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You are here: MacNN Forums > Hardware - Troubleshooting and Discussion > Mac Desktops > My iMac is crashing. Is my hard drive dead?

My iMac is crashing. Is my hard drive dead?
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MacMan4000
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Nov 27, 2008, 02:04 AM
 
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dimmer
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Nov 27, 2008, 02:33 AM
 
The error message seems pretty clear: your HD is in castors-up mode. With a new HD you can reinstall from the CD or DVD that came with the unit, no problem.
     
P
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Nov 27, 2008, 10:33 AM
 
I had that exact error when my iMac G5 was close to new. I thought the HD was dead for sure, but doing the PMU reset thing brought it back to the point that I could at least reformat and reinstall. That was 4 years ago now, and the iMac is still doing fine with the same HD. Might be worth a shot.
     
ghporter
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Nov 27, 2008, 11:27 AM
 
Definitely do the non-destructive, no-cost actions before giving up on the hard drive. But do back up. NOW. Just in case...

Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
     
MacMan4000  (op)
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Nov 27, 2008, 02:04 PM
 
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P
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Nov 27, 2008, 02:49 PM
 
Originally Posted by MacMan4000 View Post
I tried the PMU reset (which is actually SMU reset on my iMac, if I'm understanding my google results right. Correct me if I'm wrong). following these directions was easy enough, but they don't give you any way of knowing if it worked. I tried it 3 times, but I have no idea if the SMU was actually reset or not.

That had no effect. It's still doing the same thing as before. (Which is booting to a gray screen with a gray apple and turning the fans on full blast, then just sitting there.)
Yes, that's logical if the installation is trashed, but what does the hardware test say?
     
MacMan4000  (op)
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Nov 28, 2008, 02:36 AM
 
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Big Mac
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Nov 28, 2008, 06:22 AM
 
The drive is dying. Backup (hopefully you've already done that) and replace ASAP.

"The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground." TJ
     
Doc HM
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Nov 28, 2008, 03:47 PM
 
Originally Posted by Big Mac View Post
The drive is dying. Backup (hopefully you've already done that) and replace ASAP.
No, I think the problem is that his drive is dead. Pretty hard to back up from a drive that won't mount and doesn't show up in disk utility.

I would call it in and replace it. As you have said you are OK with the actual drive install, which should be easy enough. The G5 iMacs are easier than the intel ones by a considerable margin to replace the drive.

Once you have replaced the drive you will need to format it to install the new OS. This will require either booting the iMac from the original instal DVD and using disk utility to format the drive or booting the imac into firewire mode and using disk utility on another mac to format the drive.

Once the drive has been formatted you can install OS X back onto it and you should be good to go.

Then you can restore your data from whatever backup you have (you do have something right). If not then your best bet is to hand the drive over to a specialist recovery company. If you are feeling brave you could put the drive into an external enclosure and use an app such as disk warrior to try to scrape some data back of the drive, this normally works to some extent unless the drive has undergone catastrophic mechanical failure, in which case all bets are off on recovery.
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MacMan4000  (op)
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Nov 28, 2008, 05:04 PM
 
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wowok1234
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Nov 28, 2008, 10:29 PM
 
The iMac G5s with iSights are significantly more difficult to do a HD replacement on than the first two generations of iMac G5s. With the iSight gen, you have to remove the bezeland the LCD screen before you get to the hard drive, whereas on the other two you just pop the back open.
     
MacMan4000  (op)
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Dec 13, 2008, 07:20 PM
 
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MacMan4000  (op)
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Dec 13, 2008, 10:01 PM
 
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AKcrab
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Dec 13, 2008, 11:31 PM
 
There is a slim chance it's your SATA cable.
     
MacMan4000  (op)
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Dec 14, 2008, 03:18 AM
 
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