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Pismo500 · Oct 30, 2004, 01:45 AM

I got a 40Gb (IBM) to upgrade my Pismo that was originally came in a G4 Powerbook that was erased and zeroed out with no OS. When I have the hard drive installed, it does not give me the flashing "?" telling me it cannot find a system folder and freezes when I try to boot from an OS CD (9.1 in this "test" case). I also tested it with the Fujitsu 18GB that I upgraded my WallStreet with and got the same results. My original WallStreet 2Gb gave (no longer have) me the flashing "?". But when I remove the 18 & 40Gb hard drives and reinstall everything, it does what it is supposed to and I can boot from the OS CD.

I went to my local Apple store and they told me it appeared I had the drive installed correctly in the caddy. I installed the caddy minus the hard drive and it gave me the flashing "?".

I decided to try a 2nd 40Gb (Toshiba) and 2nd hard drive caddy but got the same results. I found out that I am running firmware version 4. 1. 8f5. Could that darn firmware version be the problem? Any thoughts? Thanks in advance for any help!

SEkker · Oct 30, 2004, 03:19 PM

I usually take the new HD, put it into an external FW case, and then install software as en external drive (usually just clone the old drive, bit you could install fresh from a CD). Then I set the external drive as startup and make sure the software works.

Using this approach, I've changed the internal HD on a Pismo and Lombard now over 7 times, without problems.

Nivag · Oct 31, 2004, 06:18 AM

can you target disk the pismo to another machine and see if the drive shows up that way?

Pismo500 · Oct 31, 2004, 12:15 PM

Unfortunately, no. When try to select the "target disc" or "startup disc" mode, it freezes on me and I have to kill the power. Strange that at one point, it gave my external "startup" chime and now does not. But when I hold the Apple and Startup keys, it will give me a long beep and flash, so I know the sound card is OK!

bighead · Nov 1, 2004, 11:57 AM

Originally posted by Pismo500:
Unfortunately, no. When try to select the "target disc" or "startup disc" mode, it freezes on me and I have to kill the power. Strange that at one point, it gave my external "startup" chime and now does not. But when I hold the Apple and Startup keys, it will give me a long beep and flash, so I know the sound card is OK!

One beep at boot indicates no RAM is installed (or recognized). Check your RAM to see if it is properly seated. If it is, the RAM may be bad, or the logic board could be on the way out.

Pismo500 · 12:41 AM

I took the 18Gb hard drive that has my data on it from my WallStreet and tried it again in my Pismo again as it was formatted and had an OS... This time I got the "tone of death" 4 beeps and had to replace my processor card!

bighead · Nov 2, 2004, 02:48 AM

Originally posted by Pismo500:
I took the 18Gb hard drive that has my data on it from my WallStreet and tried it again in my Pismo again as it was formatted and had an OS... This time I got the "tone of death" 4 beeps and had to replace my processor card!

I should have remembered that the RAM was on the CPU daughtercard. I only had a Pismo for 3 years. Stupid me. It's just been a while since I was inside one. Was the swap successful?

Pismo500 · Nov 3, 2004, 04:52 PM

Originally posted by bighead:
I should have remembered that the RAM was on the CPU daughtercard. I only had a Pismo for 3 years. Stupid me. It's just been a while since I was inside one. Was the swap successful?

I will let you know once I have gotten the new one this week!

Pismo500 · 10:13 AM

Update - Same results! I took the 40Gb Toshiba and formatted it in a firewire case. Since I had no internal hard drive installed, I was able to boot from an OS CD and install OS 9.1 on the drive. But when I reinstalled the drive in the computer, the computer just seemed to be confused and gave me a blank grey screen doing nothing else. This is really strange! When I give it the start up disk command to try and select the start up drive, it also freezes. The problem has got to be simple! Of note... With the new processer card, I am running an older boot ROM now. While doing some work on it one day, I damaged the original logic board, now replaced! Before it gave me my external start up chime and now does not.