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

NEED HELP! My iMac won't see it's internal Hard Drive.

B

Balli

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jan 20, 2006
256
0
Earth > Europe > United Kindom > England > London
Last night I was watching a trailer on the Apple site, when I got a spinning beachball, my system became none-responsive, so I turned off my iMac from the power on the back of the system, but now my system won't allow me to log in.

Everytime I start up the computer, I just get a folder icon with a flashing question mark.

I have tried the following to solve the problems, but nothing has help.

1. I have tried holding down the alt key and turning on the computer, (so I can select the start up disk, but it won't see any start up disks).

2. I have run an extended Hardware test off the Apple CD that came with the computer, and it has found no faults.

3. I have run system profiler off the CD and my HardDrive is not showing up.

4. I have zapped the P RAM, by holding down Alt, Apple, P and R when starting up the computer.

Does anyone have anymore suggestions? I would be VERY grateful.
 
Thank you for your reply. As I don't own another Mac, I will have to take it to my local Apple Store. Hopefully they can fix it on the spot.

As the iMac is not in warrenty, do you know if Apple will charge for an on the spot fix, (if no extra parts are needed)?

You have given me at least some hope that my harddrive (along with my data) can be saved.
 
Balli said:
Thank you for your reply. As I don't own another Mac, I will have to take it to my local Apple Store. Hopefully they can fix it on the spot.

As the iMac is not in warrenty, do you know if Apple will charge for an on the spot fix, (if no extra parts are needed)?

You have given me at least some hope that my harddrive (along with my data) can be saved.
Click to expand...

I think they will charge you, as they do for an out-of-warranty inspection (even when nothing is wrong). Either the drive failed completely (but the disk may still be intact) or it became unplugged.
 
funkychunkz said:
I think they will charge you, as they do for an out-of-warranty inspection (even when nothing is wrong). Either the drive failed completely (but the disk may still be intact) or it became unplugged.
Click to expand...

If the drive has failed completely, can Apple just 'dump' all the information off of the old harddrive onto the new one on the spot, or will it be more difficult than that?
 
All you need to do is to either

1) boot up from your install CD rom (press C on startup) and run disk utility from there

or if that does not help you

2) get hold of a copy of DiskWarrior - and repair the disk this way - use this regually at work (support an office of over 500 mac users) and this nearly always brings machines back off their knees with the symptoms you give - it just sounds like your mac has forgotten which disk id the start up drive.

D
 
Doesn't sound promising, I've had HDDs die without warning or recoverability. Lost hundreds of my photos that way once - they were the only thing not backed up...

Definitely get a copy of Disk Warrior, boot from the CD and see if your drive is repairable. I just ran a barrage of tests and repairs on my G5 yesterday with DW and TechTool Pro 4.xx as it "greyscreened" me early in the morning.

good luck

Z
 
zac4mac said:
Doesn't sound promising, I've had HDDs die without warning or recoverability. Lost hundreds of my photos that way once - they were the only thing not backed up...

Definitely get a copy of Disk Warrior, boot from the CD and see if your drive is repairable. I just ran a barrage of tests and repairs on my G5 yesterday with DW and TechTool Pro 4.xx as it "greyscreened" me early in the morning.

good luck

Z
Click to expand...

Thank you for the replies. But do you think Disk Warrior will help, even if I have already tried to boot from the Apple CD? I tried installing Mac OS X again this morning, but the computer can't see any volumes to install it on.

Any ideas as to how much it would cost for a new HardDrive (preferably in £'s) for my iMac G5 2.0Ghz?

...And are there any websites which shows you how to install it yourself?
 
I had the exact same thing happen to me this weekend on my 17" iMac G5.

Impossible to use disk utility or disk warrior as it's as if there is no hard drive installed at all.

Could it have somehow come unplugged internally? I'd be surprised, as neither the desk or the iMac was bumped or moved.

For it to all of the sudden just lock up and lose my hard drive is scary.

Any other ideas?
 
motherduce said:
I had the exact same thing happen to me this weekend on my 17" iMac G5.

Impossible to use disk utility or disk warrior as it's as if there is no hard drive installed at all.

Could it have somehow come unplugged internally? I'd be surprised, as neither the desk or the iMac was bumped or moved.

For it to all of the sudden just lock up and lose my hard drive is scary.

Any other ideas?
Click to expand...

That is scary... We both have the same computer, 17" iMac G5. Mine is the 2.0Ghz model (without iSight), what about yours?
 
Balli said:
That is scary... We both have the same computer, 17" iMac G5. Mine is the 2.0Ghz model (without iSight), what about yours?
Click to expand...

1.8Ghz, no iSight.

Based on everything I've read over the last couple of days, I've either got a dead HD, or it has a loose connection, so tonight I will be opening up my iMac to inspect my HD. I will keep you posted.
 
motherduce said:
1.8Ghz, no iSight.

Based on everything I've read over the last couple of days, I've either got a dead HD, or it has a loose connection, so tonight I will be opening up my iMac to inspect my HD. I will keep you posted.
Click to expand...

I did the same thing. I disconnected and re-connectted my Hard Drive, but it made no difference. So now I have to buy a new Hard Drive.

:(
 
Opened up my iMac last night - messed with the HD some, and tried again.

Didn't work.

So now I just hope that the last time I backed up I remembered everything that was vital to me...or that I can somehow pull some data off the now dead HD.

Bah, so disappointing. I've never had a HD fail on me before, and I've been using computers for 17 years.

Guess it has to happen to everyone at some point.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back