Need help with Powerbook G4

[dougal]

Ok, sorry im posting here but i dont know where to ask and i love these forums, so i really hope someone can help me.

It all started yesterday. All of a sudden my Powerbook became very slow with the spinnin beachball etc..

I switched it off (Not shut down)

This morning when i switched it on it took ages (about 2 or 3 mins) to boot up.

Once booted up it was super slow and i noticed it indexing.

Switched it off again after it had been indexing for ages. Started up and same thing.

Shut down. Started up again and same.

Now it won't even boot up. I switch it on, i get the Apple logo and the loading gear thingy then after less then a minute it just switches off.

It won't even start up, just grey screen with Apple logo, about a minute or less and it just switches off.

The spec is as follows:

Powerbook G4 15", 2GB DDR ram , 1.67Ghz CPU, 80Gig HD, Superdrive and running OS X 10.5.8 Leopard.

[tone007]

Could be a failing hard drive, and I remember some G4s had issues with solder joints on the logic boards letting go after a while that would cause some nasty problems, not sure what models though.

First thing I'd try is booting up from an OSX install CD and seeing what happens.

[OldB0y]

Speaking as someone who services them for a living,  I can almost guarantee that you are experiencing a HDD failure.  It could be the IDE channel, but thats a lot less likely, especially on one of the later ones like yours.

Boot from an OSX Cd (pop the cd in, hold down the 'C' key as soon as you power it on, until you see the apple logo appear), run disk utility from the utilities pull down menu and perform a verify on the Hard drive.

[dougal]

When i booted up with the CD and did Repair disk it said it couldn't fix it.

I took a chance erasing the hard drive and re-installing OS X.

It seems to be working perfectly now. After all the updates i have gone into disk utility again and did Verify disk and it says its good.

Also S.M.A.R.T status says Verified.

Possible the files messed up? Anyway i'm happy its working again as its my workhorse and i depend on it.

Thanks guys

[_ThEcRoW]

Try to reset the pram using ctrl+alt+p+r on boot. Let it chime three times, then try to boot again. Some of the problems you describe are often resolved by a pram reset.
Try it and post the results.

[Vlabguy1]

Ok, sorry im posting here but i dont know where to ask and i love these forums, so i really hope someone can help me.

It all started yesterday. All of a sudden my Powerbook became very slow with the spinnin beachball etc..

I switched it off (Not shut down)

This morning when i switched it on it took ages (about 2 or 3 mins) to boot up.

Once booted up it was super slow and i noticed it indexing.

Switched it off again after it had been indexing for ages. Started up and same thing.

Shut down. Started up again and same.

Now it won't even boot up. I switch it on, i get the Apple logo and the loading gear thingy then after less then a minute it just switches off.

It won't even start up, just grey screen with Apple logo, about a minute or less and it just switches off.

The spec is as follows:

Powerbook G4 15", 2GB DDR ram , 1.67Ghz CPU, 80Gig HD, Superdrive and running OS X 10.5.8 Leopard.

Hard drive is toast.. do not to anything more.  You can take it to a Apple store to see if they can help.  They usually can.  They can hook another mac up to it and might be able to access the drive to retrieve any data.. otherwise it's new hard drive time for you.

I just went through this exact same thing and got much help/tips in the Mac forums, but that being said I should have just left well enough alone til I got to a "genius"  as I think I did more damage by trying to boot numerous times..

Rich
ny

[x56h34]

I just went through a similar issue with my PowerBook G4 15" 1.67Ghz 2GB Ram. In my case, the HDD needed to be replaced as it could not be repaired from the disk utility application. It's a fairly straightforward process to open this model of PowerBook up, and perform a hard drive replacement. There is a terrific guide as to how to do it at http://www.ifixit.com.

[dougal]

Thanks guys but the problem is solved it seems.

I re-installed OS X (erased the hard drive first)

Now its stable and working properly and fast. The disk verification is not reporting any problems anymore and S.M.A.R.T status is VERIFIED which i guess is a good thing.

Probably the file structure or something was messed up. But now i kind of regret putting my spare 120GB laptop hard drive into my iBook clamshell which i dont even use whilst my Powerbook has an 80GB.. LOL

[marvinpa]

I had the same problems on a Pismo Powerbook. Managed to sort it by reformatting and installing.
All reported ok and all seemed fine for a while. Then read/write errors, long boot times, system slowing down etc.
Replaced the HDD and been ok ever since.

Over the years ive had several HDD's fail and they all seem to go like this.

So what im saying is - make sure you have some form of backup routine in place, because  one day it will fail completely.

Backups are easy if you are using OS X Leopard. Its called Time Machine and its built in to the OS. You probably know all this, but just incase.

Good Luck with that drive!

[dougal]

Well at the mo i don't have anything so important as i keep all the important stuff on my imac. But yeah i  suppose i should start preparing that the HD might fail.

To be honest i'll probably buy a Macbook or MBP as soon as i have the money and i'll either sell the Powerbook or else give it to the wife.

I had the same problems on a Pismo Powerbook. Managed to sort it by reformatting and installing.
All reported ok and all seemed fine for a while. Then read/write errors, long boot times, system slowing down etc.
Replaced the HDD and been ok ever since.

Over the years ive had several HDD's fail and they all seem to go like this.

So what im saying is - make sure you have some form of backup routine in place, because  one day it will fail completely.

Backups are easy if you are using OS X Leopard. Its called Time Machine and its built in to the OS. You probably know all this, but just incase.

Good Luck with that drive!