[Koralatov]

So... I installed a 40GB hard-disk in my G3, and everything went well. I installed OSX with no problems, and it ran fine. Now, the damn thing won't boot. Booting from the Tiger install CD goes fine, then I run disk utility. After attempting a format/erase on the drive, I get the message:

Disc erase failed

Disc erase failed with error:

Input/output error

Before I got this error, I was running Monolingual, which had hung my system. I couldn't force-quit, so I turned the iMac off. When I restarted, I got a pale grey screen, and a Finder icon. So, I started up from the Tiger disc and got the above.

Anyone have any ideas what's happened? I have the horrible feeling that the HD has died--it wasn't new, but it otherwise seemed fine. Either that, or the three spare screws I was left with after reassembling actually did something important...

Edit: I'm not sure if it's important, but the new hard-disk was a Western Digital Cavalier WD400BB 7,200 RPM.

[P]

Sounds like it's either broken or a cable has come loose. That's not too uncommon with the banded IDE cable, which can come off on the side if the HD moves in the cage.

Not sure which screw was missing, but the screws to fastened after putting the HD in are in the HD cage, in the emissions screen (the metal netting) and in the casing (one under the VGA door).

[Koralatov]

Originally Posted by P 

Sounds like it's either broken or a cable has come loose. That's not too uncommon with the banded IDE cable, which can come off on the side if the HD moves in the cage.

Not sure which screw was missing, but the screws to fastened after putting the HD in are in the HD cage, in the emissions screen (the metal netting) and in the casing (one under the VGA door).

P: thanks for the help. It turns out I hadn't pushed the cable in enough, and it had fallen out. Your advice is much appreciated. I looked into the screws problem, and I'm now down to only two spare screws. I'm not sure where they're meant to go, but everything appears to be working okay as is. Thanks again.

[frdmfghtr]

If the cables are all tight, then I'd say it's a failed drive--especially if the drive was a used drive before installing in the G3. That model # sounds like the drive I just put into an indigo iMac G3, and the drive is about 3-4 years old.

[Koralatov]

Originally Posted by frdmfghtr 

If the cables are all tight, then I'd say it's a failed drive--especially if the drive was a used drive before installing in the G3. That model # sounds like the drive I just put into an indigo iMac G3, and the drive is about 3-4 years old.

frdmfghtr, thanks for the response. It turns out the problem lay in me not pushing the cable in properly. As a result, it came part-way out and that was why the iMac apparently died. I've opened it up again, and made sure the cable is properly inserted, and all is well again.

The drive is about three and a bit years old by my reckoning; it came from a PC my mum bought through some incentive scheme at the school she teaches at as part of a "Get Computer Literate" campaign. She barely used the thing, and then it was given to my little brother a few months back, and he pulled out the hard-disk and installed a bigger one; he uses it as for watching DivX videos on mainly, so needs the space. Once I'd parted with a tenner, he parted with the drive. To cut a long story short, yes it's old, but it's not really been heavily used. Another plus point is that another hard-disk has been freed of Windows and now knows the love of OSX!