit more info pls: Is the Leopard disk you are using the retail, or the iMac's (gray disks)? Thanks.

To answer the other question, it's possible to install the retail version that way (target disk mode).

The box says 10.5.6 Leopard Retail. My Tiger disks that came with the computer are gray.


If I can find a mac to use what would we need to have and do? Would a mac laptop work or would it need to be a desktop computer?

 

[dmmcintyre3]

f I can find a mac to use what would we need to have and do? Would a mac laptop work or would it need to be a desktop computer?

A Intel Mac laptop would work.

 

[gr8tfly]

The box says 10.5.6 Leopard Retail. My Tiger disks that came with the computer are gray.


If I can find a mac to use what would we need to have and do? Would a mac laptop work or would it need to be a desktop computer?

I don't think it'll matter which machine. There could be still something wrong with how the drive is partitioned - something left over from the aborted Windows install.

I don't know of way to verify the partitioning at a lower level, outside of a command line (Terminal). At least, my mind's blank on the tool...

If you feel comfortable typing a terminal command (you can't really hurt the internal drive much at this point ), we can get some info by using the following command. Terminal can be run from the same menu as Disk Utility, while booted on your Leopard DVD. (you should have your Time Machine drive disconnected at this point):

diskutil list /dev/disk0

This is off one of my bootable external drives (I replaced the actual disk number with "disk0", so it would look more like what you should see.).

You should see something like this:

/dev/disk3
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *698.6 Gi   disk3
   1:                        EFI                         200.0 Mi   disk3s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS HG Wells                698.1 Gi   disk3s2

Maybe that'll give me a clue (or someone else?) as to what's going on with the drive.

 

[mikora7]

Okay, I started Terminal and it says

-bash-3.2#
I typed diskutil list/dev/macintosh hd (I checked in Disk Utility to see what name it was called) and pressed return. This is what is showing now:

Disk Utility Tool
Usage: diskutil list
diskutil list -plist
diskutil list MountPoint|DiskIdentifier|DeviceNode
diskutil listRAID
Display total or limited partition, disk, or RAID information.
Root access is not required.\
-bash-3.2#

 

[mikora7]

I tried it again, this time using disk1 and it shows me:

/dev/disk1
# TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: Apple_partition_scheme *7.6 Gi disk1
1: Apple_partition_map 30.0 Ki disk1s1
2: Apple_Driver_ATAPI 510.8 Mi disk1s2
3: Apple_HFS Mac Os X Install DVD 7.1 Gi disk1s3
-bash-3.2#


In looking at yours vs mine, I notice that mine says Apple_partition_scheme, but I know for a fact that I selected GUID so what's up with that? Can it revert to another format somehow?

 

[gr8tfly]

I tried it again, this time using disk1 and it shows me:

/dev/disk1
# TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: Apple_partition_scheme *7.6 Gi disk1
1: Apple_partition_map 30.0 Ki disk1s1
2: Apple_Driver_ATAPI 510.8 Mi disk1s2
3: Apple_HFS Mac Os X Install DVD 7.1 Gi disk1s3
-bash-3.2#


In looking at yours vs mine, I notice that mine says Apple_partition_scheme, but I know for a fact that I selected GUID so what's up with that? Can it revert to another format somehow?

Looks like that's the Leopard DVD, not your internal hard drive. But, you got the command right. Just use "/dev/disk0" instead of "/dev/disk1".

 

[mikora7]

okay, I'll try it again... brb

 

[mikora7]

It shows:

/dev/disk0
#: Type Name Size Identifier
0: Macintosh HD 232.9 Gi Disk0
-bash-3.2#

 

[gr8tfly]

It shows:

/dev/disk0
#: Type Name Size Identifier
0: Macintosh HD 232.9 Gi Disk0
-bash-3.2#

Looks like something missing there... I'm researching it now and will try and come back soon with something (anyone else feel free to chime in )

 

[mikora7]

Looks like something missing there... I'm researching it now and will try and come back soon with something (anyone else feel free to chime in )

Thanks for working on this ~ we all really appreciate your efforts!!! I'm heading off to bed soon but will check first thing in the morning for replies.

 

[gr8tfly]

Thanks for working on this ~ we all really appreciate your efforts!!! I'm heading off to bed soon but will check first thing in the morning for replies.

I went and reinitialized one of my drives, first to MBR, then back to GPT.

This is what a fresh GUID partitioned drive should look like:

/dev/disk5
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *931.5 Gi   disk5
   1:                        EFI                         200.0 Mi   disk5s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS DV                      931.2 Gi   disk5s2

I know this is beating a dead horse, but you're sure you got to this dialog when partitioning the drive? (see attached) It's just so hard sometimes, doing this with mental imagery . I think the way Boot Camp does the MBR is different (I forget the mod it does at the moment), so having Windows write what it thinks is a normal MBR kills the GPT part of the drive (the short story of what I think happened during the Windows install-gone-bad). That could explain the failure of the GUID initialization.

I'll post back in a bit. I saw one procedure which required a 2nd Mac and 3rd party software (you wouldn't happen to have Disk Warrior?), but I'm confident there's a way to do it the old fashioned way - command(o) line I love a challenge, anyway.

Have a good night!

edit: (attached image removed) What I found is what I suspected - Somewhere during the aborted Windows installation, it killed the EFI partition. I don't know why Disk Utility is unable to restore that when reinitializing the partition as GUID, but it apparently isn't. There's a way to manually recreate the EFI partition, which should either fix the boot problem (since you've already done the restore) or allow it to restore properly. It depends on where the HFS+ partition physically starts (there has to be room for EFI). This all might be giving you "x"s in the eyes

So to start with, I'll need some more info from Terminal.

This is what the GPT itself should look like:

gpt show -l  /dev/disk0
       start        size  index  contents
           0           1         PMBR
           1           1         Pri GPT header
           2          32         Pri GPT table
          34           6         
          40      409600      1  GPT part - "EFI System Partition"
      409640  1952853344      2  GPT part - "Untitled"
  1953262984      262151         
  1953525135          32         Sec GPT table
  1953525167           1         Sec GPT header

So, if you can enter the following command and post back your GPT info, I'll know more what you can try next.

First, (after booting to the Leopard DVD) run Disk Utility, and unmount "Macintosh HD". Now, quit Disk Utility, and open Terminal. Enter the following:

gpt show -l /dev/disk0

That should printout something like my example above. I'm hoping the main partition starts at block 409640 and the area below that is empty. Then, we can create a new EFI part and just boot right up to your good old OS-X. (oops, sorry for the "x"s-in-the-eyes stuff again...)

 

[mikora7]

When I unmounted the harddrive and entered the command, I get this:

gpt: illegal option -- 1
usage: gpt show [-1] device

Could I have unmounted the wrong thing? In the disk utility menu, I chose the drive called Macintosh HD which was the sub listing below the long string of numbers and letters. Was that correct?
Dang! I've been using macs since the mid-80's. Maybe I should have learned more about the codes and commands instead of just loving them and singing their praises, wondering why the whole world didn't see how great they are.

 

[mikora7]

Um, you will let me know when we've reached the point where I should just buy a new harddrive, right? If this one is just not going to cooperate with us, I might have killed it for real...

 

[gr8tfly]

Um, you will let me know when we've reached the point where I should just buy a new harddrive, right? If this one is just not going to cooperate with us, I might have killed it for real...

Hi -
Well, take a deep breath and give that command another try. I just had this nagging feeling (after posting, of course) the "-l" might come across as "-1". It's a lower case "L".

Give it another try, if you're up to it. Replacing the harddrive in an iMac isn't quite as easy as other machines, although, at this point is must seem like it couldn't be worse than the troubleshooting...

 

[gr8tfly]

.......
Dang! I've been using macs since the mid-80's. Maybe I should have learned more about the codes and commands instead of just loving them and singing their praises, wondering why the whole world didn't see how great they are.

I was doing and am still doing both (more singing, than code&command these days) , but, I've been a s/w engineer since the early 80's. When I started doing GUI's, it was, unfortunately, Windows (starting with v2, through Win2k/XP land), and some UNIX GUI's. When OS-X came along, there was joy knowing I could get around in Terminal AND have my Mac at the same time! I've done only very small apps for the Mac - it's on my "someday" list, although the iPhone may draw me in "sooner".

 

[mikora7]

Lower case L... makes a bit of a difference. LOL! This time I got this:

start size index contents
0 488397168


There was nothing under index or contents. Does this help?


By the way, I have done some reading up on installing a new hard drive and it scares the heck out of me thinking that I might screw it up, break my computer, etc. The old macs were so much easier to get apart and install things into! At one point in my life (pre-kids) I was a technology consultant and almost went into training with a friend of my dh's to learn to fix macs and do networking. I wish now that I had pursued that route more but the kids took up so much of my time that we decided not to go that route. Now that guy is gone for a couple months and I don't have immediate access to local help. LOL!
I guess the bottom line is that I'm afraid, but I'm not afraid cuz it can't get much worse than it is right now.

 

[gr8tfly]

Lower case L... makes a bit of a difference. LOL! This time I got this:

start size index contents
0 488397168


There was nothing under index or contents. Does this help?

Well, I think it would be too cumbersome for me to manually create the proper partitions there through the thread. I'd be willing to try, if you are, though. It can be done through the GPT utility. (I thought of trying to do it through an IM with you, but I think this information will, hopefully, be helpful to others, and worth tracking in a thread.)

I did have one more thought, though - repartition the drive using MBR, then return it to GUID (using Disk Utility) and see if there' s anything close to what I had (using the terminal commands). Since there's been repartitioning after your restore from Time Machine, that's lost at this point (you'd have to do another restore), so playing with the partition isn't losing anything.

 

[mikora7]

Well, I think it would be too cumbersome for me to manually create the proper partitions there through the thread. I'd be willing to try, if you are, though. It can be done through the GPT utility. (I thought of trying to do it through an IM with you, but I think this information will, hopefully, be helpful to others, and worth tracking in a thread.)

I did have one more thought, though - repartition the drive using MBR, then return it to GUID (using Disk Utility) and see if there' s anything close to what I had (using the terminal commands). Since there's been repartitioning after your restore from Time Machine, that's lost at this point (you'd have to do another restore), so playing with the partition isn't losing anything.

Um, what is MBR? How do I do that? I can do whatever but if you wish to start a new thread to reflect what needs to be done and post instructions there or if there is software out there to do this, then perhaps we should pursue that route.
So first things first. I mount the drive and then re-partition it? Or do I leave it unmounted and go to partition of the master drive like I did first and then unmount it, run the terminal command and post the results here?
If you can walk me through, I can do it.

 

[gr8tfly]

Um, what is MBR? How do I do that? I can do whatever but if you wish to start a new thread to reflect what needs to be done and post instructions there or if there is software out there to do this, then perhaps we should pursue that route.
So first things first. I mount the drive and then re-partition it? Or do I leave it unmounted and go to partition of the master drive like I did first and then unmount it, run the terminal command and post the results here?
If you can walk me through, I can do it.

Sure -

• reboot to the Leopard DVD
• run Disk Utility
• Find the "232.9 GB ST3250824AS Q Media" device in the list on the left and select it.
• Select the "Partition" tab.
• Select "1 Partition", under the Volume Scheme:
• Click Options... button
• Select "Master Boot Record", then click OK.
• Click "Apply".
  
• Now repeat the above, but substitute "GUID Partition Table" for "Master Boot Record", and click "Apply".
  
• Now, select the "Untitled 1" drive (assuming the default volume name) and click the "unmount" button.
  
• Quit Disk Utility and start Terminal
  
• enter:

• gpt show -l /dev/disk0
  [/LIST]

  
  And lemme know what you get.

 

[mikora7]

Apparently we've got another problem... I went to terminal and the cursur is running away from me as if a spacebar were being pressed constantly. We do have wireless keyboards but I assumed none of them would work since there weren't any drivers installed for them. My littlest one spilled koolaid on the keyboard this morning but it is dry now and it was doing this without the keyboard plugged in. Grrr! Is there a stop cursor command??

 

[gr8tfly]

Apparently we've got another problem... I went to terminal and the cursur is running away from me as if a spacebar were being pressed constantly. We do have wireless keyboards but I assumed none of them would work since there weren't any drivers installed for them. My littlest one spilled koolaid on the keyboard this morning but it is dry now and it was doing this without the keyboard plugged in. Grrr! Is there a stop cursor command??

Try "control-c", or "cmd-Q" to quit Terminal.

Not the day to play the lottery, is it?

 

[mikora7]

I think it's the whole week....

So, apparently it's an endless loop somehow since it's doing it again as soon as I go back into terminal. I should have known something went haywire when I tried to select disk utility and it wouldn't stay on the screen unless I held the mouse button down.
What do I do now? It just seems to go from bad to worse...



Oh! It just stopped moving! Hurray!
I'll reboot and try everything again and post the results.

 

[gr8tfly]

I think it's the whole week....

So, apparently it's an endless loop somehow since it's doing it again as soon as I go back into terminal. I should have known something went haywire when I tried to select disk utility and it wouldn't stay on the screen unless I held the mouse button down.
What do I do now? It just seems to go from bad to worse...

Are both keyboards disconnected and/or powered down?

PM me - I'm trying to setup a special AIM account (iChat) for this stuff (if you have AIM/iChat on the machine you're on now)