Powerbook G4 Crippled - No Target Disk!

[balooeyezz]

Hey folks, was wondering if anyone can help me out -

I have a Powerbook G4 running OS/X 10.4.11 that's never given me any problems. Firefox was acting a little weird, so I restarted. Upon restart, I couldn't get past the grey boot screen with the Apple logo and spinning gear. I booted from the OS/X DVD, and tried running the Disk Utility. It said the volume had an invalid node structure and "The underlying task reported failure on exit." I bought and downloaded Disk Warrior 4 on a friend's MacBook Pro, and tried to connect to the Powerbook via Target Disk Mode. Unfortunately, when I attempt to do this, here's what happens:

1. I start the Powerbook while holding down "T". I then see the bouncing Firewire symbol.

2. Upon attempting to connect the Firewire cord, the Firewire symbol stops moving, and the Powerbook never shows up on the MBP.

3. The Powerbook won't show up in the MBP Disk Utility. It just says "Gathering Disk Information", and never stops. HOWEVER, if I unplug the Firewire cord, THEN Disk Utility finishing "gathering info" and the Powerbook's drive appears in Disk Utility, but I can't do anything with it because it's no longer connect physically. (Same goes for the System Profiler - it just loads and loads without end, until I physically unplug the FW cord, and then the PB shows under Firewire as Target Disk.)

4. I know the Firewire cords I've tried using work (they work with my external DVD burner). And I have no reason to suspect the Firewire port on the PB is bad.

Anyone have any ideas? I have physical copies of Tech Tool Pro and Disk Warrior on the way in the mail, and I'm praying that I'll be able to boot from either and salvage something.

 

[ickystay]

Just throwing this out there...

"2. Upon attempting to connect the Firewire cord, the Firewire symbol stops moving, and the Powerbook never shows up on the MBP."

I've never tried, but I didn't think a computer in TDM was hot switchable. Have you tried turning your bad computer off, connecting the firewire cable to a running mac, then starting the bad comp. with the T key pressed?

That's how I do TDM anyway. Good luck!

 

[balooeyezz]

I've never tried, but I didn't think a computer in TDM was hot switchable. Have you tried turning your bad computer off, connecting the firewire cable to a running mac, then starting the bad comp. with the T key pressed?

Yes. In fact, that's how I tried it the first several times as that's the exact instructions from Apple's website. In each of those cases, with the computers connected before powering up the TDM computer (the Powerbook), the Firewire symbol would move exactly twice, and then freeze. That's when I decided to see if the symbol would keep moving around if the PB was not connected to the MBP - and it did. And it kept moving around until I connected the computers. It's as if as soon as the Powerbook realizes it's connected via firewire, it freezes, regardless of whether it's connected before or after powering up.

 

[pulsewidth947]

3. The Powerbook won't show up in the MBP Disk Utility. It just says "Gathering Disk Information", and never stops. HOWEVER, if I unplug the Firewire cord, THEN Disk Utility finishing "gathering info" and the Powerbook's drive appears in Disk Utility, but I can't do anything with it because it's no longer connect physically. (Same goes for the System Profiler - it just loads and loads without end, until I physically unplug the FW cord, and then the PB shows under Firewire as Target Disk.)

This sounds like something DiskWarrior usually fixes. We had a Firewire drive that wouldn't mount and a colleague was getting ready to throw it away. I ran DiskWarrior on it and it then mounted.

 

[davidjearly]

Yes. In fact, that's how I tried it the first several times as that's the exact instructions from Apple's website. In each of those cases, with the computers connected before powering up the TDM computer (the Powerbook), the Firewire symbol would move exactly twice, and then freeze. That's when I decided to see if the symbol would keep moving around if the PB was not connected to the MBP - and it did. And it kept moving around until I connected the computers. It's as if as soon as the Powerbook realizes it's connected via firewire, it freezes, regardless of whether it's connected before or after powering up.

Yeah, that is how you connect via TDM. The firewire cable has to go in first, before you start up the Mac holding down T.

I can only echo the other posts regarding the problem you are having with the hard drive is likely causing it to stall when connected via TDM. Try using DiskWarrior as suggested. If that doesn't work, the drive might be dead.

David

 

[balooeyezz]

This sounds like something DiskWarrior usually fixes. We had a Firewire drive that wouldn't mount and a colleague was getting ready to throw it away. I ran DiskWarrior on it and it then mounted.

I was hoping to run DW on it via Target Disk Mode after I downloaded the program, but obviously that's not gonna happen. Now awaiting the arrival of the Disk Warrior physical disk in the mail and praying that I'll be able to boot from it and salvage something. Will post what happens after it arrives.

Thanks for the input, everyone.

 

[pulsewidth947]

You don't have to run it as TDM. You can put the disk in and hold c to boot from it. Providing you can, of course. Good luck though!

 

[Consultant]

Sounds like a disk problem. Hope it's not hardware problem. Any unusual or clicking noise from your powerbook?

You should boot up using your system disk and try to Verify / Repair disk.

Disk Warrior can sometimes be a temporary fix, but then you should backup everything, wipe out the disk, and reinstall.