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You are here: MacNN Forums > Hardware - Troubleshooting and Discussion > Mac Desktops > New Hard Drive Help

New Hard Drive Help
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mlewis1211
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Dec 20, 2008, 12:43 AM
 
The computer is my girl friends. She is a graphic designer and loves this computer. The hard drive crashed a few months ago, and I went out and bought a new one and installed it. I am having trouble installing the Panther 10.3 OS on it. Please help!! I wanted to have it up and running for her as a Christmas gift. If there is any more information you need, I will gladly reply. Thank you in advance.
     
Cold Warrior
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Dec 20, 2008, 12:47 AM
 
What computer is it?
     
reader50
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Dec 20, 2008, 12:51 AM
 
Ditto, tell us the model. If need be, read it off the label on back or bottom. It may be one of the later models that do not work with Panther - later models require Tiger or even Leopard.
     
mlewis1211  (op)
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Dec 20, 2008, 01:03 AM
 
Its a Power Mac G4
     
mlewis1211  (op)
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Dec 20, 2008, 01:04 AM
 
She had that OS on it before.....if that helps.
     
mlewis1211  (op)
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Dec 20, 2008, 02:04 AM
 
The hard drive is physically in and connected. But when I turn it on, I just get an all white screen which doesn't progress to anything else. Your help is greatly appreciated.
     
reader50
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Dec 20, 2008, 02:15 AM
 
It you put a blank hard drive in, then you need to boot from the Panther Install CD. When you power up the Mac, hold down the 'C' key on the keyboard. It will boot from the CD and will go into the Installer.
     
mlewis1211  (op)
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Dec 20, 2008, 03:42 AM
 
Ahh!! That seems to be working. I ran into a snag however. I am in the "Install Mac OS X" screen. The 4th step asks me "Select a Destination" volume to install the Mac OS X software. There are no choices to choose, and the "continued" button is greyed out. Thank you SO MUCH reader50!!!! If this works, words won't be able to describe her face when she sees it!!!!!
     
reader50
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Dec 20, 2008, 04:38 AM
 
Apparently, the Panther Installer isn't offering to autoformat the new HD. You'll need to jump over to Disk Utility to do the deed. With the Installer open, check the menu bar. There may be a Utilities entry, or it may be filed under the Apple menu. In one or the other of these locations, there will be an entry for Disk Utility.

Jump over to Disk Utility. Select the internal HD in the left pane. Of the five tabs available on the right, choose Partition. Set "Volume Scheme" to "1 Partition". Name the drive whatever you like, "Macintosh HD" is what the factory normally calls it, but you can name it almost anything, like "(your name) rocks". If she's a long-term Mac user, DON'T call it "drive C" or something windowsy like that. It can be renamed later if she doesn't like it.

Set "Format" to "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)". Since she may want to boot into OS 9, check the box to "Install OS 9 Drivers". Finally, click the Partition button on lower right. When it finishes, Quit Disk Utility.

It will go back to the Installer, and you can proceed.

Note: The older PowerMac G4s had a 128 GB addressing limit on their drive controller. If this is one of those earlier PM G4s, then your drive will only format to 128 GB. More info here.
     
mlewis1211  (op)
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Dec 20, 2008, 08:30 AM
 
I followed the instructions from above, and when I clicked Partition, the following popped up. "Partition Failed with the error: Unknown error: -20"
     
EricTheRed
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Dec 20, 2008, 11:03 AM
 
Originally Posted by mlewis1211 View Post
I followed the instructions from above, and when I clicked Partition, the following popped up. "Partition Failed with the error: Unknown error: -20"
Perhaps this thread will help?

http://discussions.apple.com/thread....hreadID=934439
     
mlewis1211  (op)
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Dec 20, 2008, 11:48 AM
 
Thank you Eric, I will try it and let you guys know the result.
     
mlewis1211  (op)
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Dec 20, 2008, 12:18 PM
 
I checked out that entire thread. The Disk Warrior and Tech Tool Pro which were suggested I do not have. I was trying to correct this problem without having to spend too much more. So do you think the hard drive I bought is bad? Or maybe it isn't compatible with the G4 she has? Is there anything else I could do to try and fix this? Is it recommended I return the hard drive I purchased for another one?
I bought a Western Digital 320GB 7200 RPM.....if that helps. Thank you for all of your help so far!!!
     
mlewis1211  (op)
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Dec 20, 2008, 12:25 PM
 
Also if it helps.....she has the Power Mac with the mirrored doors.
     
reader50
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Dec 20, 2008, 04:57 PM
 
That Apple Discussions thread is for an existing hard drive - already formatted. Disk Warrior & TechTool Pro repair drive formatting, they cannot do anything for a drive not yet formatted. Here are two things to try.

In Disk Utility, on the Partition tab. In addition to the other settings, click the Options... button if there is one. Select "Apple Partition Map" from the options that may come up. The drive might have been preformatted with Master Boot Record, which is not helpful in this instance.

Check the jumper blocks on the drive. Your PM G4 supports Cable Select with a suitable cable, along with Master / Slave / Single - also called "Master w/o Slave". Assuming only one HD is present, you can try: CS, Single. Master or Slave should also work, but can produce a delayed boot in some cases. If two HDs are present on the same bus, you can try: CS for both, or Master & Slave.
     
mlewis1211  (op)
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Dec 20, 2008, 08:12 PM
 
I did not see an Options button any where. What I did do however, I found her original grey Power Mac G4 Install and Restore disk. I booted from this disk, and followed the same instructions as before. I went to the Partitions menu, under Disk Utility, and continued with what you advised. The only difference was that Mac OS Extended (Journaled) was not there......instead I clicked "extended." A pop-up box appeared which says, "Preparing drive ... unmounting old volumes." There is also a progress bar. Does this step/phase usually take a while, because the progress bar hasn't budged. Thanks again!!!
     
reader50
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Dec 21, 2008, 01:50 AM
 
Laying down a partition table should take seconds. A few seconds more for the format afterwards - the whole thing should take much less than a minute. It sounds like a problem is happening when Disk Utility tries to write to the drive - did you check the drive jumpers? On a Western Digital, the jumper key is usually printed on the drive label, you don't even have to hit their site.

Now after Disk Utility finishes and you go back to the Installer - installing OSX is going to take a bit longer than a minute.
     
mlewis1211  (op)
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Dec 21, 2008, 02:07 AM
 
Thank you reader50. I will go back and check the jumpers again, follow the instructions you have given before, and let you know what my progress is. Everything is greatly appreciated.
     
mlewis1211  (op)
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Dec 21, 2008, 02:21 AM
 
Ok....I looked at the label configurations WD had on the hard drive. I removed the white jumper in order to give it the designation of Single/Master. I followed all of the steps, and I am back at the same screen and the progress bar isn't moving at all. I hope its fixable, you have been more than helpful so far. I just really want to get this computer up and running for her, because she really misses it, and it would be a great and unexpected Christmas gift. Thank you for everything so far!!! Any other suggestions?
     
reader50
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Dec 21, 2008, 05:33 AM
 
After checking this thread, I'd suggest moving the drive to the other internal bay. You might be facing a bad cable on the bay you're in now, and if you're using the forward bay, you may find the rear bay faster.

On at least some MDD G4s, the rear bay has ATA100 vs ATA66 in the forward bay. Also, the MDD apparently really likes Cable Select. The other settings should work, but if it prefers CS, who are we to argue. So put the drive on CS on the end connector of the cable, and in the other bay than the one you're trying now.

This is kind of an aspirin answer - the drive should just format regardless of jumper setting, if it's the only drive on the bus. Regardless of which bay it's in too. The recurring problem you're hitting isn't normal, suggesting either a configuration problem (like the jumpers I kept sending you after) or a hardware fault somewhere, like a bad cable or IDE controller. The HD is probably fine, DOA rates have been negligible for years now.

If the G4's internal drive controllers are dodgy, then you could move the drive to an external enclosure. Preferably FireWire, but USB will work too, just more slowly. Once the drive is partitioned & OSX installed, you could move it back to the internal bays for testing.
     
mlewis1211  (op)
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Dec 21, 2008, 12:00 PM
 
Ok, I have set it back to CS. It is already connected to the rear ADA100 bay. That's the one it was initially connected to. So are you saying I should try moving it to one of the forward bays? Thank you again for all of your help. This is very interesting....too bad I'm not as familiar with Macs.
     
mlewis1211  (op)
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Dec 21, 2008, 12:10 PM
 
OK!!! Something exciting happened!!! There was a spare able inside the computer. I changed it thinking the current one was bad, also I changed it back to CS. It is connected to the rear drive. I started it up, booted from the disk. Followed the previous instructions. And the partition took maybe 4 secs....DEF less than a minute!!! Question is, now what do I do? haha
     
mlewis1211  (op)
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Dec 21, 2008, 12:23 PM
 
OK nevermind. I don't know WHAT I did. But after the partition was finished, I attempted to install the Mac OS and now it's as if I never completed the partition. And I went back to do the partition again, and now i'm back at the same screen I was before.
     
mlewis1211  (op)
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Dec 21, 2008, 01:09 PM
 
Hi Reader50,

I went ahead and followed your suggestion of moving the drive. I installed it in the forward drive bay. And guess what!!! I didn't even need to partition it. I just went ahead and followed the on screen instructions in the box "Install Mac OS X" and it is installing as I type this. It says it will take about 40mins to complete. Thank you so much for all of you help, it is GREATLY appreciated. If it is ok with you. I would like to keep this thread open. I am curious. Why do you think the ADA100 bay didn't work? Is there anything I can do to repair it, just for future reference? You are awesome!!! Thanks again for all of your help!!!!!!
     
reader50
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Dec 21, 2008, 06:09 PM
 
We don't close threads just because an answer has been found. Someone else may need additional help on a similar issue. Glad to hear your G4 has worked out.

The only hope for the ATA100 bay is if the cable was bad. You could try a new cable (as opposed to a spare lying in the case). If it's the onboard controller, the only solution is to swap the motherboard.

The question that comes to my mind is if the original HD was bad or not. Don't plug it into the forward bay for testing, for all we know, the old HD might have gone bad and taken out the bay in the process. You can't afford to lose the forward bay. Instead, use a cheap IDE - USB service adapter, and see if the drive mounts. If it did, then you could risk installing it in the forward bay too.
     
mlewis1211  (op)
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Dec 22, 2008, 09:30 PM
 
Yes she was extremely happy to see that it was up and running!!! Had to give it to her a little early, but it's ok!!! I wasn't even going to attempt to reinstall the old HD. She has a friend that can do recoveries from HD's, so I was just going to let that happen....haha. Again, I appreciate all of the help. And thank you for always being there. I must say, you were more helpful than the Apple support forum page. In my eyes they stink next to this site!!! Thank you and Happy Holidays!!!
     
   
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