Powerbook G4 15" flashing questiomark (of death)

AdmiralAK

Simply Daemonic
Wow!
Haven't seen this one in a very very long time!

I put my computer to sleep, put it in my computer bag, came to work, it did not come out of sleep. So I kept the power button pressed to shut it down, turned it back on and it keeps flashing the folder with the "?"

1. I zapped the PRAM - nothing
2. I pressed the option key as I tried to bootup (to get the startup manager) - my hard drive does not show as mounted.
3. I attempted a disk utility fix with the installation CD, but again, the HD does not show as mounted.
4. I Booted the powerbook in Target mode and hooked it up to a mac mini - the mac mini recognized (in the System Profiler) that there is a mac in target disk mode, but no disk is mounting on the desktop, and the disk utility does not recognize the disk in the laptop


Now I have two theories:
1. my hard drive is fried because it felt a bit warm when I pulled out out of my laptop bag

2. Something got jossled (sp?) while transporting the machine (I had to break REALLY hard because some idiot almost rammed me this morning coming to work):eek:


Anyone have any suggestions as to what to do next? I am fresh out of ideas. I would open the thing up to make sure the cables are OK, but I dont have the necessary stuff at work. Any other Software solution I can try without opening the unit up?
 
Checked out the OpenFirmware trick - still got nothing.

in my printenv listing I see that my boot-device says hd:, \\:tbxi

nothing else....
 
Darn! :-(
Not really what I was hoping to hear.

Tonight I will be testing things with TechToolPro and the Apple Hardware Test on the reinstall CD that is home.

I've been reading that I *might* be able to use dd on a dead disc to create a dmg of my old HD if I cannot revive it.

Any other ideas are more than welcome :)
 
well an update:

1. tech tool deluxe does nothing :p - since it cannot find the volume
2. The apple hardware test gives me an error 2STF/1/4: (but nothing after that) so I am hopeful that it is neither an ATA error, nor an ATA bus gone bad - tomorrow I probably going to open it up and see if the cable is disconnected (keeping fingers crossed!)
 
All right....

So I opened up my powerbook (scary, I know...lost a small screw in the process...)unplugged my HD, replugged it, made sure all was connected properly, screw everything back together, try to boot...same problem.


I hear the same thing, drive trying to spin-up but stopping.

I am about to order a new HD - but the big question is this: Is it worth getting an external USB enclosure for my old drive? Anyone know the odds of it actually working externally? :)
 
I am about to order a new HD - but the big question is this: Is it worth getting an external USB enclosure for my old drive? Anyone know the odds of it actually working externally?

I would try it. HD enclosures doesn't cost that much and if your HD is dead, you can still use the enclosure for something else. I have brought back "nearly dead" HDs, by putting them into a external enclosure and switching the power on and off until the HD finally spun up. So while the drive was on "its last breath" I copied the important files over. its not guaranteed to work, but it is worth a try.
 
Man, the extended apple warranty is so worth it :)
Got my powerbook back today (decided to take it back to apple) - free HD replacement (the cost would have been over $400!)

The good thing is that I had made a backup a month ago so *most* of my important data was backed up. I bought a 500GB hard drive for backups now :p
 
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