Challenge! Feelin' Lucky, PUNK?

[DeltaMac]

As I understand it, Longston shipped his iBook to a company for repairs. That company claimed that the replacement hard drive had some proprietary firmware installed. They re-flashed the drive, and all was working well OK. I suppose it's legit, but where does a third party get factory firmware from Seagate? I think that explanation is bogus.
However, Longston's hard drive is now functional, and he seems to be testing all you good folk, to see if you could come up with that unlikely fix without actually seeing the laptop - the repair company had that advantage.

[nixgeek]

Originally Posted by DeltaMac

As I understand it, Longston shipped his iBook to a company for repairs. That company claimed that the replacement hard drive had some proprietary firmware installed. They re-flashed the drive, and all was working well OK. I suppose it's legit, but where does a third party get factory firmware from Seagate? I think that explanation is bogus.
However, Longston's hard drive is now functional, and he seems to be testing all you good folk, to see if you could come up with that unlikely fix without actually seeing the laptop - the repair company had that advantage.

So in essence, he's just wasting our time with a non-issue. I'm wondering if this is in retaliation for not having his problem answered before, as is evident in his previous threads.

Hard Drive
Hard Drive Missing After Upgrades Made to iBook G4

Still, it's no justification for being snarky. I've had a few questions that have lingered unanswered even after bumping them after a week's time (as I'm sure many others have). Not everyone is going to have the answer because they just don't have the experience with the problem. Better to have no answer than to get misinformation.

[Viro]

Was that the problem? Or perhaps it was this?

[pds]

ROFL @ Viro

I installed a new SATA 160 gig in my Macbook. It was invisible to the MacBook but showed up when I connected to another Mac via Target Mode. I tried using Disk Utility to Erase it, and then could see it and copy to it, but it was still invisible to the MacBook itself. It was only after partitioning it as one partition while in Target Mode that I was able to select it and install the OS. Now I have free space again!!!

Without having your computer in hand, it would be hard to say what the problem was, though since "was" is the operative word, the best tech advice I have is the Egyptian "Mabrook" (a kind of greeting that congratulates you for your good luck). I will be watching to see the unveiling of the actual solution.

[longston]

Originally Posted by nixgeek

No need for curtness, either, Mr. StateTheObvious.

Oops, sorry you got the wrong impression, but this was designed to be a humorous AND educational post. I wasn't intending to ruffle your feathers. I just assumed you were secure enough in your knowledge to have a little fun poked at it...

Originally Posted by nixgeek

I was speaking in general about what you stated, which was the following...
I did check that your hard drive was a 120 GB from your original post so obviously yours was supported, plus your iBook uses the ATA-100 drive so you wouldn't have that limitation (you DID see that I mentioned ATA-66 having the problem of addressing over ~127 GB, didn't you Mr. OverlookTheFacts?).

The minute I wrote the comment about partitioning, I just KNEW someone would probably pounce on it like it was a loose $20 bill on a sidewalk. I really regret even mentioning it. I didn't overlook the facts, I just didn't see the point of you going on about partitioning when it was both irrelevant to the matter at hand, and therefore, basically off topic.

Originally Posted by nixgeek

My reply was in dispute of your claim that partitioning would overcome the limitation of addressing the entire capacity of the drive. You might want to try and apply at least some brain power to actually READING a post.

Yes, yes, I get it. You feel a need to be defensive, so you will now lash out at me and try to impune my reading skills. It's fine, my testicles are often used for internet forum kid's parties if no inflatable bouncy castles are available to rent. (this is smart-ass humor, not an invitation for a flame war, 'k?)

OK, here's the deal, I had a problem once with a hard drive that was 4Gb, and the computer could only work with it if I partitioned it into two 2Gb drives, so remembering that, I made my comment about partitioning.

Originally Posted by nixgeek

And it this is already a resolved issue, why are you wasting everyone's time trying to figure it out? Why not post how it was fixed in the HOW-TO/FAQs section and actually CONTRIBUTE to this community instead of wasting its time? Doesn't take a brainiac's amount of mental power to think of that.

Wow, grumble, grumble, bitch, bitch, etc. Back to reading skills. The title of this thread is "Challenge! Feelin' Lucky, PUNK?". What kind of thread did you expect it to be? I also tried to make it clear that this was a resolved issue and a challenge to see if anyone could guess what the resolution was.

Originally Posted by nixgeek

Good day.

And a good day to you, sir.

[longston]

Originally Posted by Tefret

well. Being a tech, first think I would try after doing what you did, would be remove the new equipment you just installed.. Like the ram and the new dvd... If that didn't make a difference, I'd check bios to make sure it shows up in there.. Depending on what it says, there is still a ton of things that could be tried.

Did all of that, didn't solve the problem.

I'm not sure I understand "bios" on a Mac. Could you explain?

[longston]

Originally Posted by Lt Major Burns

you've got two drives that don't work. try another. if 3 drives don't work, it's the logic board.

Nope, it's not the logic board...

[longston]

Originally Posted by DeltaMac

Must have something to do with 'strange firmware installed on the hard drive from unknown sources' that some company tried to convince you was the fix.
I would be curious how a third-party firm somehow comes up with a factory-specific firmware to flash the drive. I suspect they just reseated your drive ribbon cable, and it started working, and they had to come up with a plausible explanation for the 'fix'. Sounds bogus to me! But, of course, you have the now-working hard drive to show. Seems a moot point now!

Nope. And just because you don't fully understand how it was fixed is no reason to claim that the solution is "bogus".

I followed your advice when I posted this in tech help back at the beginning of November, and it didn't resolve the problem (no disrespect meant), but it led me to finding the solution, and I have not had anyone so far that knows what fixed it say, "of course, I should have thought of that".

That's why I posted this thread as a "challenge", so we could have some fun with a brain teaser, see if anyone actually has had a similar experience, and maybe end up learning something that is so unique that no one so far has told me that they've ever heard of it before.