[PConvert]

I haven't done anything to my computer in the past couple days out of the ordinary.

All of a sudden, programs are taking extremely long to load, booting up my computer takes literally ~10 minutes, and performance is increidbly slow in all applications. I am using Activity Monitor and it never raises above 35% CPU so it's not even like my computer is working too hard - more like it just stopped. Is it possible that I damaged my hard drive?

I have ample free space on my hard drive, and I haven't downloaded / installed any new applications in a very long time so I doubt it's a virus.

I tried to reinstall my software from the CD, but when I click the hard drive to install it just hangs there and gives me the pinwheel of doom.


Does it sound like I've damaged my hard drive, or is this a fixable problem? This is very irritating and I don't know what to do next.

[Cadaver]

You don't say what kind of a machine you're running, but none the less try this:

Dig out the CD or DVD that came with your machine, pop in the disc and boot the machine holding down the C key. That'll boot it off the disc. Once booted, go to the File menu (I think its under File), and choose Disk Utility.

Choose your machine's boot HD and hit the Repair Disk button. See if you have any errors. While you've got the Disk Utility app running, also try the Repair Permissions (if it will let you - don't recall if you need to be booted of that volume before you can do a Permissions repair on it or not).

Also, note the SMART status of the machine's boot hard drive. Its possible there is a hardware malfunction, and if so the SMART system may (hopefully) report it if there is.

If you're using a MacBook Pro, make sure the battery is in the machine while you're using it. There's a bug (feature?) where the machine will only run at 1000MHz when the battery is missing. That could account for some of the perceived slowdown.

Edit: you can also try the Hardware Diagnostic Tool CD/DVD that came with your machine. Boot in to it and run the hardware tests that are available. You may want to look at your machines documentation to see how to boot to the hardware diagnostic software; some recent machines come with a combo DVD that contains the system restore/disk utility software on one (virtual) volume on the DVD, and the hardware test on another volume. Not sure what you need to do to boot the hardware test off the disc on your particular machine.

[PConvert]

TY. I'm using a Powerbook PowerPC G4 running Panther.



I'll try those steps and keep you guys updated.

[PConvert]

ERROR CODE:

2STF/8/3: ATA - 100

ATA - 6 - MASTER



Anyone know what this means? Or how I can figure it out?

This error is on my "mass storage" by the way.

[SpyManiac007]

Originally Posted by PConvert

ERROR CODE:

2STF/8/3: ATA - 100

ATA - 6 - MASTER



Anyone know what this means? Or how I can figure it out?

This error is on my "mass storage" by the way.

Unfortunately I have a big inkling the drive has bad sectors. The mass storage error means it's the largest portion of your HD, if it is partitioned. If it is not partitioned, it just means the entire HD.

To my knowledge, the error means there is an issue with Sector 6 of your HD...Please have someone else on here verify this though.

007

[PConvert]

So how do I fix it?

lol.

[SpyManiac007]

Originally Posted by PConvert

So how do I fix it?

lol.

Well, once again, please have someone else verify this. I'm going off previous memories when my iBook's HD failed. Essentially, you're HD is beginning to fail from what I understand.

Once someone else verifies that I'm correct, if you have AppleCare, now will be the time to contact Apple and have it arranged to be switched out.

007

[Simon]

I entered your error message into google and got as lot of reports of people saying it basically meant the disk was failing. I would backup immediately, call Apple and give them the error message. If they agree that this looks like disk failure, they'll exchange your HDD. In the meantime, once you have a working backup, you could format the entire drive and check if AHT or DU still report an error.