[MadanKnightRyukendo]

Ok, about a week and a half to two weeks ago, I purchased a 867 Mhz G4 PowerBook DVI from someone on this board. When I got it, I found it had more problems than I had been told about (incredibly weak battery, loose lower case, faulty latch), but it ran fine so I didn't bother to ask the seller for a refund. So today I booted it twice and used it fine in my classes, and everything was where it should've been. But, I just booted it so I could watch a video while waiting for my ride home, and a bunch of stuff had reverted to the original settings out of nowhere. A bunch of my icon changes had stayed, and my music was still in the folder, but my Media folder from my desktop (with several GB of video in it) vanished, all the Widgets I added to OS X 10.4 vanished (along with information from my Stickies in the Dashboard), and iTunes was acting like it was the first time I had ever run it. What is going on here? Should I just ask the seller for a refund?

[JKT]

It sounds like the disk directory is corrupted (which could be a sign of problems with the hard drive). You will probably need Disk Warrior to fix the directory.

[MadanKnightRyukendo]

Is DiskWarrior going to cost me money? Because I already have to buy a wireless card, a new battery, and a new lower case for it, and if I have to buy one more thing, I'm just gonna give up on it.

[ibook_steve]

Yup. Sounds like you got screwed.

Steve

[MadanKnightRyukendo]

Goody.

Time to see what I can salvage for parts, because I can't get the money back now.

So at the moment I'm out $500.

[JKT]

Well, if you don't mind losing any data (or if you already have it backed up), you could just wipe the hard drive and re-install the OS clean. However, if the disk is dying, then it'll probably happen again at some point.

FWIW, you could try running Disk Utility first to see if it can fix it (possibly not - it isn't too good at repairing severe directory damage, but you never know). You'll need to boot off the system install disk to do so.

[chipchen]

If the hard drive is noisy, it may be a failing hard drive.

to be fair... when purchasing a PowerBook Titanium... you know it's at least 3-4 years old... that means the battery will be very weak if not dead, and pretty much all Titaniums have loose bottom cases....

I'm not saying you didn't get screwed... just.. used computers are... used. like buying used cars.

[MadanKnightRyukendo]

Originally Posted by JKT 

Well, if you don't mind losing any data (or if you already have it backed up), you could just wipe the hard drive and re-install the OS clean. However, if the disk is dying, then it'll probably happen again at some point.

FWIW, you could try running Disk Utility first to see if it can fix it (possibly not - it isn't too good at repairing severe directory damage, but you never know). You'll need to boot off the system install disk to do so.

The seller didn't give me the install discs. So pretty much that's a lost cause.

[pra9ab0y]

Download them or buy a cheap set of ebay you can get them for like £6

You own the system so it shouldnt be a problem...

[MadanKnightRyukendo]

Originally Posted by ashleyman 

Download them or buy a cheap set of ebay you can get them for like £6

You own the system so it shouldnt be a problem...

I don't know if I searched for the right thing, but there was nothing on eBay for that cheap.

And it gets worse today. I booted it today just to watch a DVD between classes while I ate my lunch, and now my Music and Pictures were gone. They were definitely there the last time I booted it. Now all that's left is my icons and my programs.

At this point I just want to figure out how bad it really is, because Monday my manager is going to call in a huge favor with a friend and get me a MacBook Pro, and part of the conditions of me getting it is that he gets my PowerBook for his kids to use once I get it straightened out.