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Tyler M · Dec 16, 2006, 08:56 PM

Ok, so i'm doing some work in after effect and all of the sudden i get this error message stating something along the lines of "hard drive not recognized".. this is from itunes.

then, as my project in ae is rendering i get a similar response.

i then have to force quit itunes, final cut and after efects because they're not responding.

i then try and put something from the desktop into the trash and i get this ticking noise coming from my hard drive and the circle of **** comes up and the whole computer isn't responding.. that stops and i go to restart.. the same tick re-occurs and im forced to hold down the power button to shut it down.

i then boot the system back up and it comes to the grey apple screen and just sits there with the apple logo and the little spin thing underneath.

IS this a bad hard drive?

nothing like this has ever happened.

PLEASE HELP!!

Also, i've tried reseting the vram and pram and taking out and re-installing the hard drive.. nothing has worked.

Big Mac · Dec 16, 2006, 09:38 PM

Yeah, it certainly sounds like the drive.

Tyler M · Dec 16, 2006, 09:39 PM

GREAT!

well, at least its nothing worse, hopefully...

i was looking at the raptor hard drives before.. anyone have the link to the site?

Big Mac · Dec 16, 2006, 09:45 PM

Western Digital Hard Drives

chris v · Dec 16, 2006, 11:04 PM

Could just be file or directory corruption. Try running Disk Utility off your install disk, or DiskWarrior, if you can get ahold of a copy.

Although the ticking noise isn't a good sign, it could have just been continuously searching for something it couldn't find. If the drive had gone totally south, you would have gotten just the question mark on start-up, and not gotten as far as the Apple & spinny-dealy. I think it's worth checking at least before you trash the drive.

Tyler M · Dec 17, 2006, 01:22 AM

ok, yea.. i was thinking the same thing aswell chris..

but how do i boot from cd?!?

chris v · Dec 17, 2006, 05:19 AM

Originally Posted by Tyler M

ok, yea.. i was thinking the same thing aswell chris..

but how do i boot from cd?!?

Put the CD in the drive, Hold down the 'c' key while rebooting. When you get to the installer interface, Disk Utility is under one of the menus.

Tyler M · Dec 17, 2006, 10:57 PM

ok.. held down c and even tried the other option (command option shift delete)
and nothing pops up.

i tried both the powermac g5 10.3.4 install discs and burnt copies i have..

neither worked..

what could this be?

reader50 · Dec 17, 2006, 11:08 PM

Insert the CD into the drive. Then try holding down the Option key during bootup. You should get a list of drives to choose from. Including the boot CD.

Tyler M · Dec 18, 2006, 01:49 AM

ok, i'll give that a try and let you guys know.

thanks for all the help thus far.

ZakAdelman · 05:14 PM

For reference, I have a Powermac G5quad with 1gig ram.

This is word for word what I am dealing with right now. I keep getting the kernel panic screen when I try and load off CD (Disk Warrior and Mac OS X Install Disk 1) I hold down C and either 1. get the kernel panic or 2. get to where the apple with the wheel stop >> start >> fans running full tilt. I get the same by using the option key method. I have pretty much given up, I think I am going to CircutCity 45min away to have it looked at.

Now sometimes OS X will start up but most of the time I either freeze on the apple w/ wheel -or- on the screen with the status bar, it gets to just a sliver and then freezes up. In both cases the fans wind up at full speed as if it turned the safety's off. Not sure why but after leaving the mac unplugged today for about 9 hours it started up. I tried to restart to run disk warrior and now it won't restart, load DW or install disk.

If I get an answer from CircutCity I will post results here for everyone's benefit.

reader50 · Dec 24, 2006, 12:23 AM

To determine if the HD is the problem, disconnect the HD and then try to boot from the CD. If you boot up fine, then a faulty HD is hanging the boot sequence.

It that turned out to be the case, you'd need an external case to put the HD into, so you could plug it in for possible recovery/repair after the system is booted up.

ZakAdelman · 06:06 PM

Ok no luck with the HD failing it seems to be working fine. But a few things I thought to mention...

What does it mean if the Red(checkstop)LED comes on and stays on? Telling me to contact apple in the manual is not helpful. It turns on while I hold down the power button and turn off like it should but turns back on and stays that way the whole time it tries to boot.

And the other thing that happened the night it would not start I was running 2 computers, a PC and a Mac, the PC is failing badly so I figured the rubber burning smell was the PC taking another turn for the worse. If it was the Mac and it was the PSU that was melting a capacitor
could this cause the problems I have or would safety's not let it turn on at all?

I try booting to the CD with the HD unplugged so I can do a hardware check but it won't boot all the way up.

I boot into single user mode and run fsck -fy to check the disk and it runs completely fine no crashing or stalling out and the disk checks as "appears to be OK."

Not sure if any of this helps at all but the crash is past that point somewhere. I just don't know enough to know where in the boot up it is failing.

I also try and start in save mode gear spins, fans speed up and then i just get a black screen. Eventually all the fans run full speed, then nothing.

I got the CD to start the hardware test and it gets 10sec into the test and hangs (on logic board) omg I hope it is not the logic board.