melted hard-drive on a titanium g4 laptop?

[les frissons]

at start-up/disk first aid, i had some non-reparable problems in my machine.

as i was trying to figure out what was going on, i felt the machine getting hotter and hotter. (i now believe the fan is broken.) so as my powerbook is cooking, (and i am freaking out and backing up my whole hard-drive) i notice that my preferences files are not accessible. i can't back them up, and the machine can't find them (for example, when i am sending an e-mail from eudora, the machine can't access my preference to "send e-mail in the background" so it sent the messages after i quit.).

the mac repair place in my town (montreal, quebec) charges $$$ for an estimate, and i am but a college student and every dollar counts.

so i need to know if the powerbook is totally useless now (read: "totaled") & i shouldn't bother with an estimate just to find out that i need to buy a new machine.

any ideas? questions to help clarify the situation? (thanks! i am new to this!)

 

[cb911]

if the fan is gone that could be the source of your problems... but it should just either run in low-power mode or shutdown, but i'm not sure about how the older PB's handle this.

have you tried to access those files since? is it still the same? if you're got everything backed up you could try a re-install of your OS, or even create a new user and try using that account?

 

[AppleMatt]

Or stick the drive in a cheap external enclosure and salvage the files using another machine/disk utilities.

AppleMatt

 

[les frissons]

Or stick the drive in a cheap external enclosure and salvage the files using another machine/disk utilities.

AppleMatt

i saved my important files using my desktop powermac; it seems like the only useful thing that i've lost is the preferences.

should i go ahead and get the estimate and replace the fan and hard-drive, or do you think i should try re-installing the OS?

 

[les frissons]

or even create a new user and try using that account?

how would this help?

 

[michaelrjohnson]

i saved my important files using my desktop powermac; it seems like the only useful thing that i've lost is the preferences.

should i go ahead and get the estimate and replace the fan and hard-drive, or do you think i should try re-installing the OS?

You could try reinstalling, but if the fan and HD are the problems, you could be doing more harm than good. Try booting off another disc, or drive and see if the computer functions normally (i.e. heat at minimum, and fan working). If it does, then it's not hardware, if it doesn't, than it's something inside, and you should get an estimate (or try and do it yourself: be careful).

 

[Mord]

i have heard horror storys of toshiba hard drives overheating and causeing problems i would just replace the HD it's no hard task and was considered a consumer installable part by apple so there is a guide on the apple support site.

but first check what HD you have in go to system profiler and check i'd be willing to bet that it's a toshiba HD and it's that that is causeing the problems as for the fan you can look up the part manufacturer and buy a new one which would only cost about $10.

i can give you a service manual if you like and awnser any questions you may have

hectoruk@mac.com

 

[cb911]

how would this help?

well if it's a problem with your premissions or something not allowing you to access those files, a new user would most likely fix that. i dont' konw really, i wrote that late at night, i was just saying everyhting that i thought of.

oh, if the drive is visibly 'melted' could we have some pictures?