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PowerBook G4 Hard Drive

Altemose

Altemose

macrumors G3
Original poster
Mar 26, 2013
9,189
490
Elkton, Maryland
Earlier today I was using my PowerBook G4 1.5 GHz just fine. Shut it down and brought it with me to a meeting. Got there and it would not start up. Here I think great "the hard drive is toast". I brought it home and the symptoms continue.

I tried doing a PMU and PRAM reset just for good measure. It does not let me start in Safe Mode at all. I can boot via Verbose Mode but it hangs at:

Code: 
BSD root: disk0s3, major 14, minor 2

[HCIController][configurePM] power parent ready after 1 tries

On a hunch I boot from my Leopard USB and it tells me all is well and repairing the disk and permissions comes back with flying colors. Here is the curve ball, I am able to put the PowerBook into Target Disk Mode and start without issues on my PowerMac G5. I even transplanted the hard drive into my other PowerBook and it works fine. Using a different hard drive in this PowerBook works fine too.

Do you guys think that the drive is on its death Mac and is going to the iCloud? Of course this has to happen right after I give away my last hard drive in an iBook G3 :( What are the best options for replacement then? I cannot afford a new hard drive for this thing so I am hoping that this is just a software issue.
 
The BSD root line is completely normal for all of Apple's BSD based operating systems, even iOS does it. I believe the power parent line is also normal for starting Mac OS X.
 
What other lines does it show before that? Have you tried using OpenFirmware's boot menu to select that drive?
 
Intell said:
What other lines does it show before that? Have you tried using OpenFirmware's boot menu to select that drive?
Click to expand...

Code: 
4.170.25.8.2Got boot device = IOService:/MacRISC2PE/pci@f4000000/AppleMacRiscPCI/ata-6@D/AppleJauaiATA/ATADeviceNum@0/AppleATADiskDriver/IOATABlockStorageDevice/IOBlockStorageDriver/WDC WD800VE-00HDT0/IOApplePartitionScheme/Untitled03
 
Still normal and not enough to diagnose the problem. Have you tried wiping the drive and reinstalling from new?
 
Intell said:
Still normal and not enough to diagnose the problem. Have you tried wiping the drive and reinstalling from new?
Click to expand...

Not yet. I am just a little shocked that it works fine in the other PowerBook and the other's hard drive works in this. Plus it starts my G5 just fine! Right before I left for the meeting I copied Office 2004 to the hard drive. That is the last thing to be done but that shouldn't cause an issue.
 
Intell said:
I see no link for it, but it does make a fine scapegoat.
Click to expand...

I may try rerunning the combo update for Leopard via TDM from the G5 if this fails. I just swapped the drives back and booted my 1.67 off the 1.5 which doesn't boot without issue. I am deleting Office pending further notice and repairing the drive again.
 
That doesn't match up with how other drives work fine in that Powerbook. Are you trying the same model hard drive as the not working one?
 
Intell said:
That doesn't match up with how other drives work fine in that Powerbook. Are you trying the same model hard drive as the not working one?
Click to expand...

I put in an old iBook G3 hard drive in. It is just 20.00 GB and only runs at 4200 RPM but the machine starts. I now need to find a new hard drive for the PowerBook. The thing that puzzles me is that the hard drive worked fine in my other PowerBook though.
 
Altemose said:
I put in an old iBook G3 hard drive in. It is just 20.00 GB and only runs at 4200 RPM but the machine starts. I now need to find a new hard drive for the PowerBook. The thing that puzzles me is that the hard drive worked fine in my other PowerBook though.
Click to expand...
PM me! :)
 
With a big thanks to eyoungren, my PowerBook is back in commission! Turns out that there was a deep scratch on the platter at the edge of it. I guess that is why it had troubles starting up...
 
Altemose said:
With a big thanks to eyoungren, my PowerBook is back in commission! Turns out that there was a deep scratch on the platter at the edge of it. I guess that is why it had troubles starting up...
Click to expand...
You're welcome and glad to hear it's back up!
 
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