iMac G5 10.4 Won't Boot Or Recognize HD

M

Marz Fisch

Registered
Hello, this is my first post on this site, so forgive my... "noobishness".

Ok so when i press my power button on my iMac G5 (OS X 10.4) it takes a bit to boot and then comes to a screen where the little folder icon is in the middle of the screen and its flashing a picture of the "finder face" and then a question mark.

When i got this before, it was not that hard to bring back. maybe a few hours worth of work. But this time, the computer physically cannot recognize the hard drive. I put in a OS X 10.5 disc i got a while back, and i was stopped at the "Choose an installation destination." Well, it cant find that hard drive, so i cant tell it to re-install the OS.

So i took out my DiskWarrior CD and sure enough, it couldn't find the hard drive.

I opened my mac up and unplugged the two ribbon wires connected to the hard drive, then reconnected them. Also, i took out both ram chips and swapped positions (put chip 1 in where chip 2 was, and vice-versa.) then i closed it up, and no improvement.

I am in absolutely no position to buy a replacement hard drive, let alone an entirely new computer. My job is rather dependent on a computer so i don't know what to do.

Does anyone know if i'm able to revive this computer?

Thanks, Marshall
 
Yes, you can 'revive' your Mac! Your hard drive is not recognized, so you can safely say it's toast (and not in a good way!) Your next step to revival, will be replacing the hard drive, which does not cost as much as you may expect.
A replacement hard drive (SATA, 160GB, for example) shouldn't cost more than $50. As you can see, it's very easy to replace. An hour or two, and then restoring your files from your back up, and you should be good to go again....
 
Marz Fisch said:
I am in absolutely no position to buy a replacement hard drive, let alone an entirely new computer. My job is rather dependent on a computer so i don't know what to do.

Does anyone know if i'm able to revive this computer?
Click to expand...

Yeah, Get a new hard drive. You can literally buy a decent sized 3.5" SATA drive for well under $100 bucks if you look.
 
I have same problem. Got new hard drive - 500gb. Installed it but imac cant recognize it. Booting up through another mac shows the proper new hard drive, but install disk booting ends because the imac only sees a disk it calls 3.6tb and cant access. So the disk is in, formatted, and only readable through a connected computer, not the host imac. Very strange. Ideas?
 
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