Mounting failed??

M

macmacmac

Registered
Hi,

Hoping someone can help me out.

I am having a few problems with my powerbook g4 lately. Slow performance, not reconizing USB inputs, mounting fails??

I have plugged my USB stick and camera and ipod in no probs before but now nothing happens, my camera and usb doesn't show, nothing!?

Also when trying to use BBC's listen again it won't work (i've used it before) and so i downloaded real player again it nearly does it then stops and says "mounting failed"

I have run a check through dsik utilty and it found an error so i put in the orginal CD and it fixed it but it hasn't fixed the above problems.

Any ideas? Also i brought it aug last year so still should be under warranty, will this be covered do you reckon?

Kind regards
Thanks so much if anyone replies.
George
 
Hi there

Here's what I would do. If it's under warranty take it back to the shop and get them to fix it. If you would rather try to sort it yourself, you could try the following beforehand;

1) Firstly, is your hard drive full? Probably not, but worth checking. If it is, delete some files or archive them to backup then delete from the Mac.
2) Open the Disk Utility application again and click Repair Disk Permissions.
3) If that doesn't sort it out try re-installing your system from the original CDs or DVDs. I've done this many times with Macs at work, and it's often the only thing that Mac technicians will do when making a site visit (in our experience anyway) - so I often try this myself and it normally works. If not, then suspect a hardware problem.

Hope this helps.
 
Thanks a lot fenderman.

I have tried all your suggestions and still my mac isn't what it used to be.

It is still under warranty just. I am a little concerned about Apple fixing it because last time I called there help line they spent most of the time trying to sell me expensive extra cover. I shouldn't have to pay anyhting to hard this problem fixed right?

Another concern is that i have used limewire in the past and although I didn't know it at the time limewire is suspected to put a lot of crap on your computer. My friend took it to an apple store and they we're a bit shitty about it cos he had limewireon his. I understand what they are saying but you don't know this when signing up to a perfectly legal service like limewire.

I have virus barrier which i think is a con, it's not really a barrier!? I run it most days though and never found anything.

Is there a way I can totally remove limewire and traces of it incase they say ahhh its not our fault.

Mnay thanks
George
 
At this point I would backup everything and whip out the restore discs that came with the PowerBook. Wipe the hard drive and reinstall the operating system. Also, make sure that you update to the latest version of OS X (if it's 10.3, then up to 10.3.9.....if it's 10.4, then up to 10.4.7).

While Limewire might be legal to have installed, it's possible to download illegal stuff as well. Because of this, some companies (especially the RIAA), have files are placed there by their own people in order to "poison" the p2p network. These files are probably riddled with spyware and viruses (mainly affecting Windows systems, but some probably using the proof-of-concept malware that has been talked about affecting OS X), or they might be rootkits that your malware software might not be aware of. Don't know if this is still the case, but I remember this being a popular method recently to deter software and music piracy. So for safety's sake, I personally would probably backup and reinstall from scratch.
 
Cheers nixgeek

I will wipe the hard drive before calling apple support as i guess they will just do the same but take longer to do so. i have backed everything up and ready! I have the discs, although all i have is a 10.4.2 disc am I supposed to have a tiger one too? Thats what I have now.

If i remember correctly when i brought the powerbook i simply turned it on and it was all on.

Many thanks

PS _ any other tips when wiping hard drive and starting again??
 
Hi George

This article is useful - there's some stuff in there you can ignore because your machine wasn't upgraded from Panther. It explains the process and talks you through it;

http://www.macdevcenter.com/pub/a/mac/2005/04/29/tiger.html?page=1

Tiger by the way is 10.4.2 - some people refer to the operating system by name (Jaguar, Panther, Tiger) others use the numbers to indicate which version of Jaguar, Panther or Tiger. So 10.4.2 is a specific release or verison of Tiger.

Good luck.
 
Actually, any version of 10.4 from 10.4.0 to 10.4.7 is still referred to as Tiger. 10.3.x is referred to as Panther, 10.2.x is referred to as Jaguar, etc. :)
 
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