[Bissimac]

I turned my iMac DV/400/256 on & the a clicking noise occured & the machine could not find a start up disk. I have booted off OSX, OS9 & Norton 6 CDs and none of them can see the internal HD.

I am guessing the HD is broken. What are the options? I am out of warranty by 3 months & need the data back. have managed to borrow a Pismo & all of my work is backed up.

What should I do??

I am also cross - I have an LC3 with its orginal HD - these things should not break with total data loss. has anyonne else experienced this? bad design/manufacture or bad luck?

Advice appreciated.

[imacaholic]

Sounds like the hard drive failed. Bad luck! About the only way to retrieve the data would be to check into a company such as DriveSavers to get at the data. Be prepared to pay a hefty fee. You should be able to replace the internal drive, however, and regain the use of your iMac.

http://www.drivesavers.com/

[Bissimac]

Right, now I have establlished that my HD is broken, whta should I replace it with? I have been recommended the IDM Deskstar 40 Gb / 5400 - any other suggestions?

[Cipher13]

Originally posted by Bissimac:
<STRONG>Right, now I have establlished that my HD is broken, whta should I replace it with? I have been recommended the IDM Deskstar 40 Gb / 5400 - any other suggestions?</STRONG>

You won't find one of those... the 7200 rpm model however is not so rare

I recommend the IBM Deskstar 60GXP in whatever size does it for ya...

[kcmac]

Sorry to hear this Bissimac. The very same thing happened to my iMac DV SE 400 last week. I had MacSource put in a Western Digital Caviar 40 gig. Cost $179.

My last back up with Retrospect Express was in March. I was able to get some things back with this. I have learned that I will not keep family digital pictures and iMovies on my machine any more. I will at least have a copy on zips or CD's. This was the first time I had to use Retrospect for a restore and I was nervous because the catalog for the backup was lost with my broken drive. Worked great and I recommend Retrospect.

I have been very happy with the new drive so far and I even think my iMac feels snappier. Could just be my imagination.

Hope you didn't lose too much. But I'm sure in the end, you will be pleased with the bigger drive.

BTW, it seems to me that the cost of retrieving the data from a broken drive is expensive mainly due to the cost of renting the dust free vacuum room. Does anyone know if this is true and if so, can more than one drive go in at once to disperse the costs?

We had a similar problem on our family iMac. The drive started making loud clunky noises then finally died. We bought an IBM 30GB drive for about $100. There are a couple of places to look for instructions on changing the HD.
http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/ check the FAQ on iMacs for links to HD changing.

Also, Apple's TIL site has a section on changing the hard drive. The most difficult part is psychological. After removing some screws you have to pull the case apart. There is some kind of clip holding the case together and you have to pull pretty hard and it makes a loud noise when it separates but it seems to be OK.
http://til.info.apple.com/techinfo.nsf/artnum/n95075

[Primus]

Hey, my hard drive has just died too !
I have an iMac DV 400 MHz purchased in dec 1999.

Apparently it is not bad luck, it seems it is bad series !

Could everyone whose hard drive is dead post the serial on it please

mine is
Quantum Fireball CX 10.0 GB
VBCXA 655T0017 *BY941013AH5NA*
3.5 SERIES F/W A3F0B20
10.2AT CX10A02K REV 02 - B A3F0B

[Primus]

With the serials we could see if all broken HD have the same spec and rev.

I wonder if it is the HD, or a problem in Mac OS X. My problem occured while I was in Mac OS X.
Bissimac, kcmac, Storyboy, PHoynak, etc (all the people with the same HD broken) could you tell if you where under Mac OS X too when it occured ?

Don't you bother that the problem happens NOW for all of us with the SAME iMAC buyed on the SAME DATE with the SAME HARD DRIVE ???

My hard drive started to make these clicking noises last week... At first, it would work for an hour or two, until the clicking began, but now it is completely dead.

I have an Imac DV, bought mar 2000.

My drive (see a pattern?)

Quantum Fireball CX 10.0 GB
FBCXA 655T0017 *BY94605TWH5NA*
3.5 SERIES F/W A3F0B20
10.2AT CX10A02K REV 02 - B A3F0B

[tomatohead]

I'm also in the club. About a month ago it started to go "clicky" and the amount of time spent clicking away continues to increase. Imac DV 400 bought in January 2000.

[Primus]

tomatohead:
I advise you to visit and contact Maxtor (owner of Quantum) and explain your problem, I think they would exchange your hard drive to a new same one if you send them your noisy version, after a complete backup and a low-level reinitializing.
Quantum hard drives have a 3-years warranty.
http://www.maxtor.com/contactUs/supportQuantum.htm

I say this because I am pretty sure that your hard drive will die sooner or later, sorry... And you could then ship it to Maxtor, until obviously if you have stuff on it that you don't want Maxtor to see. At this moment you won't be able to erase your hard drive since it won't even boot

[kcmac]

I do not have OS X on my iMac DVSE 400. I did purchase this the very same day the announcement came out for this iMac version. Would that have been Dec 99? I will have to look.

Here is my hard drive info.

Quantum Fireball CX
13.0GB FBCXA 655T0018 *MF93704AWH6FA*
3.5 SERIES F/W A3FOB20
13.6AT CX13A02K REV 02-B A3FOB

It made the same clunking sounds you all describe. Is this really still under warranty? I will check the link above. Thanks Primus.

[ 07-03-2001: Message edited by: kcmac ]

I had the same thing happen to my DV SE 400. It still works sporadically. I am going to replace it before it dies all together. Does anyone know if I can replace the internal hard drive with an ATA/100 or do I need an ATA/66. The only hard drives I can find now are ATA/100. I would like to get a Maxtor, I have heard good things about them.

[Cipher13]

There was a faulty batch of Quantum FireBall CX's. Call Apple.

[79deville]

Well, I guess I'm now a member of the broken iMac DV SE hard drives. Same story here, only I had no forewarning...it went down and stayed down. In light of these messages, I did contact Apple, several times. They say there are no "known issues" with these drives, and of course have no interest in replacing my drive (out of warranty by 2 months). Well, everyone here knows about this issue! I have now written to Apple in a last effort to get them to address this. It sems pretty clear there's a pattern here. Will see what Aple's response is. Hey, if they hear from enough people about this maybe they'll wake up and do something.
CAll Apple!

[79deville]

Tried my best to get Apple to replace the drive or reimburse my costs for doing so. Talked to several people, wrote to Customer Relations, to no avail. Apple claims there is no known issue with these drives. They were very cordial but were adamant in their position. Oh well, I guess I didn't really expect them to.



This should be a reminder to all to RELIGIOUSLY backup, backup, backup.

[vsurfer]

imac DV G3 400, Dec 1999
Mine Just went this way too...screetchy noises on startup, lots of clicking/ ping-pong-ping-ponging, then it crashes. The power light still on, but that's it.

it's been sporadic recently but got worse and finally "ping-ponged-out" last week -- I have a feeling it's temperature related cos it happened in the hot summer months last year. I t also seems to be able to work for about 8 minutes if left alone for 24 hrs.

I reinitialized and rezeroed then, after a month (and when the weather was finally cool agian), and it worked for another 9 months. I was OS 9.0 at that point.

This time i have X running and restoration will be a bit of a project. I had most data backed up on a FW HD - all except the recent 9.1 and X installations.

[vsurfer]

Faulty Fireballs? ~ And the name rank and serial number of my barking HardDog is...

Quantum Fireball CX 10.0 GB
FBCXA 655T0017 *MF93804UJH5NA*
3.5 SERIES F/W A3F0B20
top sticker:
10.2AT CX10A02K REV 02 - B
A3F0B
bottom sticker:
10.2AT p/n CX10A011 REV 02 - B
ACXF0B00

Definitley looks like a pattern of faulty fireballs doesn't it?

A 7200 rpm 40 GB Western Digital 400BBRTL is now in its place. (Currently in process of restoring old files prefs etc from FW HD and reinstalling OSX)

Thanks to all you guys, MacNN, and http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/ for all the tips.

OS9.1
iMac DV G3 400 (Rage128 VR), 320 MB RAM
Dec 99

[firstdown55]

I had the same thing happen to my Oct 99 iMac DV400 today!

10.0 GB Quantum Fireball CX

Something needs to be done by Apple other than sorry your warranty has expired!

Originally posted by vsurfer:
<STRONG>Faulty Fireballs? ~ And the name rank and serial number of my barking HardDog is...

Quantum Fireball CX 10.0 GB
FBCXA 655T0017 *MF93804UJH5NA*
3.5 SERIES F/W A3F0B20
top sticker:
10.2AT CX10A02K REV 02 - B
A3F0B
bottom sticker:
10.2AT p/n CX10A011 REV 02 - B
ACXF0B00

Definitley looks like a pattern of faulty fireballs doesn't it?

A 7200 rpm 40 GB Western Digital 400BBRTL is now in its place. (Currently in process of restoring old files prefs etc from FW HD and reinstalling OSX)

Thanks to all you guys, MacNN, and http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/ for all the tips.

OS9.1
iMac DV G3 400 (Rage128 VR), 320 MB RAM
Dec 99</STRONG>

[Syre]

Seems to be a pattern

I purchased my iMac DV SE 400 on 4/20/00. On 7/15/01 My drive started making the clicking noise. On restart it was not recognized by my machine. I let it set overnight and walla it worked. Completed a total back up with Retrospect. "Now one of my favorite programs" Later in the day I was switching from 9.1 to 10.0.4 and the hard drive crashed upon selecting the 10.0.4 partition in Start up disk control panel. Over two days of restarting with CD, I could not get it to start up again. Replaced it with a Western Digital 7200 rpm 40 gig from sam's club 129.00 couple of days ago.

Quantum Fireball CX
Series F/W AF0B20
SN 9349300214071

[vsurfer]

If I still lived in the UK I'd be calling them Quantum Firebollocks mate!

Cold consolation, but you got a good deal on the Western Digital HD at sams club (129.00). I paid 159.00 plus tax in NYC.

[MemphisMac]

Forgive a potentially stupid question, but how can I check the hard drive manufacturer? My sister's iMac has some of the same symptoms listed here, and was also purchased in December of 1999.


Brian

iMac's "Apple System Profiler" will give you any and all info....

null

Originally posted by Primus:
<STRONG>Hey, my hard drive has just died too !
I have an iMac DV 400 MHz purchased in dec 1999.

Apparently it is not bad luck, it seems it is bad series !

Could everyone whose hard drive is dead post the serial on it please

mine is
Quantum Fireball CX 10.0 GB
VBCXA 655T0017 *BY941013AH5NA*
3.5 SERIES F/W A3F0B20
10.2AT CX10A02K REV 02 - B A3F0B</STRONG>

My iMac DV 400 also lost the hard drive last night. iMAC ONLY 1.5 YRS OLD?
Quantum Fireball CX
3.5 SERIES F/W A3F0B20
13.0 FBCXA 655T0018 *MF9400038H6FA*

Bad hard drive:

Quantum Fireball 3.5 series 13.0 GB
FBLBA 655T0018
*MF00204Q7H6FA*
F/W A03A900
13.6AT LB13A02K REV 01 - P A03A9
SN 873001219165

One question though....is anyone out there going to do anything with all this information?

[vvedge]

Looks like another reason to switch my HD very soon. If you notice my other iMac HD thread, I've got a Blueberry DV I'd better switch the drive soon anyway.

I've had a few minor bombs, but that was always fixable. All my important data is on Firewire drives anyway.

[Bissimac]

Wow! I go away for a few weeks & this is what I find! Lots of people with Bust iMac drives!!

Anyway, I have replaced mine with a 40/5200 IBM drive. Apparently it has a high density platter so data retrival is quicker for a normal 5200 rpm drive.

I cant tell you the numbers of my original drive cos it is still at the data recovery place. (I a friend of a friend runs a data recovery business so I have my original data back). Unless it is in some documentation that shipped with the iMac DV back in March 2000.

The friend suggested phoning Quantum & finding there hardware warrantee. Apple has 1 year, but the component manufacturers warranty may well differ.

I'll try & find my drives details & get back to you.

[runningdog]

i got a scare last night. My iMac froze up on me. Tried force quit but didn't work cause it was a hard freeze so i hit the restart switch. Up came the firmware folder icon and smiling face instead of the usual smiling compact mac icon and it wouldn't go past that and boot up normally. i put in a bootable cd and restarted but it wouldn't start from the cd (i did hold the c key down at startup.) So i restarted again and reset the PRAM. This time i was able to start. Only one partition of my hard drive mounted. i used Norton to fix the drive. There were 6 directory related problems. No files were lost but Norton warned that no blessed system folder could be found though it did find the system folder. So Norton fixed the drive and it mounted. All looked well so i rebooted.

My iMac still wouldn't boot up. A disk icon with a blinking question mark showed up. And there's this thumping sound like something is trying to engage - i can only guess that it is the hard drive. i can still boot from a cd and see the drive but i just can't boot from it!?

i have a Bondi Blue iMac Rev. A with a Western Digital 30Gb hard drive i installed myself. i never had any problems with the drive before. i also have GameWizard card. The video and monitor are fine. There's no problem with power.

Anybody experienced something similiar to this? A drive that will mount but not boot?

i'm at work right now but when i return home i'm going to replace the WD drive with the original - just for verification that its a faulty drive.

[strider]

We also have a Quantum Fireball drive on a G4 and it is toast.
Same model as far as I can tell.

Quantum Fireball CX 3.5 series 10.0GB
f/w A3f0b20 655T007 MF94305 MPH45A

Did not hear any clunking noises on this one. The drive does not appear to spin and is not recognized using boot CDs FIRST AID

ARG!!!I think I also bought one of these lemons for one of my PC's.

Time to buy a Western Digital.