Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

one1

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jun 17, 2007
1,176
29
Chattanooga, TN
I bought a used macbook due to it's price (bad HD = cheap). So it gets here today and I turn it on to see what the deal is. The screen is displaying the "?" folder as expected, but there is a horrible sound coming from the optical drive.

I can hear it trying to eject a cd and not accomplishing the goal. I decide to take the macbook apart and remove the offending CD and I find this!

IMG_0900.jpg


IMG_0901.jpg


I was hoping initially that the HD was good and the stuck CD was trying to boot the system, but no dice. Still have a "?" folder, but it loads CD's now. :)

I tried to a load 10.4 cd and it spins up and goes to a black screen with a prompt and just sits there. Is this what will happen with a bad HD or do I need to do anything special to it?
 
IDK what is suppose to happen with a bad hard drive but I would get a new one if in fact it is bad. You should also check into that disk drive to make sure it works. If all else fails, you should just take it to an Apple Store.
 
Well I don't need an apple store. I've ordered a new HD when I bought the laptop, but it won't be here for a few days. I was just hoping.......
 
Let's hold a contest as to how many CDs can be crammed into a Mac CD slot at the same time (reminds me of people jamming into the VW New Beetle. The world record on that is on the order of 26, if I am not mistaken).:D
 
Let's hold a contest as to how many CDs can be crammed into a Mac CD slot at the same time (reminds me of people jamming into the VW New Beetle. The world record on that is on the order of 26, if I am not mistaken).:D

4 to be precise..
.....
Yea, I know :/

We have TONS of old MacBooks we excess for parts bcause we are always upgrading to Pros at my office, and being in Systems Administration I decided to try this a few minutes ago..


4 :)
 
Kelly™;4701509 said:
4 to be precise..
.....
Yea, I know :/

We have TONS of old MacBooks we excess for parts bcause we are always upgrading to Pros at my office, and being in Systems Administration I decided to try this a few minutes ago..


4 :)

Can you not donate the OP a spare optical drive in case his is ****ed?

(I love doing charitable deeds by proxy. Guilt's a wonderful thing! :D )
 
Heh,
If the OP sent me a PM I would be more than delighted to not donate an opticle drive to him ;)
 
Darn, now I have to find a junk mac slot optical drive to try to cram in 5 CDs in there :).
 
On this new HD (80g), should I load 10.4 first, then 10.5 - or should I just load Leo. (I've never installed Leo before, don't know if it self loads off a clean disk?) I'll be working with a completely clean, new HD.
 
Just 10.5 I would say. Why confuse things? 10.5 is a full OS, not an upgrade. I see no reason why it wouldn't install from clean.
 
Thank you,

What program is used to control the iSight camera? Will everything needed be in LEO or do I need more?
 
I'm not even used to the windows world, I just didn't have this option on my 17" PB :) (or the tiger that was on it)
 
10.4 install disk (black) is for PPC only, it WILL NOT BOOT on MacBook (intel).

You need to try it with retail copy of Leopard, if you don't have the gray disks that came with the computer.

I wouldn't be surprised if it's damaged in another way though. Doesn't seem like the previous owner is computer literate at all. Hope there is no water damage.
 
Man that is really going to suck if I have to go buy a firewire 6pin cable and do target disk mode from my g3 ibook THEN load leo. (it'll do target disk mode without an OS won't it?)

I have a couple different versions of OSX (10.2, 10.3, 10.4 retail disks) so I hope at least one will load on the new 80g HD so I can get everything going without major delays or extra purchases which involve a lot of driving to get everything.

I know they are all for PPC since I bought them at their correct time periods.
 
4 to be precise..
.....
Yea, I know :/

We have TONS of old MacBooks we excess for parts bcause we are always upgrading to Pros at my office, and being in Systems Administration I decided to try this a few minutes ago..


4 :)

LOL
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.