Okay,

This is for all you guru's out there:

I just bought a toshiba 2.5" 9.5mm 12.1GB Hard Drive. Brand new.

Since no one in the area will install it into my iBook, I mustured up the courage to do it myself.

I disassembled the computer, replaced the drive, reassembled the computer. Powered on. I got a blank screen (no disk or folder with question mark, justa blank screen).

Not too bad, right. So I grab my install disk, figuring I need to format the drive, install the mac OS and run.

BUT when I reboot with the OS CD (holding down C at startup, nothing happens...I still have a blank screen (I could hear the CD spinning).

In my frustration, I decided to reinstall the old HD. I turn on the computer, and get a folder with a blinking question mark. I then insert my install CD, reboot holding down C, the ibook boots from the cd.

I reinstall the new 12.1 GB hard drive. same problem occurs...I can't boot from CD.

I then decide to try booting with no HD installed. I hold down C at startup and things work as expected.

So basicly, I am unable to get my system to boot when I have the new toshiba drive installed (the drive fits, is installed correctly etc). Before concluding something is wrong with the new drive, is there anything else I can try? I'd hate to have to send back the drive only to find out that the drive works and I am some sort of moron.

If anyone out there has done this replacement, can you tell me what I may be doing wrong?

Oh, one thing to note...my drive did not come with a ribbon cable to connect it to the motherboard, so I used the cable from the 3.2 GB drive. As I said, the 3.2 GB drive still works fine, it's just 12GB drive that won't allow the system to boot.

any help would be greatly appreciated!

It sounds like the new hard drive is either set the same way as the CD drive (both Master, or both Slave), or more likely that the new HD is set to Single.

Check the 12GB HD documentation, or hit the Toshiba web site to get the info on how to configure the drive. Make sure the new HD is set differently from the CD, and must not be set to Single.

My guess is that the CD is set as Slave and the new HD is set to Single. If this were the case, you would want to reset the new drive as Master.

Reader50's probably hit the nail on the head there (my 12gig Toshiba worked first time), but also do a PRAM reset as some drive info is stored in the PRAM.

BTW. How long did it take you ? I was just closing up at the end of 1 hour when I noticed the case wasn't fixed properly at the back (the prongs for the lid weren't seated properly) and I had to unbolt it almost right down to the HD again. Total time 2 hours.

In my luck the problem may be worse than I thought. I thought I could boot from teh original 3.2GB drive, but I can't. WhenI try to do this, I geta system folder with a ? When I insert an install CD, I can boot but cannot see the 3.2GB HD.

Then, when I use the new 12GB drive, I can't even boot from CD.

I'm very worried b/c I can't seem to boot from the 3.2GB drive anymore. However I am a little comforted by the fact that without a drive or with the 3.2GB drive I can boot from CD.

Also, how do I reset PRAM (is it command-option-P ? I can't remember off hand)

How do I ensure that my CD player is set to slave? Or do I want it to be master and the HD slave?

Finally, I assume that the correct procedure once the drive is in place is to boot with my OS9 CD, initialize the drive and install the software. I this correct?

I still don't know how to reset the PRAM (I can't use mac help as I cannot boot my machine properly). Could someone please tell me how to do this?

Also, I checked the drive, there are no jumpers on it, thus it should be setto master.

I don't know what my CD Rom drive is set to or how to change that.

Finally, I assume nothing is severely broken...the computer obviously recognizes a difference between the two hard drives because it will allow me to boot with one and not the other...

Since I cannot use my 3.2GB drive I am beginning to wonder whether the computer recognizes it at all or just assumes there is no HD present.

When I boot from CD (with either no HD attached or with the 3.2GB HD attached) I cannot see any HD's in the Drive Setup

With the new 12GB HD installed I cannot even boot from CD.

Anyone familiar with swapping Hard Drives in the iBook please offer me help. I am desparate. I can't use my machine at all without a Hard Drive...and I can't get either hard drive to work! Plus someone threw away my rollerblades yesterday, so I am not having a good day!

For those who have done this installation - Did you just pop the drive in, boot with OS9 and run drive setup?

And does anyone have any idea why my 3.2GB drive won't run any more. I would guess maybe a bad cable or something, except the computer seems to notice a difference between the 3.2 and 12GB hard drives.

When you start up, hold down option, the command key (open apple) the p key and the r key. That should do it.

Cheers!
Chris

Don't worry about what the CD is set to. If setting the Toshiba HD to Master does not do it, set the Toshiba to Slave and try again.

When I added my new faster HD (to a G4, not an iBook), I set the new one to Slave. Later, I switched them, but saw no speed difference. It does not matter from a boot perspective wheather your HD is set as Master or Slave, your Mac should boot from it anyway. The HD just needs to be set differently from the CD.

What Toshiba model did you buy? If you can't find the config info, post the model number here and I will try to find the instructions.

I tried zapping the pram, that didn't work.

I don't have any jumpers for the drive, so I cannot set it to slave.

I am still having the exact same problem. I can only boot from CD with no HD or with the 3.2GB HD installed. The 12GB drive won't allow me to boot from CD

I tried resetting the firmware. This didn't do anything either.

I'm really confused as to why it won't boot from the 3.2GB HD (it did before I disassembled the machine) but will boot from CD. Nothing LOOKS broken, and all the pins are connected and whatnot. Furthermore I am convinced that whatever the problem is, I don't think that the computer is totally screwed up. I say this because A) it is possible to boot it from CD and B) it seemes to notice a difference between the 12GB and 3.2GB drive (in terms of whether or not it will allow me to boot). So therefore I can conclude that the plug where I am plugging in the HD seems to function, and the machine seems to function. It just doesn't seem to see any HD when booted from CD (and running disk tools). Nor does it seem capable of booting from a HD.

Anyone else with any clues?

Quote: "I don't have any jumpers for the drive, so I cannot set it to slave."

I am not clear on this... Do you mean you could not find a place on the drive with pins for setting jumpers onto?

Or did you mean you have no jumper blocks, so you could not set the drive. If so, Radio Shack sells a 10-pack of jumper blocks for US$1.29 ... catalog #276-1512.

I meant that I don't have any jumpers.

I don't know that setting the drive to slave would do anything though. The 3.2GB drive wasn't set to slave and it worked just fine before I tore open the machine.

I may be ready to give up on this venture and try to find someone who knows what they are doing to try to fix it...I'm thinking I'll probably have to shell out some $$ to one of those places in MacWorld.

I honestly don't know what is going on, but I don't have much more time/patience to deal with my mistake. However, please send any other suggestions that you may have.

Twice in the lifetime of my iBook the dreaded Flashing system folder icon has come up for no apparent reason.

Both times, by booting from CD and running Disk First Aid I was able to regain booting of my hard drive.

You haven't mentioned trying this. Also, have your tried a clean system install on the 3.2GB ?

this might be edifying: http://forums.macnn.com/cgi-bin/Foru...ML/000379.html

not sure why the post just before this one mentions the flasher, but the above post is in regard to just that, the flashing question mark

The best idea I have left would be to plug both drives into a PowerMac and take a look at them. This would also be a good time to transfer data across.

We seem to be having a nearly identical problem with an iMac over in this Mac Mod thread.

If anyone else has ideas, please post. I am just about stumped.

This may be slightly off-topic, but I had almost the same problem you are explaining with my Performa 6400. I bought a 20GB Quantum drive and assumed that it would be an easy switch with the stock 2.4GB. However, when I installed the new drive and booted, all that was displayed was a blank grey screen. No blinking question-mark, sad mac or anything else. With the new drive installed, I could not boot from an OS 9 CD either. Luckily, when i reinstalled my old HD, it worked properly (This is the only difference between your situation and mine.) I had no luck booting from external HDs either, so I ended up borrowing a friend's G4. I plugged both HDs in, formatted the new drive, and copied all of my files to the new drive. I then installed it into the 6400 and everything worked as it should. I think some Macs must have a problem booting when an unformatted HD is installed (possibly someting to do with open firmware?)

The only thing that doesn't make sense is why the old HD would not work with the system when re-installed. My only theory might be that some Open Firmware settings are changed automatically when the new HD is installed, preventing the use of the old one. However, i'm nowhere close to being an expert on new macs, so maybe someone more experienced with OF macs could reply to this post.

Anyways, I hope this will help you out.

Good luck,
infiniti

[This message has been edited by infiniti (edited 08-05-2000).]

Is it possible that you need a third party softeware like FWB to format that specific non Apple drive?

Thank you all for the suggestions.

Unfortunately I don not have a power mac (nor easy access to one) to test the drives. I am in the process of moving as well, so I decided to just ship the darn thing to MCE-Powerbook 1 (I talked to someone on the tech team there who said they could probably do the install). I do intend on talking to the tech person who does the install to figure out exactly what happened. If I would have had some time to find someone with a G3 or G4 before I moved I would have done this, but moving alone is hectic enough not to mention trying to figure out what I screwed up on my iBook.

I do thank you all for your help though, especially reader50 who's been sticking in there with me! Perhaps if I had a g4 life would be a bit easier (maybe an arguement to buy a cube, huh )

Hey, I hate to burst your bubble, but you guys should know that the case of the disappearing drive, question marks, etc., can be traced back to simply not pushing the reset button on the motherboard after installation and before rebooting. Starting over by putting the drive in, pushing this all-important button, and powering up should solve all of the problems you have been describing.

Howard! Where were you when I needed you???

Anyway thank's for the tip...I will now know for the future what happened. I guess this was an $80 lesson in patience for me.

But just for future reference, is this the same button that you need the paperclip to press or is there a different reset button that I needed to hit?

Thank you

The button in question is the famous CUDA button. It provides a master reset, including zapping pram. I don't know where this button is on an iBook.

The CUDA button got prominent coverage in that other thread I provided a link to. In that case, it did not solve the problem. Sorry about not mentioning it, I assumed you had read the linked thread. Hope you have better luck.

BTW: The other thread includes a greatly magnified picture of the CUDA switch.

Having had an iBook all the way down to the bones, I certainly did not see a CUDA button (and I know what one looks like). I suppose the reset button just north of the regular power button could suffice though.

drewman

Same here, when I stripped my iBook down to put a 12gig in, there was only the normal reset button. Drive worked fine.

Check out this link for the reset button.
http://til.info.apple.com/techinfo.nsf/artnum/n58416

Another idea....

I recently installed a 18GB 9mm IBM drive in an iBook for a friend. I hit the same as you - wouldn't boot from cd. The reset button cleared that, but I still couldn't see the hard drive (Profiler showed it as there but Drive Setup said it couldn't be initialized). So, rather than the restore cd, I booted off an OS 9.0 cd - and it could initialize the drive. I then restarted from the restore cd, and now it says it can initialize the drive (and does, and restores). Truly odd, but a simple workaround.

Oh, the IBM drive - 18GB at 9mm - isn't scheduled to go public availability until 4th quarter - but as he reps AS/400's, he got one a little early.

Not sure if this helps, but here is a link to Tech Manuals for all Apple Products.

S

oops! Here it is: http://www.accesscom.com/~gamba/manuals.html